Alternative Energy

Alternative Energy refers to electricity and heat energy created from processes or substances other than traditional fuels. Traditional fuels include nuclear, fossil fuels, and natural gas. Examples of alternative energy are wind, solar, and biodiesel. Wind - People have harnessed the wind to deliver energy for centuries. Today, wind generates electricity that powers millions of American homes and businesses and is one our nation’s fastest-growing sources of energy. Taking advantage of this abundant domestic resource to generate electricity helps meet America’s growing energy demands while improving our energy security and protecting our environment.

The Department of Energy's Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program is working to improve wind technology and increase the use of wind energy in the U.S. The Wind Program works with partners in the wind industry to develop clean, domestic, innovative wind energy technologies that are cost-competitive with fossil fuels. In addition, the Wind Program collaborates with the electric power industry to integrate wind power into our electricity supply while maintaining the stability and reliability of the electric grid. Finally, the Wind Program works with other federal agencies, states, and communities to reduce barriers to wind power development. These efforts have culminated in some of the industry's leading products today and have contributed to record-breaking growth in the deployment of wind technologies.

You can find statistical information on the use of wind energy in the U.S. through the Energy Information Administration.

Bioenergy

Biomass offers America tremendous opportunity to use domestic and sustainable resources to provide its fuel, power, and chemical needs from plants and plant-derived materials. The Department of Energy's Renewable Energy Biomass Program, run by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy includes major programs for developing and improving technology for biomass power; for making biofuels such as ethanol (from biomass residues as well as grain) and renewable diesel; and for making plastics and chemicals from renewable, biobased materials.

Bioenergy technologies use renewable biomass resources to produce an array of energy related products including electricity, liquid, solid, and gaseous fuels, heat, chemicals, and other materials. Bioenergy ranks second (to hydropower) in renewable U.S. primary energy production and accounts for three percent of the primary energy production in the United States. The term "biomass" means any plant derived organic matter available on a renewable basis, including dedicated energy crops and trees, agricultural food and feed crops, agricultural crop wastes and residues, wood wastes and residues, aquatic plants, animal wastes, municipal wastes, and other waste materials.

Solar Energy

The Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technology Program, managed by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accelerates the development of solar technologies as energy sources for the nation and world. The solar program also educates the public about the value of solar as a secure, reliable, and clean energy choice.

Developing technologies that take advantage of the clean abundant energy of the sun is important to reducing greenhouse gasses and helps stimulate the economy. Examples of solar technologies being developed by the Department of Energy and Industry are Photovoltaic cells, concentrating solar power technologies and low temperature solar collectors.

Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity and are made of semiconductors such as crystalline silicon or various thin-film materials. Photovoltaics can provide tiny amounts of power for watches, large amounts for the electric grid, and everything in between.

Concentrating solar power technologies use reflective materials to concentrate the sun's heat energy, which ultimately drives a generator to produce electricity. These technologies include dish/engine systems, parabolic troughs, and central power towers. Low-temperature solar collectors also absorb the sun's heat energy, but the heat is used directly for hot water or space heating for residential, commercial, and industrial facilities.

You can also find statistical information relating to the use of solar thermal and solar photovoltaic energy through the Energy Information Administration.