The United States’ energy consumption is the highest in the world.  It may seem that the U.S. lags in the adoption of renewable energy, but the numbers clearly show that the country is not to be underestimated in this regard.  A number of policy initiatives and large financial efforts are going into renewable energy, as well as numerous production and R&D efforts.

Renewable energy generation is a major focus in the U.S., with many state level goals to reach 20 to 30 percent of electricity production from wind and other renewable resources between 2010 and 2030. The U.S. wind industry broke all previous records by installing nearly 10,000 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity in 2009 (enough to serve over 2.4 million homes).

In 2009 Financial Times (FDI Intelligence) named renewable energy sector as the most crisis-resistant. In 2008, 40% more greenfield projects were executed worldwide, as compared to the preceding year. The year 2008 was also decisive for the structure of new generating sources in Europe. For the first time ever the wind energy led the way, followed by the gas and solar energy-based installations.