Innovation and green energy around the world

The United States is in a fast-moving race to clean energy independence.

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Wind power: California

Wind power accounts for 2 percent of U.S. electricity generation and is ahead of schedule to meet a target of 20 percent by 2030, according to the Washington-based American Wind Energy Association trade group. But the U.S. is still falling behind China when it comes to generating wind and solar power. In this photo, Vestas Wind Systems A/S’s 415-foot-tall wind turbines operate at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) 102-megawatt wind farm in Rio Vista, Calif. on March 10, 2010. The wind turbines, which are 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty, have blades with a wingspan as long as the length of a football field.

Ken James / Bloomberg

Wind power: United States

Rick Needham, director of green business operations and strategy at Google Inc., speaks during a news conference about offshore wind farms on the Atlantic Seaboard with Bob Mitchell, chief executive officer of Trans-Elect Development Co., in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 12, 2010. Google agreed to invest in an underwater transmission network intended to harvest electricity from wind farms off the Mid-Atlantic coast and power 1.9 million homes from Virginia to New York and New Jersey.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Wind power: Denmark

The world’s largest offshore windmill farm, Middelgrunden Windmill Farm, seen here on Feb. 23, 2004, is located in the Oeresund, about 2 miles from Copenhagen harbor. Shipping, oil exploration and offshore wind farms have contributed to an increase in area noise by 20 decibels in the past 50 years with negative consequences for wildlife.

Bjarke Oersted / AFP/Getty Images

Wind power: Denmark

Finished wind turbine blades are stored ahead of shipping at the Siemens AG plant in Aalborg, Denmark, on Nov. 10, 2011.

Timothy Fadek / Bloomberg

Wind power: Denmark

An employee inspects a near-finished, painted wind turbine blade at the Siemens AG plant in Aalborg, Denmark, on Nov. 10, 2011. Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering company, forecast stagnant profit for next year as sales growth moderates and the global economy cools, sending the shares to their lowest levels in more than a month.

Timothy Fadek / Bloomberg

Wind power: Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel flies in a helicopter over a wind farm on the Baltic sea, near Zingst, Germany, on May 2, 2011. Merkel inaugrated the country's first commercial offshore wind farm in a step to promote a key technology in replacing nuclear power.

Guido Bergmann / AP

Solar Power: Canada

Solar panels stand at the Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant in Sarnia, Ontario, on Nov. 4, 2011. Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant, owned by Enbridge Inc., is the world's largest photovoltaic plant as of September 2010.

Brent Lewin / Bloomberg

Solar power: China

Yingli Green Energy staff members listen during a press briefing by China’s biggest solar energy companies in Beijing on Nov. 29, 2011. Yingli is among a group of Chinese companies, including giants Suntech Power Holdings Co. and Trina Solar Ltd., that rejected a U.S. trade complaint that claimed the companies are unfairly supported by the Chinese government and that possible sanctions would hurt American companies and workers. The group said that their commercial success comes from more advanced technology and efficient management.

Andy Wong / AP

Solar power: China

An employee assembles photovoltaic panels at Suntech Power Holdings Co.’s factory in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, China, on Nov. 16, 2011. Suntech Power Holdings, the world's biggest maker of silicon-based solar panels, expects a revival in demand next year after subsidy reductions calmed markets and cut prices across Europe.

Qilai Shen / Bloomberg

Solar power: China

Employees assemble photovoltaic panels at Suntech Power Holdings Co.’s factory in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, China, on Nov. 16, 2011.

Qilai Shen / Bloomberg

Solar power: China

The Suntech Power Holdings Co. headquarters stands in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, China, on Nov. 16, 2011. China accounted for at least half of the world’s solar cell production in 2010.

Qilai Shen / Bloomberg

Wind power: China

A Chinese worker works on a wind turbine in the Goldwind Science and Technology on Aug. 19, 2010 in Urumqi, China. Xinjiang Goldwind is China’s largest wind turbine generator developer and manufacturer and a major global wind turbine supplier. Xinjiang is rich in wind resources with an annual theoretical wind energy reserve of three trillion kwh. China squeezed past America in November 2011 to become the top wind-power producer, with an installed capacity of 45 gigawatts, compared with the 44 gigawatts in the U.S.

Feng Li / Getty Images

Biofuels: Iowa

A handful of corn is shown before it is processed at the Tall Corn Ethanol plant, May 24, 2006, in a Coon Rapids, Iowa. Increased production of biofuels such as ethanol may help farmers' bottom lines and address climate-change concerns but eventually could lead to a sharp rise in food prices worldwide.

Charlie Neibergall / AP

Biofuels: Sierra Leone

A man stands among palm seedlings grown in the Socfin Agricultural Co.’s nursery in Malen chiefdom in Pujehun district in southern Sierra Leone on Oct. 27, 2011. The Sierra Leone plantation of Lichtenstein-based Socfin is one of many such projects in Africa, spurred by global demand for food and biofuel. But the practice is criticized by some as “land grabs.”

/ Reuters

Featured Photo Galleries

Paula and Clay Gustin become emotional as dozens of balloons float above during a memorial Wednesday, May 23, 2012, for their five-year-old son, Rhett, who died in an accident on May 20. (AP Photo/The Coeur D?Alene Press, Shawn Gust) MANDATORY CREDIT

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more in the day in photos

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more.

US actress Cameron Diaz arrives for the European premiere of the film 'What To Expect When You're Expecting' at the IMAX Cinema in Waterloo in London, on May 22, 2012. AFP PHOTO/ANDREW COWIEAndrew Cowie/AFP/GettyImages

Eye on entertainment

Cameron Diaz, Patricia Heaton, Ray Romano, Chace Crawford, will.i.am and other celebrities.

Red Panda Bears sleep in the Panda Bear enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on May 22, 2012. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more in animal views

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more.

‘Dancing with the Stars’

Season 14 of “Dancing With the Stars.”

May 21, 2012: Members of the Naval Academy freshman class (plebes) lock arms and form a human ladder while climbing the Herndon Monument at the United States Naval Academy on May 21, 2012 in Annapolis, Md. Each year members of the Naval Academy's freshman class (plebes) climb the lard covered 21-foot tall Herndon Monument to replace a plebe dixie cup hat with a midshipman's hat at the top of the obelisk.

Teamwork, discipline help plebes get to the top

At the U.S. Naval Academy, the freshman class attempts to climb the Herndon Monument.

The National Zoo has two new additions: the female cheetah cub, left, and her brother on the right.

The National Zoo’s new cheetah cubs

A dramatic rescue saved these two cheetah babies and their distressed mother giving birth.

JOPLIN, MO - MAY 19: Grace Goebel plays outside of the new Habitat for Humanity home of her parents that was built on the spot of a home that had been destroyed after a tornado hit the neighborhood almost one year ago on May 19, 2012 in Joplin, Missouri. Tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that devastated the town. The tornado left behind a path of destruction along with 161 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but one year later there are signs that the town is beginning to recover. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Joplin, Missouri, one year after tornadoes devastate town

Reminders of destruction are everywhere in Joplin, Mo., a year after a killer tornado.

COLLEGE PARK, MD - APRIL 4: Pet acupuncturist Greta McVey puts needles in mixed breed 'Cashew' at her home office in College Park, MD on April 4, 2012. Cashew was rescued by his owner this past December and suffers from anxiety and fear of abandonment. McVey first licensed as an acupuncturist on humans then went on to be certified on animals. She hosts a variety of clientele, anything from birds, to guinea pigs but mainly treats dogs and cats. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Washington’s ‘pet-u-puncture whisperer’

College Park’s Greta McVey is part of the growing industry focused on veterinary acupuncture.

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