Renewable Energy 201
AC and DC Current Stand For
Alternating Current and Direct Current
Although it took him sleeping inside a horse carcass in the middle of a tundra to win an Oscar, he's always been successful in advocating for renewables.
DOE
Department of Energy
This country leads the world reaching over 1,100 GW of installed solar capacity in 2025. They also lead the world in production of solar panels.
China
Jack’s Solar Garden is the largest commercially active agrivoltaics system researching crop and vegetation growth under photovoltaic solar panels in the United States. It is located in this Rockie state
CO
Renewable Energy that comes from Earth's sub-surface is called:
Geothermal Energy
This actress with leading roles in the Notebook, Sherlock Holmes, and Mean Girls uses solar energy for her home and drives an electric car
Rachel McAdams
NREL
National Laboratory of the Rockies (fka National Renewable Energy Laboratory - will accept either)
It is no surprise that many of the sunniest places on earth are on this continent. With 60% of the world's best solar resources but accounting for only 3% of global solar generation.
Africa
Block Island Wind Farm reached COD in 2016 becoming USA's first operational offshore wind farm. It is located off the coast of this state.
Rhode Island
Major impacts are avoided through the use of pre-construction studies and curtailment. These machines kill significantly fewer birds than house cats each year.
Wind Turbines
This Pirate of the Caribbean owns an island in the Caribbean. It is powered by an eco-friendly system using solar panels with excess energy stored as hydrogen to be used in fuel cells.
Johnny Depp
FERC
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce.)
Solar energy and other renewables have become more popular since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which spurred a significant scale back of nuclear activities in this country.
Japan
Electricity demand could more than double by 2030 due to the surge of these:
Data Centers
"Mining" for this started popping up in major headlines due to excessive energy usage between 2017-2023.
Bitcoin
Back in 2002, this rather important historic figure decided to install a geothermal heating/cooling system for her art gallery. She loved it so much, she also had a system installed for Buckingham Palace.
In addition, she is interested in wind power, and in 2008, bought the prototype for the world’s biggest wind turbine.
Queen Elizabeth
AWEA
American Wind Energy Association
Daily Double
In 2020, this country led Latin American countries in terms of installed renewable energy capacity in the region, with more than 150 gigawatts.
Essential for many modern and clean technologies, demand for key minerals is set to triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040 if the world is to achieve net-zero emissions. Name one of these key minerals.
Lithium, Cobalt, Graphite, Copper, Nickel, Manganese, Aluminum, Platinum group metal
The practice of co-developing the same piece of land for both solar power and agriculture is known as:
Agrivoltaics
Although he says "first rule about fight club is don't talk about fight club", we did hear about this endeavor. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, this celeb's Make It Right Foundation opted to build 150 “safe, sustainable homes” and a solar-powered playground in the area’s lower 9th ward.
Brad Pitt
IRENA
International Renewable Energy Agency
This city in Arizona is the sunniest place on earth with an average of 11 hours of sun per day.
Yuma
President Trump is aiming to rapidly expand this energy source, with an initial goal of achieving operation for three reactors by July 4 2026
Nuclear