renewable energy

Kevin Butt, Toyota's regional environmental sustainability director, at a facility that uses methane to generate clean electricity to help run Toyota's auto plant in central Kentucky. Jennifer Ludden/NPR hide caption

Part of one of the world's biggest renewable energy systems, wind turbines dot the landscape on the edge of Sweetwater, Texas, along with a pump jack pulling up oil. Ari Shapiro/NPR hide caption

About a quarter of California's electricity comes from renewable sources, like this wind farm outside San Diego. Lauren Sommer/KQED hide caption

A car drives by a Switch data center in Las Vegas on Sept. 9, 2015. In 2013, data centers consumed 2 percent of all U.S. power — triple what they used in 2000. John Locher/AP hide caption

Logger Greg Hemmerich and his crew feed low-value trees into a wood chipper, before bringing the chips to ReEnergy Holdings' biomass plant in Lyonsdale, N.Y. David Sommerstein/NCPR hide caption

On some sunny, spring days, California has more electricity than it can use, like from this solar farm in Fresno. Terry O'Rourke/NREL hide caption

President Obama met with China's president, Xi Jinping, at an event linked to the international climate conference held late last year outside Paris. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

"Solar trees," which suspend solar panels over parking spaces in San Diego, collect electricity. Generating solar power like this is just one rung on a ladder the city will have to climb to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. Clare Trageser/KPBS hide caption

The Heartland Biogas facility in Weld County, Colo., is one of the country's largest waste treatment plants that converts methane to natural gas. Rebecca Jacobson/Inside Energy hide caption