Fill 'Er Up With Algae, Please

Move over, sun. Alternative energy innovators are turning to increasingly inventive power technologies—and sources, including algae (to make diesel fuel) and tires and "car fluff" from junked vehicles. Ocean and geothermal operations appear to be the next big wave of the green future. One company is developing a buoy system off Oregon that harnesses wave energy for electricity, the Washington Post reports.

"In the last year, it's just exploded with ideas out there," said one executive. Many of the new endeavors are still rough around the edges and the ocean doesn't often cooperate with even the best plans. One firm installed turbines along the the New York City coast to generates electricity from tides, but ocean battering destroyed the turbines. (More clean energy stories.)