With all the bad news circulating about the current economic crisis, it’s somewhat comforting to hear some good news emerging from the American clean energy front. Renewable energy accounted for more than 10 percent of the domestically-produced energy used in the United States in the first half of 2008.

According to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Domestically-produced renewable energy (biomass/biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) totaled 3.606 “quads,” or, quadrillion BTUs — an amount equal to 10.56 percent of U.S. energy consumption that is produced domestically.

This share is only slightly less than the contribution from nuclear power (11.98%). And while consumption of nuclear power dropped by one percent during the first half of 2008, compared to the same period for 2007, renewable energy’s share increased by five percent.

Biomass and biofuels combined presently make up the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S., followed by hydropower (1.387 quads). Wind power, however, experienced the largest growth rate — increasing by almost 49 percent from the first half of 2007 compared to the first half of 2008 (0.244 quads, up from 0.164 quads).

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