Surface Area Required to Power the World with Solar Power

From LandArtGenerator.org, a world map visualizing the surface area required to power the world's electricity requirements using solar power alone in 2030, using current solar panel technology.  It's getting a lot of traffic on digg, reddit and Twitter too.

Also, check out the same idea, but for off shore wind power.

U.S. Energy Use Decreases in 2008 [infographic]

Infographic from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, this is their estimate for the total U.S. Energy Consumption for 2008.  Although not depicted in the graphic, their estimate for energy usage dropped by 2% from 2007 to 2008, and use of alternative energy sources like wind and solar increased.

Found on CleanTechnica.com

Estimated U.S. Energy use dipped in 2008 to 99.2 quads (quadrillion BTUs), down from 101.2 quads in 2007. Energy flow charts show the relative size of primary energy resources and end uses in the United States, with fuels compared on a common energy unit basis. The amount of energy in one quad is equivalent to that produced by the burning of 36,000,000 tonnes of coal.