Let me be more specific. There are large Solar Thermal power installations already being built and planned in the US alone. Others have been running for over a decade. These are some of the new projects currently underway:

http://www.energy.ca.gov/siting/solar/index.html

Total power of these projects is 5700 MW, which is a drop in the ocean as far as the US is concerned, but all the combined Solar projects in California provide about the same amount of power that Australia currently consumes.

Iceland only has about 250,000 people, but they have vast geothermal reserves which are capable of  providing 100% of their needs.

Australia also has vast proven geothermal reserves, which have the potential to provide at least 40% of our power requirements. .
http://www.geothermal-resources.com.au/

We already have countries like Frace, Switzerland and Sweden which use Nuclear Fission to supply a substantial part of their power needs (77%, 43% and 46% respectively)

Biofuels have their pros and cons, but they are already an important crop in most parts of the world, and this is expected to increase with new crops such as Sweet Sorghum and new technologies such as biomass derived ethanol or 'grassoline' from waste plant fibres.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-fuel-of-the-future-is-grassoline

Then we also have the ITER nuclear fusion project in Southern France which is currently underway. (Total investment $20 billion). Fusion still has the potential to provide a cheap source of energy.

http://www.iter.org/default.aspx

In terms of emissions reductions, the G8 nations have already pledged an 80 percent cut in greenhouse gases by industrialized countries by mid-century and pledged to prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.

It's a start. The crunch will come in Copenhagen in December this year.

So it's not all talk. There is a lot going on.

Let's keep this thread about Alternative Energy news only. It's getting very negative on this board.

I'm pretty interested in the geothermal reserves muso, if we used that coupled with solar wind and hydro there would be no need to even look at nuclear.
How hard would it be to start using these reserves of geothermal power and how expensive would it be, surely a lot cheaper than starting up a new nuclear power industry.

Aussie could/should be one of the world leaders in renewable power.

Solar towers are cheap to build, low technology, reliable, cheap to repair, silent, no emissions.

Carnigies CETO wave energy can provde a combination of fresh water or electrical power.
Proven  technology, submarine so no visual pollution, silent, runs 24/7, no emissions..

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jul 24^th, 2009 at 9:35am:

Aussie could/should be one of the world leaders in renewable power. Solar towers are cheap to build, low technology, reliable, cheap to repair, silent, no emissions. Carnigies CETO wave energy can provde a combination of fresh water or electrical power. Proven  technology, submarine so no visual pollution, silent, runs 24/7, no emissions..

Here's a company in Adelaide that has taken the lead in renewable technology:  

http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/