Spanish alternative energy giant Iberdrola bets on North America; Nissan ponies up for a lithium ion battery factory; and consumers say no to fighting climate change. It’s your Tuesday edition of The Daily Five.

Iberdrola to Invest $8B in U.S. Clean Energy: Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola is betting $8 billion on alternative energy development in the United States. The lion’s share of Iberdrola’s investment will go to expand its already considerable windpower portfolio, targeting a 15 percent share of the U.S. market by 2010. While not a household name in North America, Iberdrola is now the world’s largest operator of wind farms, with an installed capacity over over seven gigawatts. (Earth2Tech)

Nissan to invest $115 million for mass production of lithium ion batteries: There’s no doubt that Nissan sees its future as a leader in hybrid and electric automobiles, and all those vehicles will need some pretty fancy storage technology. The Japanese car maker announced Monday that it will get started by investing $115 million in the development of lithium ion batteries. The cash will fund a joint factory venture with NEC to mass-produce automotive storage cells. Nissan Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares says the company is “going directly to zero-emissions positioning,” and the lithium ion investment is a bud to get them there as quickly as possible. (Autoblog Green)

Solar Industry Struggling to Find Workers: Looking for a green collar job? Your skills are in demand — particularly if you don’t mind moving to the West Coast. An industry study suggests the solar market in some areas will blossom by 50 percent this year. California solar installers already employ over 17,000 workers. Three quarters of the 77 companies surveyed for the study say they’re hiring. (EcoGeek)

Global Warming to Decrease Hurricanes, Study Says: So guess what? Global warming may actually reduce the chance of Atlantic Basin hurricanes. A study released this week by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says warming may actually cool hurricane formation by about 17 percent midway through the century. Not so fast, counter the climate wonks at RealClimate. They say that until climate models can be computed down to 10 kilometers or so, such long-range conjectures are fairly risky. (National Geographic)

Reality Check: Consumers Unlikely to Pay Much More for Green: How much more are utility customers willing to pay to fight climate change? Thanks to rapidly rising energy costs, not much. A survey just out from Deloitte hints that consumers are already suffering from sticker shock when they open their monthly power bills, and a third of those surveyed say they won’t willingly pay a dime to curb global warming. Another shocker: up to 60% of respondents see “clean coal” as an important component of our energy future. (WSJ.com)