Nanostructures have garnered much interest in recent years for their potential in increasing performance of alternative energy devices, such as solar cells, thermoelectrics, batteries, and piezoelectrics.  Many methods exist for the fabrication of nanostructures, but one of the most promising methods is the use of nanoporous aluminum oxide templates due to its extremely high density and self-ordering through a hexagonal, close-packed structure.  However, the initial aluminum growth substrate is generally not suitable for use in energy conversion devices so a major challenge becomes the practical use of aluminum oxide templates.  In this presentation, we demonstrate how to effectively utilize the unique advantages of aluminum oxide templates for a variety of applications.  We introduce a method to transfer aluminum oxide templates to a substrate of interest.  Using this process, we are able to pattern highly-ordered nanostructured materials with dimensions below 10 nm that may be suitable for use in thermoelectric devices.  We also use this pattern transfer process to fabricate porous templates on complex multilayered substrates. These multilayered nanostructures can be used in many applications. Here, we present the growth of highly-ordered, catalyzed carbon nanotubes.  These methods highlight an effective approach for creating the highly-dense, highly-ordered nanostructures required for many energy conversion applications.