More renewable energy blogs

More links of interest while we take our first break this morning:

• CleanTech Blog


• Google.org blog: Google is investing millions in green research and development programs, with a key goal being to invent renewable energy technology that's cheaper than coal power.


• The Oil Drum, a blog written by energy geologists and economists about Peak Oil


• MIT Technology Review, with a headline today about a prototype floating wind turbine under construction in Norway.


• Offshore Renewable Energy Law blog. Since this conference is co-sponsored by USM's Center for Law and Innovation, this blog and its focus on regulatory issues should be of interest to plenty of people here.

Links of (my) interest

Hi all - I'm C. Neal McNeil, and I'll be blogging today's "Power of the Gulf" conference on ocean energy in Maine. I typically blog at The Vigorous North, a field guide to urban wilderness areas, and for my day job I am the communications director for GrowSmart Maine, a grassroots advocacy organization seeking to grow Maine's economy while also preserving our quality of place.

While we're waiting for things to get started here, I'm going to share some links to other blogs, articles, and sites that interest me and relate, in some way or another, to what I expect people to talk about today:

• First up, a plug for my nonprofit employer, GrowSmart Maine, which co-produced the landmark "Charting Maine's Future" report with the Brookings Institution a few years ago. Thanks to the success of that project, we're thinking about initiating a new "sequel" to the Brookings report that would examine the impacts and opportunities that climate change might have on Maine's economy. In addition to collecting and analyzing the best scientific data on how climate change might affect Maine's natural resource-based industries, we also intend for the report to include an implementable action plan for how Maine can reduce emissions while also growing our economy. We suspect that leveraging and growing our low-carbon renewable power sector could have tremendous, multiplicative benefits for Maine's economy. Sign up for our monthly e-newsletters to learn more and stay up to date as this project progresses.



• Here's a blog entry I recently wrote for GrowSmart on how the failed Lieberman-Warner climate bill could have given Maine cheaper electricity and huge investments in green research and development.



• Offshore energy, in particular, requires huge infrastructure investments in offshore construction. This, too, brings secondary economic benefits to construction industries located on working waterfronts. I was in Galveston, Texas a few months ago and the size of that city's working waterfront staggered me; while there, I also visited the Ocean Star Offshore Energy Center, a museum devoted to oil rigs and the work involved in their construction. Also, here's a sc-fi-tinged blog post about offshore rigs with some gorgeous photos.

Last but not least, here's the Daily Show's take on NIMBYism and offshore energy: