Ocean Energy Conference Moving Back to Maine

I’m still a bit aghast that the entire two-day Ocean Energy conference is conducted annually without a single mention of OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion). There are speakers promoting technologies in hydrokinetics and offshore wind, who, when pressed, admit that they are not too close to (read: a million away from) commercial viability.  Yet the show’s producers can’t seem to mention something that’s already working its way into our energy mix in the warm waters around Earth’s equatorial countries.

Here, however, is a positive twist: the 2015 event will be returning to Portland, Maine from hellish Atlantic City, New Jersey. Pictured above is the famed horse jumping into the water off Steel Pier, a form of entertainment for people tragically born without a conscience, that persisted for almost a century until it was ultimately banned in the late 1970s after countless horrible accidents to both the horses and their riders. Today, the chief form of recreation is slot machines.

Unless you have an appetite for cigarette smoke, booze and black jack, Portland (shown below) is a much nicer place to spend a couple of days in June.