An offshore testing site for wind, wave, and tidal energy

The New England Marine Renewable Energy Center hopes to use a swath of ocean south of Martha’s Vineyard as a testing ground for the next generation of energy from the sea.

The center, at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, recently received $950,000 from the Department of Energy to develop better energy technologies for offshore wind, waves, and tides. The center is working with the towns of Edgartown and Nantucket to develop a tidal energy project in Muskeget Channel, known for its fierce currents. The channel is between the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Researchers also want permission to use a slice of ocean extending 30 miles south from the channel, which would allow energy entrepreneurs to conduct experiments in deep waters and tough ocean conditions.

Evergreen Solar too noisy for its neighbors

Evergreen Solar, a clean-technology coup for the state when it opened last year in Devens, is making so much noise neighbors can’t sleep.

“It’s like a jet engine whir,’’ said Bill Carroll of Harvard. About 10 families have complained about noise from the 24-hour manufacturing plant over the past four months.

No one argues that the solar-panel plant, longer than three football fields, is violating noise regulations it had agreed to. But there is a battle over fixing it.

Evergreen Solar officials say the racket is coming from at least six sources - and that they are spending more than $1 million on repairs. The company says it needs to order custom-made equipment, the last of which will be installed in September.

Neighbors say that is not good enough. They want the company to shut down at night and question why the Devens Enterprise Commission, the permitting and enforcement agency at the former Fort Devens, has not made it do so. Commission officials say they must gather more data.

Fossil fuel farming takes root at Vermont college

Many people I know are attempting to reduce their carbon footprint when it comes to food. Some try to buy only locally grown vegetables to avoid the emissions produced from trucking salad ingredients. One acquaintance gave up beef because producing meat gives off more greenhouse gases than raising chickens. A few people I’ve met are trying to grow their own food.

Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., is taking it a step further, by trying to run its organic 24-acre Cerridwen Farm with no reliance on fossil fuels.

The four-year liberal arts college has given up tractors in favor of oxen to plow and hay. It has installed solar collectors atop a barn to heat water for its two-cow dairy operation.

“Modern agriculture is heavily reliant on oil and other fossil energy sources. It’s extremely inefficient, with more than 20 calories required to produce and deliver one food calorie to a consumer’s plate,’’ said farm manager and ecology economist Kenneth Mulder. Mulder doesn’t have any expectation that the nation’s farms will go fossil free. Even he has to use a bit for the barn lights.

BETH DALEY