A green tsunami has hit the U.S. energy industry. Concerns about global warming, high fuel prices, and pollution have all contributed to greater interest in clean and green technologies.

We have seen this before. During previous periods of high energy prices our country has looked for alternatives to fossil fuels. The results were decidedly underwhelming. Remember synfuels? It was often an exercise in a lot of hype and a lot of wasted money.

So is today's "green revolution" any different? I think it is. Alternative technologies are improving rapidly as significant investments are made in solar, wind, and conservation. The relative cost of these technologies to conventional fuels is still high but the gap is narrowing.

States in our region have passed renewable portfolio legislation requiring local utilities to purchase a portion of their energy from renewable resources. Large companies such as General Electric, BP and Wal Mart are investing billions of dollars in these technologies. Individual energy consumers ask utilities about "green" energy options and investigate installing their own on-site generation. Green has gone mainstream.

Alternative energy is not a panacea. It is still more expensive than conventional energy. It will only meet a small portion of our total energy needs over time. There are significant and complex technical issues surrounding the integration of these smaller distributed resources into the existing energy network.

There are real benefits too. New England is overly dependent on natural gas to generate electricity. This dependence has led to the extreme volatility in electric and gas prices we have seen over the last few years. We also don't have any appreciable indigenous fuel alternatives except wood and a limited amount of hydro power. Renewable resources would allow us to diversify our energy mix over time, hopefully leading to lower prices. It also would ultimately provide an extra measure of energy security as our energy assets become less geographically concentrated.

As a local distribution company, Unitil believes we are a natural enabler of this effort to diversify our energy supply. Our network is a vital part of the puzzle allowing these energy sources to share power back and forth with the grid.

We also have the relationship with the customer and understand how these resources need to be safely and efficiently integrated into our system and the customer's home, store or factory.

There are legislative and regulatory initiatives underway in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to look for ways to expand and accelerate the adoption of new conservation and renewable resources technologies. As these initiatives proceed, we encourage policy makers to open the door to utility participation as a natural enabler of these advances and as a partner in reducing fossil fuel dependence.

Seeing is believing. We are currently working with a small wind turbine company to field test putting a turbine on our distribution system to take advantage of our coastal wind resource. Each of these turbines is capable of producing enough energy each year to power one household. We are also exploring solar and other technologies with a number of our customers. Imagine the powerful effect on resource diversification and reduced output costs if utilities throughout the nation were encouraged to champion rather than resist these technologies.

By their nature, tipping points are unexpected. We are at the tipping point with renewable energy.