Maine's natural resources
Maine is a state rich in natural resources, primarily characterized by its extensive forests, which cover approximately 17.5 million acres, making it a significant source of wood and wastewood power. The state's natural landscape includes major water bodies like the Androscoggin, Kennebec, Penobscot, and St. John rivers, along with large lakes such as Moosehead and Richardson. Maine has made strides in renewable energy generation, ranking first in the nation for its electricity production from nonhydroelectric renewable sources and becoming a leader in wind power, with a capacity exceeding 1,030 megawatts as of 2023.
Efforts to promote energy efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuels are spearheaded by various initiatives, including the Governor's Wood-to-Energy Initiative, which encourages the use of biomass for heating public buildings and homes. Despite its abundant resources, Maine faces high per capita energy consumption and has a notable percentage of households relying on fuel oil for heating. The state is also exploring the potential of marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies, seeking to diversify its energy portfolio.
Maine's commitment to sustainable energy practices is reflected in its legislative measures aimed at enhancing energy infrastructure, making clean energy more accessible, and fostering the growth of alternative energy industries. This proactive approach illustrates the state's ongoing efforts to balance the utilization of its natural resources with environmental considerations.
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Maine's natural resources
Summary: Maine is the northeastern-most state in the United States. It is blanketed by forests, making wood the obvious natural energy resource. However, wood burning leads to the production of carbon dioxide.
Energy expended per person is high in Maine, and efforts to offset the carbon footprint have led to the promotion of energy efficiency and have ignited a search for viable alternative energy resources. The state offers financial incentives for residents who use alternative sources of energy, and projects using wind and solar energy have rapidly expanded. The governor’s Wood-to-Energy Initiative draws on the state’s vast forest resources to promote alternative energy sources, and the use of hydropower is being explored.
Located in the extreme northeast corner of the United States, Maine is the largest of the New England states, covering an area of 35,387 square miles. The entire eastern border of the state is the Atlantic Ocean. Maine also has ample interior water sources, with water covering 4,523 square miles. The major rivers are the Androscoggin, the Kennebec, the Penobscot, and the St. John. Moosehead and Richardson are the state’s major lakes.
Based on the Census Bureau estimates for 2023, Maine ranked forty-second in population among the fifty states, but was one of the top five states in terms of energy expended per person, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. The EIA reports that about 70 percent of all households in Maine heat their homes with fuel oil. That percentage is higher than in any other state in the United States. Much of that oil arrives in Maine as crude oil by way of the port of Portland. The oil is then piped into refineries in Quebec and Ontario. Maine generates more electricity from nonhydroelectric renewable resources than any other state in the country. Transportation consumes the lion’s share of energy in the state, followed by industry.
Some 17.5 million acres of Maine’s land area are covered by forests as of 2021 estimates by the US Department of Agriculture. Many acres of that land are still undeveloped, and most of it is in private hands; the state controls 6.8 percent of forests within its borders. Maine has the ability to generate more wood and wastewood power than any other state.
There are more than a dozen wind projects in Maine in various stages of development as of 2017. Those already in operation include Mars Hill, Stetson Ridge, Beaver Ridge, Kibby Mountain, Stetson II, and Vinalhaven. The Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security is charged with establishing an energy plan that promotes clean, renewable energy sources and reductions in the use of fossil fuels.
Promoting the Use of Alternative Energy Sources
According to the EIA, in 2023 Maine generated 12,763 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity. Maine was fourteenth in the nation in hydroelectric generation (3,061 GWh) in 2023, a figure that accounted for 27 percent of the state's net electricity generation. In 2021, wind power became the state’s largest source of energy generated from renewable resources. Two years later, Maine reported 1,030 megawatts of wind-powered generation capacity. In 2015 Maine ranked forty-seventh in the nation in energy consumption—consuming 188 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy annually.
After Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, the state's governor pledged to spend the share of the grant money allotted to his state, $3.1 billion, to promote energy efficiency while maintaining reasonable energy rates. New legislation was subsequently enacted to supplement existing energy laws and programs, such as the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code Act of 2008 and the governor’s Wood-to-Energy Initiative, which were designed to help free Maine from its dependence on fossil fuels. The ultimate goals of the governor’s initiative were to ensure that all public buildings were converted to wood biomass heat, encourage the use of renewable energy sources in all homes, and promote the growth of alternative energy industries.
In the fall of 2010, the federal government approved $37 million in funds for twenty-seven separate projects aimed at exploring marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies. For Maine, the $10 million allotted for the project made it possible to give the go-ahead to Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Company, allowing that firm to build and operate a five-grid project located on the seafloor of Cobscook Bay off Eastport.
Also in 2010, the US Department of Energy handed out $30 million in competitive awards to states committed to improving energy efficiency. Maine received $4,538,571 to retrofit apartment buildings of five to twenty units in order to reduce energy consumption by at least 25 percent. By the spring of 2010, the Weatherization Assistance Program, in conjunction with MaineHousing (the state housing authority) and nongovernmental organizations had succeeded in weatherizing 1,582 low-income homes for an average energy savings of $437 annually per home. This was accomplished by installing insulation and weather stripping, sealing windows and doors, caulking cracks, and replacing ineffective heating and cooling systems. An additional $41.9 million was subsequently used to weatherize additional homes.
That same year, the governor and the state legislature worked together to pass a series of new energy bills that promoted energy infrastructure development, created a smart-grid policy for Maine, increased efforts to make clean energy more affordable for both homes and businesses, established benefits for communities hosting wind energy projects, and implemented recommendations of the governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.
Bibliography
Barnes, Roland V., ed. Energy Crisis in America? Huntington, NY: Nova Science, 2001.
Bird, Lori, et al. Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2008.
"Forests of Maine, 2021." US Department of Agriculture, 1 Mar. 2023, www.fs.usda.gov/nrs/pubs/ru/ru‗fs366.pdf. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.
"Maine." US Energy Information Administration, 19 Oct. 2023, www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=ME. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.
"Realizing a Clean Energy Future." National Renewable Energy Laboratory, December 2013, www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/60894.pdf. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.”