Researchers have known that a fair amount of methane escapes during mining for natural gas. This new article reveals that gas escaping isn't just a problem associated with the frack sites: it's a huge problem all over the US. Of course, it's worse near frack sites, where babies are more likely to suffer. Gas is so much better than coal, but problems just keep cropping up!
On the other hand the offshore wind energy sector seems to be booming. New Jersey's making a $1.6 billion wind farm, offshore wind generation is set to expand in Britain, and just last week New York approved another large facility. Wow, I was wrong: it's so ridiculously expensive that I thought there were better alternatives, but this looks like where things are going in the near term, at least!
Update 7/29: more offshore wind now online in Scotland.
Update 11/20: it looks like the natural gas boom may be winding down
