AUGUSTA (AP) — A University of Maine professor says electricity- generating wind farms off the state’s coast could provide 15,000 jobs in the next 20 years.
Engineering professor Habib Dagher says a $20 billion effort to build a wind farm 20 miles off shore would allow Maine to sell electricity to neighboring states and make the state less dependent on foreign oil.
Dagher made his comments at the university’s Augusta campus on Sunday as part of the Forum on the Future series.
The Kennebec Journal reports that Dagher said Maine families spend an average of $10,000 a year on energy. That includes of $4,000 on home heating oil, $5,000 to gas up their cars and $1,000 goes on electricity.
He says offshore wind would allow Maine residents to electric heat and electric cars.
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