The explosion and consequent oil spill of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico has the potential to become a “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster” according to President Obama.  In spite of this incident’s vast and devastating environmental impact, our nation has an opportunity to achieve a positive result from the situation – increased support for efforts on the renewable energy front.  As a recent article in Daily Finance points out, “the worse-case scenario for deep-sea oil drilling makes renewable alternatives look that much better by comparison.”  Governors in coastal states, such as Florida Governor Charlie Crist and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, have withdrawn support for additional offshore drilling, which could lead to more opportunities for emerging renewable technologies including biogas from anaerobic digestion.  Only time will tell how this spill will impact the future of energy generation in our country, but as Ron Pernick of research firm Clean Edge says, “it has the potential to be a symbolic turning point.”