Vic - I think you're right, we should be careful before using new technologies, NASA has found raised land surface temperatures especially at night, in a HUGE wind farm in Texas. Absorbing wave energy has no effect near to the shore, as the energy will dissipate naturally on the shore anyway. We should monitor the effects, but the effects of global warming will probably overshadow them all. You are correct - Energy cannot naturally be created or destroyed - however it can be transferred to another form, which is the general basis for all energy production. Also making solar panels is a dirty process. We need to invest in these processes to make them cleaner and greener. and yes other processes use things like fibre glass, Kevlar, silicon etc, much of which is mined - but who said mining was wrong???