About renewable energy, recently the first Pelamis were installed in Portugal, but I haven't heard of the CETO technology in Europe. It's about underwater buoys compressing seawater so that it reaches the shore, and can either be used to produce electricity, or desalinate through reverse osmosis.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2378304.htm
The CETO website mentions no problems or downsides at all, which is a little too much I guess, but it's interesting. http://www.carnegiecorp.com.au/
