Representative Jay Inslee, a democrat long associated with clean energy, introduced the Marine Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2009 in the  House of Representatives today. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced companion legislation in the senate.

The bill, if passed, would give a boost to a form of renewable energy that has seemingly been trying to get off the ground for years. Several companies in the last few years have launched trial devices, but the results have been middling to comical: Tidal turbines in the East River have come up mangled while buoys off the Oregon coast got lost in the deep. The company funding the Pelamis wave devices in Portugal ran out of money.

Still, marine power potentially is more reliable than wind or some forms of solar. Hundreds of megawatts or gigawatts could be produced from waves and tides in the coming decade. Scotland is investing heavily into it. See this fine video for more as well as a glimpse of one of the most advanced tidal turbines out there: the 250-kilowatt prototype from OpenHydro.

And besides, everyone else is getting money.

Anyone worried that the federal government's energy stimulus spending would be focused on "shovel-ready" projects to the detriment of research has gotten nearly $1.2 billion in relief from President Barack Obama.

That's how much Obama pledged to dedicate to two new energy research programs this week. First is $400 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, meant to be modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

That's the agency that has given us such things as the Internet and Predator drones. ARPA-E, on the other hand, has existed on paper since 2007 without funding — until now. But the Obama Administration has said it wants to make up for lost time.

From May 12 to June 2, it will be accepting concept papers that promise "high-risk, high-payoff transformational energy-related R&D" projects that need help crossing the "valley of death" between development and commercialization.

The Department of Energy has also announced winners in the $777 million Energy Frontier Research Centers program — public-private partnerships aimed at developing cutting-edge energy technology. 46 projects were chosen each to receive $2 million to $5 million a year to study concepts like photosynthesis-based biofuel production and nanoscale energy conversion and storage systems.

Among the companies taking part in projects are Philips Lumileds Lighting (to "study energy conversion in tailored nanostructures as a basis for dramatically improved solid-state lighting") and General Electric (to "realize breakthroughs in the efficient conversion of sunlight into electricity in nanometer sized thin films" and to find an "entirely new approach to energy storage that combines the best properties of a fuel cell and a flow battery").

Secretary of Energy Steve Chu is the new Ed McMahon. Every day, he's knocking on someone's door with a big cartoon check.

Today, the recipients are the National Renewable Energy Laboratories and the wind industry. Approximately $100 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will go to NREL: 68 million goes to R&D and the rest goes to infrastructure and lab improvements.

The $68 million should also quell some complaints I've been hearing lately that the ARRA is too focused on near-term projects and not taking up the traditional federal role of spending on science.

The wind money gets spent as follows: $45 million on drive train  research, $14 million on technology development, $24 million on other university projects and $10 million on other wind projects. When it comes to renewable, wind is still king. 2.8 gigawatts got added in the first quarter in the U.S.

Other recent grants include $300 million for clean cities and $10 million for hybrid school buses. That is correct!

And check your mailbox. You may have already won!