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The Sunshine State is finally beginning to try and live up to its reputation, as it starts moving rapidly toward increased use of solar energy.
The latest advance came with this week’s announcement by Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) that the utility plans to add 110 megawatts of new solar energy capacity in the state.
“Pending regulatory approval, FPL will build 110 megawatts of solar power right here in the Sunshine State, making Florida No. 2 in the nation for solar energy,” said Lewis Hay III, chairman and CEO of FPL Group. Hay made the announcement during the state’s second Serve to Preserve summit on climate change.
Florida’s got its share of environmental challenges — overdevelopment, water shortages, threatened coral reefs — and it’s definitely one of the top states likely to be hurt by climate change. On the other hand, those very challenges have spurred some good news recently on several fronts.
First, if you missed it, comes the news that the state and U.S. Sugar Corporation have struck a deal to eventually cease sugar-cane production on 187,000 acres of land (nearly 300 square miles) in south Florida. Under the plan, expected to be finalized by September, the state will pay the sugar company $1.75 billion for the land, which lies in the heart of Everglades territory. The transfer would take place in six years, during which U.S. Sugar will continue to grow on the land.
Two groups of Pensacola kids are off to Washington, D.C., after taking top honors in the National Energy Education Development Program (NEED). Among the achievements that helped get them there: s’mores baked in a solar oven and Blackout Wednesdays in which students turned off classroom lights and relied on sunlight instead.
The Suter Energy Savers, a team of fourth-graders at Suter Elementary School, won at the elementary level for their work on 28 conservation projects in all. Their efforts included collecting $200 worth of recyclables, distributing flyers at area coffee shops urging customers to switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs and making s’mores in a solar oven.
By Max Lindberg •
June 18, 2008
Step Right Up And Be Amazed
It struck me today that our fearless leaders, would-be’s, and corporate giants seem to think we’re all a bunch of rubes gathered outside a carnival sideshow, leaning on the barker’s every word.
Urging Congress to lift its ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, our fearless leader, you know, President Bush, told lawmakers, “There is no excuse for delay“.
It got worse, “Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response.” Gimme a break.
Looking for ways beyond changing lightbulbs and taking the train to help reduce your carbon footprint? Turns out we all could make a big difference in greenhouse gas emissions by not throwing out so much trash and composting our food waste.
That’s the message from “Stop Trashing the Climate,” a report prepared by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Eco-Cycle, a non-profit recycler. The study finds that waste prevention and increased recycling and composting could reduce as many greenhouse gas emissions as are produced by 21 percent of the U.S.’s 417 coal-fired power plants.
Why have gas prices risen to nearly $4 a gallon (or more) in the U.S.? Is it oil speculation? Rising demand? Or the first signs of peak oil?
Whatever the cause (and there’s good reason to blame all three to some degree), most so-called experts these days aren’t expecting oil prices to drop anytime soon. In fact, Newsweek this week features a sobering article titled, “The Coming Energy Wars,” that predicts we’ll soon see oil prices top $200 a barrel. When that happens, the authors warn, we can expect everything about our daily lives to change.
Does man-made technology, whether in the form of mobile telephones or backyard pesticides, pose a threat to our health and well being? That’s the subject Doug Phillips plans to explore during a June 3 program at Ever’man Natural Foods in Pensacola, Florida.
Phillips, a naturopath and former dentist, will discuss the health effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell phones, computers, microwave ovens and other devices, as well as the hazards posed by rocket fuel, pesticides, herbicides, solvents and other chemicals in daily use.
I’ve always wondered why wind energy in Florida never seemed to get much attention. After all, there’s a good steady breeze every time I go to the beach and, even in my backyard (which is 2 miles off the coast), I have a little colorful garden spinner that’s whirring almost constantly.
Still, every wind-energy potential map of the U.S. I’ve seen appears to leave the Sunshine State a pure blank. Some maps don’t even note any potential for offshore energy, which strikes me as especially odd.
Turns out, wind energy in Florida might have some promise after all. This year’s renewable energy technologies grants from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection include two note-worthy investments in wind: $2.5 million for Florida Power and Light (FPL) to build the state’s first wind-energy facility in St. Lucie County, and $123,868 to Progress Energy Florida to install small-scale, inland wind-evaluation turbines at five different locations in the state.
The Sunshine State might have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to solar energy installations, but it’s now on a fast track toward big improvements.
The tide began turning when Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican with a strong environmental sentiment and an affinity for renewable energy, first took office. Then came the debut earlier this year of Florida’s largest solar array to date, a 250-kilowatt installment in Sarasota County.
And now comes the news that Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) in Ft. Myers has been singled out by state lawmakers for an $8.5 million allocation to build a 16-acre solar farm on its campus. While the funding still needs a final OK from Crist, who’s likely to approve, the money would help FGCU construct what would be the largest university-based solar farm in the world.
With their recent addition to the US Endangered Species Act list, polar bears have sent a wake-up call to water managers in South Florida.
Added to the ESA list on Wednesday, the polar bears will finally receive a measure of official attention and protection, albeit a little late. However, joining the environmental awareness last Wednesday, South Florida water managers agreed to spend a year looking at how the melting ice that is doing in the polar bear, may be a similarly dangerous problem for South Florida.
Today is Endangered Species Day in the U.S., and the timing couldn’t be more sadly appropriate.
On the same day designated as Endangered Species Day by U.S. Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Dianne Feinstein (California) comes news from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that Earth has lost nearly a third of its biodiversity over the past 37 years.
