Ironically, Rubio is on the opposite side of the debate from the very utility that serves the bulk of the State’s energy customers.  FPL has been quoted several times in the Herald supporting placing a cost on carbon (i.e. cap and trade) largely because their parent company FPL Group is a member of the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) and their sister company FPL Energy is a major player in clean, renewable energy with investments in wind, solar, and biomass.  USCAP, a group of mom-and-pop shops like Alcoa, DuPont, and General Electric, recently called for:

“…a policy framework for mandatory reductions of GHG emissions from major emitting sectors, including large stationary sources and transportation, and energy use in commercial and residential buildings. The cornerstone of this approach would be a cap-and-trade program.”

As for a “common sense” approach as the Speaker suggests, what timeframe are we to make these common sense decisions?  If we’re serious about weaning ourselves off of oil and creating new Florida industries in the process, we need to aggressively line up policies that make us competitive in the US and in the world.  And fast.

Those European countries with their “Big Government mandates” are rapidly establishing themselves as international leaders in alternative energy.  Germany, whose citizens flock to Florida for our abundant sunshine, has become the international leader in solar energy and created tens of thousands of jobs in the process.  Silicon valley is the phoenix rising – this time not as the center of the “new economy” but the center of the “green economy” re-branding itself as “solar valley.”

Florida has the most to lose (think rising tides) and the most to gain (lots of sunshine, a year-round growing season and a dire need for good-paying blue-collar jobs). 

“Common sense” says that rising fuel costs are inevitable.  Our state should be investing in the green economy like everything depends on it.  It does.

Here’s Episode 12: Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offsets. If you’d like to watch their previous episodes, make sure to visit their website, Greentime.

Click To Play

You have an option of one of two courses, a short 1-day course this Friday, December 1 from 10 am – 4 pm, or a comprehensive 2-day course this weekend, Dec 2-3 (also from 10 am – 4 pm).

Here’s what she told me about the courses:

Learn to make your own high-quality biodiesel fuel from waste restaurant
fryer oil, and build the equipment to do so at home.

In the two-day weekend class, we’ll cover the basic process, safety, the
chemistry of quality control, quality testing, fixing emulsions made in
washing, dealing with bad quality/high free fatty acid oil, dewatering
oil and biodiesel, ethanol biodiesel, disposing of wash water and
glycerine, and techniques to improve your process (glycerine remix
prewash, two-stage production). If you have already experimented with
making biodiesel, we’ll cover a lot of troubleshooting and
problem-repairing techniques.

The Friday class is a shorter version of the two-day class and will
include less hands-on time and may skip a few the advanced topics, for
those who can’t attend a weekend class.

At the very end of the two-day class, we’ll also build some processors
similar to  the Appleseed processor.

Sign up for the classes here: 1 day $60 (Friday, Dec 1), 2 days $120 (Saturday-Sunday, Dec 2-3). They are located in Ft. Lauderdale  right off of I-95 on Stirling Rd. When you register you will receive an email with the exact location, suggested reading materials, and even what to wear.

Still not sure? Read what some past class participants have to say. You can see more about Girl Mark and Biodiesel at GirlMark.com and BiodieselCommunity.org.

The presentation was done entirely by students – The Power Rangers. Broken into teams such as the Energy Awareness Team, Energy Management Team, Public Relations Committee, and Research & Development, you can probably already tell that these guys are organized.

In fact, they’ve already measured the temperature of every room in the school (over a two week period), and the average temperature came up at 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 F). They’ve also identified leaks and cracks where A/C goes out and warm air comes in.

The students made a comment that a comfortable temperature is 25 C (77 F), and that it is ridiculous that everyone needs to come to school with sweaters and jackets in Florida. And it’s true! As seen in this picture, most of the students were bundled up!

Raising the temperature in the classrooms, recycling boxes in the classrooms, shutting off the lights in the cafeteria when not in use, and holding an Energy Awareness Week (including a wear green day) are some of the no-cost measures that the students plan to implement.

They are also seeking funding for their larger projects such as tree plantings, butterfly gardens, solar water heaters, window tinting, wind power, and desiccants – which was a brand new word to me.

These kids, led by Principal Tom Fisher and Solar Energy Professor Dr. Wafa Khalil, are on the right track and should be an inspiration to us all. If you’d like to make a donation towards their efforts, contact Co-Founder & Executive Director of Dream in Green, Nicholas Gunia.

For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to type my notes up here, with a bit of commentary mixed in. Please note that PV = Photovoltaic = Solar power technology.

Why PV? Limited oil, fossil fuels generate CO2. How a PV cell works.
(This was very technical…something to do with electrons and charges
and electric fields.) Each PV cell = 4 watts.

Here’s the big thing I learned: PVs need to be kept cool. The
warmer they get, the less power they generate. He says they work well
in Alaska where there is sun but not heat. Additionally, I learned that
they respond much better to completely clear skies. This is another
reason that Florida is not the perfect environment for solar power.
They work well in the desert where it is pure sunshine. Now,
this is not to say that solar is no good in Florida. It certainly is.
But just because we are called the Sunshine State doesn’t mean that we
have the ideal environment for solar power.

So, since the panels/cells need to be kept cool, you pretty much
always need to build them in a way that air can flow underneather the
panels.

They went through things that you would need to set up a system: PV
Array, mount, source circuit combiner box, GFDI devices, charge
controllers, inverters, batteries, etc. You’ll need to determine system
cost, system life-cycle cost, and then look for grants or incentives to
help you out.

Here’s another issue that needs to be addressed in Florida. When you
set up a system that is connected to the grid, you can sell any surplus
energy to FPL. However, unlike many areas that offer net metering,
here it would be dual metering. What’s this mean? With net metering,
your electricity meter simply goes up as you use electricity. If you
feed electricity back to the power company, the meter would start to go
backwards. This means that you basically get discounted for whatever
energy you produce. However, the way it currently works with FPL, is that you get another meter installed. If you sell back any energy to the power company, they buy it from you wholesale, at a price of 5 cents/watt. You currently pay about 12 cents a watt. It’s a silly process, and we need to start talking to local officials to let them know that net metering is important to us.

Some positives on solar power/PVs: They are quiet (no noise), pollution free, good back up in case of a storm power outage, and they are all guaranteed for 25 years. As Dr. Messenger said, "Sometimes you do something because it is the right thing to do." He also stated that, "If it takes more than a barrel of oil to make a barrel of oil, it will no longer be a viable solution. We are getting closer to this scenario every day."

Rebate Program

Florida just started with a rebate program in July. Residential rebates: Federal: 30% up to $2000. Florida: $4/watt. So, for example, if you install a 2000 watt system, which is enough to power a refrigerator, window a/c and very few other things, it would cost about $20,000 (typically costs $9 -12 /watt installed). You would get $2000 back from the federal government and $8000 back from Florida, so you just got a 50% discount. And it would produce enough energy to maybe knock off about $36/month from your FPL bill.

The commercial rebates are much more complex and much more exciting. Basically, the idea is that you will get over 100% of your money back in 5 years time. Florida will give you $4/watt up to $100,000. Federal will depreciate your system over 5 years.

More info on rebates from the Florida Solar Energy Center.

Solar Water Heaters

I have heard so much in the last few days, these are super effective, super efficient, and every home should install one – Solar water heaters. There is $500 rebate, but look into the fact that if you take that rebate, you may not be able to apply for the big rebate (if you are planning on doing so) for PV installation residentially.

Hurricanes?

So you’re worried about hurricanes, right? Consensus among those in the know is that you shouldn’t be. These systems are installed and created to be tough. I’ve even got an anecdotal story for anyone interested.

Other tips

I mentioned that the panels need to have access to air underneath to keep them cool. You’ll also want to put them south-facing, and make sure that they don’t get any shade from 9 am to 3 pm. A 23 degree tilt is ideal, which also makes a  5/12 roof is ideal, though 3/12s and 4/12s also work.

Also, concerned your home owner’s association won’t let you install? We were told of a little known Solar Access Law that says associations can’t say no. There is even a website that points you in the direction of the law for your state. Here is ours or check out the entire Database of State Incentives for 
Renewables and Efficiency.

Looks like you can see solar installed and exhibited at the Museum of Science, as well.

A special thanks to Earth Ethics Institute at Miami Dade College, Architecture Club – AIA Miami, and US Green Building Council South Florida Chapter for organizing the FREE event.

The speakers were a well rounded mix, from former Governor and Senator Bob Graham to Reverend Brenda Girton-Mitchell, various angles of the issue were covered. New tidbits I learned from the meeting:

Mayor Manny Diaz told us of his Miami Green Commission, which is explained below in a Herald article from July. I could not find any other mention of it on the City or County websites.

Defining the city’s problem as ”lots of concrete but not enough trees,” Diaz on Thursday announced the formation of a new Miami Green Commission, a citizens’ panel chaired by City Commissioner Joe Sanchez that will explore ways to expand and protect the natural canopy, encourage green building, retrofit city buildings with green features and identify other initiatives. Diaz also set a 2012 goal to incorporate 1,000 hybrid vehicles into the city’s fleet.

Adrianna Quintero-Somaini of NRDC’s Latino Initiatives told us of the launching of a new Spanish language eco-site: La Onda Verde.

Jim Fenton of the Florida Solar Energy Center up in Coco told us that Florida is #5 in the country for energy consumed per capita, and #3 in total energy consumption. These are not stats in which you want to be #1.

Reverend Brenda Girton-Mitchell was representing the National Council of Churches. They have created materials for individual churches to use to tie the eco-message with the message of the church.

Finally, Senator Bob Graham talked of his new Graham Centers for Public Policy to be located at both UM and UF. They are in a response to a "virtual collapse of civic participation in Florida." Additionally, he gave us a riddle: What do Bangladesh and Florida have in common? They are the regions of the world that will be most affected by a rising sea level. Self-interest should take over, he says, if nothing else.

For more information and a more complete summary of events, visit David Adam’s great synopsis at his blog, The Fueling Station. The Herald also wrote up a little piece. Update: Additionally, Adrianna Quintero wrote a blog entry on the event in the NRDC’s Drive Beyond Oil.

This is the perfect time to stock up on those CFLs that we talked about! Also, readers, please let me know…Did you hear about this on the news or in the papers? Anywhere?

Environmental Defense

"Replace one 100-watt bulb with a just-as-bright 30-watt compact fluorescent, and cut more than 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution over the life of the bulb. Swap out two bulbs to lower your household emissions by more than a ton!"

Sign the petition.

Take our poll: How many CFLs do you use in your home currently?

The fuel will be used for fire trucks and garbage trucks, among others. The fuel will be made from used cooking oil donated from local restaurants. They’ll process the oil to remove the glycerin, and then combine it with regular diesel to make B20 – 20% biodiesel fuel.

Using biodiesel isn’t what is new to Jacksonville – they already use it in over 300 of the city’s diesel compatible vehicles. Making it themselves – that’s not just the big story, it’s going to be a huge money saver, as well. The city hopes to increase the number of vehicles using biodiesel to 1,000: 100% of the city’s diesel vehicles.

To learn more about biodiesel, see our three-part series from July.

Via – Jacksonville.com via AutoblogGreen

Soon, we’ll start providing more tools on how to save energy inside your home.

To get started, take our new poll: How many CFL light bulbs do you have in your home?

To learn more about CFL bulbs and their benefits, see our post on the easiest way to reduce your energy usage.