Florida must be a national leader as our country transitions to a 21st century economy. The most vital step is to move Florida away from traditional dirty non-renewable fossil fuels, and towards clean renewable alternative energy sources. Florida is a large and geographically diverse state, which makes it ideal to utilize all different forms of clean energy resources.
I support the construction of a wind farm in the northern part of the district. Currently, a private company, Wind Capital Group, is willing to invest millions of dollars in the Glades region in the northern part of the district to construct the Sugarland Wind project. When completed this wind farm will generate 200MW, which will be enough energy to power 60,000 homes. The construction of this project will also create hundreds of jobs in an area that was hit especially hard during the recession, with an unemployment rate around 40%. This project will result in private money being invested in the local economy at no cost to taxpayers, while also providing a cheap, clean, renewable source of energy to an area in desperate need of economic development.
For a state that is known as “The Sunshine State”, Florida is not doing enough in the area of solar energy. It should be a goal that every home in this state is run by solar electricity. Costs of solar panels, and solar energy per kilowatt hour have been dramatically decreasing in recent years, making it a more affordable option for homeowners. The federal government also provides a 30% tax credit for those installing solar panels, further reducing the overall cost. Since excess energy is often produced, homeowners would also be able to sell this excess energy back to the electric company to help balance the cost of panel installation. Once a homeowner covers the cost of purchase, any excess energy sold to the electric company would result in profit for the homeowner. As a state, we must provide further incentives for current and new homes to install solar panels to take advantage of Florida’s unique position as the Sunshine State. We must also require that buildings owned by the Florida state government be retrofitted with solar panels.
I support the construction of a wind farm in the northern part of the district. Currently, a private company, Wind Capital Group, is willing to invest millions of dollars in the Glades region in the northern part of the district to construct the Sugarland Wind project. When completed this wind farm will generate 200MW, which will be enough energy to power 60,000 homes. The construction of this project will also create hundreds of jobs in an area that was hit especially hard during the recession, with an unemployment rate around 40%. This project will result in private money being invested in the local economy at no cost to taxpayers, while also providing a cheap, clean, renewable source of energy to an area in desperate need of economic development.
For a state that is known as “The Sunshine State”, Florida is not doing enough in the area of solar energy. It should be a goal that every home in this state is run by solar electricity. Costs of solar panels, and solar energy per kilowatt hour have been dramatically decreasing in recent years, making it a more affordable option for homeowners. The federal government also provides a 30% tax credit for those installing solar panels, further reducing the overall cost. Since excess energy is often produced, homeowners would also be able to sell this excess energy back to the electric company to help balance the cost of panel installation. Once a homeowner covers the cost of purchase, any excess energy sold to the electric company would result in profit for the homeowner. As a state, we must provide further incentives for current and new homes to install solar panels to take advantage of Florida’s unique position as the Sunshine State. We must also require that buildings owned by the Florida state government be retrofitted with solar panels.
