With the worries about the environment and fears about our current energy resources not being enough to sustain us, people are always looking for alternative and better energy solutions. Florida's governor, Charlie Crist has recently started working to find alternative energy resources than just the typical gas or electric power. Crist looked to find ways that Florida can use renewable energy resources with can help to save not energy, money, and help to create jobs for the people of his state.
There are five ways Florida is working to use renewable energy resources in place of other energy solutions. The first is through solar energy. Florida Gulf Coast University is going to use the $8.5 million they received to build a solar photovoltaic which will help to power the campus. There are also plans for a new power plant in Florida. With construction of this power plant, Florida would be second in the nation for solar energy production.
Wind power is another form of renewable energy that Florida officials hope to be able to use in place of non-renewable energy resources. A wind farm of six windmills are planned to be constructed in St. Lucie County, Florida, an area along the eastern edge of Florida. If constructed it would be the only such wind turbine in Florida and would produce 13.8 megawatts of power.
A third renewable energy resource that Florida might use is wave energy. Using the waves of the ocean, the University of South Florida hopes to be able to create electricity from the constant motion of the ocean. Other universities in the state are also doing research into how the waves of the ocean could be used to create energy.
Another renewable energy resource Florida hopes to use soon is ethanol and biofuels. Lake Mary, in northeast Florida will soon be the new corporate headquarters of New Generation Biofuels. By 2010, 10% of Florida's gasoline supply should be made up of ethanol. The University of Florida, which received $20 million in 2007 to construct a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant also continues to work toward helping Florida develop renewable energy solutions.
A final renewable energy resource solution that has been considered in Florida is converting waste into energy. Through working with Progress Energy and Biomass Gas & Electric, Florida plans to soon have the largest waste wood biomass plant in the United States. This would be in Liberty County, Florida, in the panhandle of the state.
Waste wood comes from many different sources including yard clippings, tree bark, and wood knots from paper mills. These items which would otherwise be thrown out as trash are then used to create energy. Waste wood must meet certain criteria to be about to be used in waste wood plants including not containing harmful levels of certain substances including lead, pesticides, or arsenic. Biomass energy also reduces greenhouse gases because it recycles atmospheric carbon. Although Florida can't make the world a greener place on its own, the efforts expected to be made by Florida residents in the next few years will at least do something to make our world a greener place to live.
Samantha Kleiner writes about floods and water damage problem. See:
http://www.localwaterremoval.com/Florida
Twice shot down now: converting waste into energy. Biomass Gas & Electric's plans to have the largest waste wood biomass plant in the US, in Liberty County, Florida, in the panhandle of the state has been shot down. Then BG&E targeted Tallahassee, and that plan has been shot down in January, 2009. Where will BG&E prey upon next? Some say Gadsden County...wherever Farris attempts to sell his snake oil, I hope the community is alerted to his utter failures in Florida and with FERCO in Burlington, VT. The neighbors there have been involved in litigation for many years, FERCO (the former name of BG&E) left the town $2M in the hole, with groundwater contamination. The gasifier sits "mothballed", shut down in 2000, and according to the project manager at Burlington, "left a bad taste in our mouths". The grand jury is investigating the deal in Tallahassee. Other counties, BEWARE.
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