On Monday’s Sustainable Living program we talked about solar power here in the Sunshine State. There are two solar related amendments to the Florida Constitution coming up. Susan Glickman with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Dr. Julie Kessel with the League of Woman Voters joined the show to explain these amendments and their impact on solar electric systems in Florida. We also talked with a member of The Community Power Network, Julie Stiever, about the new St Petersburg Solar Co-op, co-ops in general, community supported power and the benefits of distributed power.
We’ll be voting on Amendment 4 this month so please, if you didn’t hear the show, listen to it archived on WMNF.org or check out the Florida Alliance for Clean Energy site. Also on the Florida election ballot this November will be the utilities’ Amendment 1; which according to our guest is a big NO! As the world heats up, Florida’s four big monopoly power companies are worried about one thing; their profits. Yes, solar co-ops are a great idea and it’s easy to start one; all of the information is on the Florida Sun website–or if you’re in the area you can join the St Pete Co-op. True, the price of solar electric system components are dropping; but the price of installed systems hasn’t quite kept up and with the help of a co-op you can get the best prices and installers available, plus all the information and support you’ll need. Stay tuned; we’ll be doing a show on Do-It-Yourself solar electric systems soon. Please consider at least looking into this; we have to get off fossil fuels and this is our first step!
Sothern Alliance for clean energy www.cleanenergy.org
Florida Sun & St. Pete Coop www.flsun.org
Florida League of Woman Voters www.thefloridavoter.org
