The Sunshine State

I just recently got back from Spring Break in Miami, on the contrary I wasn't so lucky with the Sunshine State. I was only able to bask in the sunlight for 3 of my 10 day-stay in Florida. However energy providers in the Florida have just announced their plan to build the one of the nation's largest solar power plants. According to an article in the Tampa Bay Online, Florida has been long criticized for relying on coal as their source of energy. Tampa Electrics new Solar facililty will help to lessen their reliance on coal but will eventually raise the cost of energy to the consumer. According to Chuck Black, President of Tampa Electric, Solar energy is much more costly to produce than burning coal.

It will be interesting to see how consumers respond to the increased cost of energy for their homes, surely some consumers will be happy about the environmentally friendly mechanic of solar energy but when it starts affecting the consumers bank accounts the reaction toward solar energy may change.

The state of Florida has imposed the need to become more environmentally friendly in the production of energy, maybe the state of Florida should subsidize some of the costs for the consumer. Either way it all comes out of our pockets in one form or another.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/10/na-teco-takes-steps-to-go-solar/news-metro/