Comments on: Director’s Message: Energy Too Costly for Florida http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/ A Newsletter of the Florida Solar Energy Center Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:00:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Utility Warehouse http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2775 Utility Warehouse Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:58:38 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2775 All swimming pool heating should be via solar panels to save masses of energy. All swimming pool heating should be via solar panels to save masses of energy.

]]> By: Green Home http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2322 Green Home Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:25:07 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2322 With the cost of energy increasing, solar panels and wind turbines are a great way of producing energy. Although they come with a price tag once bought you can start creating your own energy. Not only can these products help reduce your energy bills they can also reduce your carbon footprint, helping the environment also. Greener homes are the future and things such as loft/wall insulation and double glazing can also make your home more energy efficient. With the cost of energy increasing, solar panels and wind turbines are a great way of producing energy. Although they come with a price tag once bought you can start creating your own energy. Not only can these products help reduce your energy bills they can also reduce your carbon footprint, helping the environment also. Greener homes are the future and things such as loft/wall insulation and double glazing can also make your home more energy efficient.

]]> By: Jim Duncalf http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2227 Jim Duncalf Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:04:10 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2227 April, you make a good point about moving out of the state. The state of Florida has criminalized being a contractor, fingerprints and all. It is no accident that the states with the highest construction fraud are those with the most stringent licensing laws. It’s called job security. I read that California recently reported that they have in just one year given contractor’s license to over 27,000 convicted criminals. Thanks guys. Those are the kind of folks I want working on my mother’s house! I am sure this news makes us all feel much better that you’re on the job screening those pesky contractors for us. In 1972 I designed and built a solar home for an executive in western Illinois. It was a moderate success, energy consumption was reduced about 50%. In an effort to gain more information on solar technology I made a trip a few years later to Florida to visit a federal solar research facility which at that time was located near the Kennedy Space Center. I will never forget the scene. We were standing in a fenced enclosure surrounded with several solar panels with the bureaucrat that ran the place, a Mr. Johnson. He showing me a few of the panels, then stopped and looked me in straight in the eye told me to go home and forget about building with solar it would never be a practical technology. I looked at him and asked what he was doing here. It’s a job, he replied. The next day I had a meeting with of a professor and solar pioneer Erich Farber. He was much more encouraging. He made a strong point about the vast difference between the way a bureaucrat looks at a problem and the way an engineer or business man looks at a problem. A bureaucrat will see a problem as a lever to set up a profitable bureaucracy where he can hire friends and family. As a result though they will spend millions of tax payer’s money and make a big show, they will never solve the original problem as that would put them out of a job. A business person or engineer on the other hand will make a career out of efficiently solving problems. They are efficient because they’re not spending free money. Bureaucrats gain power from creating crises, and never solving any underlying problem, while engineers and business people make a living by efficiently solving problems. I believe it was George Washington that observed that imperfect men cannot govern well therefore the best governance comes from the least government. Corrupt bureaucrats are not the way out of America’s problems. I have decided to go ahead and ignore the idiots. Screw the license crap. The nation’s contractors and working people need to stand and fight. Americans need to reassert there God given freedom. America’s salvation rests not on more parasitic bureaucrats, but on the shoulders of its creative hardworking free people. April, you make a good point about moving out of the state. The state of Florida has criminalized being a contractor, fingerprints and all. It is no accident that the states with the highest construction fraud are those with the most stringent licensing laws. It’s called job security. I read that California recently reported that they have in just one year given contractor’s license to over 27,000 convicted criminals. Thanks guys. Those are the kind of folks I want working on my mother’s house! I am sure this news makes us all feel much better that you’re on the job screening those pesky contractors for us.
In 1972 I designed and built a solar home for an executive in western Illinois. It was a moderate success, energy consumption was reduced about 50%. In an effort to gain more information on solar technology I made a trip a few years later to Florida to visit a federal solar research facility which at that time was located near the Kennedy Space Center. I will never forget the scene. We were standing in a fenced enclosure surrounded with several solar panels with the bureaucrat that ran the place, a Mr. Johnson. He showing me a few of the panels, then stopped and looked me in straight in the eye told me to go home and forget about building with solar it would never be a practical technology. I looked at him and asked what he was doing here. It’s a job, he replied.
The next day I had a meeting with of a professor and solar pioneer Erich Farber. He was much more encouraging. He made a strong point about the vast difference between the way a bureaucrat looks at a problem and the way an engineer or business man looks at a problem. A bureaucrat will see a problem as a lever to set up a profitable bureaucracy where he can hire friends and family. As a result though they will spend millions of tax payer’s money and make a big show, they will never solve the original problem as that would put them out of a job. A business person or engineer on the other hand will make a career out of efficiently solving problems. They are efficient because they’re not spending free money. Bureaucrats gain power from creating crises, and never solving any underlying problem, while engineers and business people make a living by efficiently solving problems.
I believe it was George Washington that observed that imperfect men cannot govern well therefore the best governance comes from the least government. Corrupt bureaucrats are not the way out of America’s problems. I have decided to go ahead and ignore the idiots. Screw the license crap. The nation’s contractors and working people need to stand and fight. Americans need to reassert there God given freedom. America’s salvation rests not on more parasitic bureaucrats, but on the shoulders of its creative hardworking free people.

]]> By: sejour thalasso http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2215 sejour thalasso Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:24:15 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2215 I really liked this post, it's a good article! I really liked this post, it’s a good article!

]]> By: florida villa http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2211 florida villa Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:16:49 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2211 Solar panels are freat in florida to reduce rental cost as the enrgy costs are reduced for heating swimming pools. Solar panels are freat in florida to reduce rental cost as the enrgy costs are reduced for heating swimming pools.

]]> By: April Iorio Kolen http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2145 April Iorio Kolen Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:45:31 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2145 Florida makes it very hard to any renewable energy business to offer quality products for homeowners. We are part of the USA Solar Store Group headquarters in Vermont.In New England and most of the states, one can be a retailer, do site visits for homeowners for solar thermal and PV, hire out licensed electricians and plumbers to install the systems for homeowners. This is a local financial stimulus. It gives jobs to electricians, plumbers and roofers and it enables a small business like mine to offer energy independence and full service of a plethora renewable energy products to homeowners. However, I am looking at closing down and moving out of the state after attending a solar thermal workshop at fsec and finding out that this is called subcontracting without a license. We offer conservation and energy efficient products and education as well to the homeowner because that is also important. After having got my own denial for my rebate from Charlie Crist for my solar hot water system, I can see how rough things are here. Businesses are interested in renewables either to look "green" or to really save some money but to just offer the average homeowner a chance to make their own decisions is almost impossible. Once Florida stops paving over the trees for more big boxes and cookie cutters, perhaps we will realize, albeit probably too late that we lived in a tropical paradise and it was worth saving. Florida makes it very hard to any renewable energy business to offer quality products for homeowners. We are part of the USA Solar Store Group headquarters in Vermont.In New England and most of the states, one can be a retailer, do site visits for homeowners for solar thermal and PV, hire out licensed electricians and plumbers to install the systems for homeowners. This is a local financial stimulus. It gives jobs to electricians, plumbers and roofers and it enables a small business like mine to offer energy independence and full service of a plethora renewable energy products to homeowners. However, I am looking at closing down and moving out of the state after attending a solar thermal workshop at fsec and finding out that this is called subcontracting without a license. We offer conservation and energy efficient products and education as well to the homeowner because that is also important.
After having got my own denial for my rebate from Charlie Crist for my solar hot water system, I can see how rough things are here. Businesses are interested in renewables either to look “green” or to really save some money but to just offer the average homeowner a chance to make their own decisions is almost impossible.
Once Florida stops paving over the trees for more big boxes and cookie cutters, perhaps we will realize, albeit probably too late that we lived in a tropical paradise and it was worth saving.

]]> By: John Maher http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2140 John Maher Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:03:17 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2140 The biggest challenge here is the energy companies themselves. For a very long time, the incentive is to centralize energy production, even when it's more expensive than distributed sourcing. That's particularly true with solar and wind power. A recent Fast Company article illustrates this, and points to some of the difficulties in changing over. Seems to me that that New Jersey is clearly ahead of the pack, as are all states with incentives for local energy production. But the battle between the current energy producers and the rest of us is just starting out. Guess who has the most clout in congressional lobbying? The biggest challenge here is the energy companies themselves. For a very long time, the incentive is to centralize energy production, even when it’s more expensive than distributed sourcing. That’s particularly true with solar and wind power. A recent Fast Company article illustrates this, and points to some of the difficulties in changing over. Seems to me that that New Jersey is clearly ahead of the pack, as are all states with incentives for local energy production. But the battle between the current energy producers and the rest of us is just starting out. Guess who has the most clout in congressional lobbying?

]]> By: john warrington http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2132 john warrington Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:59:33 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2132 Solar panels need to be considered but is the maintenence cost of them unreliable especially in the global financial climate? Will people opt for them? Solar panels need to be considered but is the maintenence cost of them unreliable especially in the global financial climate? Will people opt for them?

]]> By: Alex Armentia http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-2040 Alex Armentia Tue, 12 May 2009 19:10:52 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-2040 Harolyn, The solar industry, as this article portrays, is facing a potential challenge. If the state rebate was not to be renewed by the end of 2010, I am not sure what kind of turn the industry will take. On the other side, you still have solar domestic hot water and solar pool heating which both give a good "bang for the buck". To know exactly "what is involved" is more complicated that it might seem. Feel free to visit your website and you can put in a call and talk to any of our Solar specialists and they will be able to walk you through everything you need to know and see if they can find a solution for your solar needs. Regards. Harolyn,

The solar industry, as this article portrays, is facing a potential challenge. If the state rebate was not to be renewed by the end of 2010, I am not sure what kind of turn the industry will take.

On the other side, you still have solar domestic hot water and solar pool heating which both give a good “bang for the buck”.

To know exactly “what is involved” is more complicated that it might seem. Feel free to visit your website and you can put in a call and talk to any of our Solar specialists and they will be able to walk you through everything you need to know and see if they can find a solution for your solar needs.

Regards.

]]> By: HAROLYN SCOTT http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2009/04/energy-too-costly-for-florida/comment-page-1/#comment-1980 HAROLYN SCOTT Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:20:02 +0000 http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/?p=303#comment-1980 My husbnd and I are retiring and moving to a smaller home. We are interested in any state/federal incentives for solar energy, as it seems to be the answer to our budget. However, it is not cost effective for our budget, as well. We need to know exactly what is involved. Your kind response to this inquiry will be greatly appreciated. My husbnd and I are retiring and moving to a smaller home. We are interested in any state/federal incentives for solar energy, as it seems to be the answer to our budget. However, it is not cost effective for our budget, as well. We need to know exactly what is involved. Your kind response to this inquiry will be greatly appreciated.

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