Enterprise Florida Wants Out of Responsibility to Encourage Use of Solar Power
Apr 05 - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Florida may be the Sunshine State. But maybe not when it comes to courting business.
The agency, Enterprise Florida, is supposed to attract solar-device
manufacturers, promote projects that harness solar energy for commercial
purposes and otherwise "assist in the expansion of the solar energy
industry."
Despite Florida's trademark sunshine, solar-energy systems are relatively
rare here, as nationwide. Floridians install about 15,000 solar water and pool
heaters each year, as well as uncounted solar-powered emergency highway phones,
road-sign lights and backyard lamps, according to industry groups. But
conventional electricity has been convenient and cheap enough to limit interest
in solar devices, which cut electric and heating bills but generally cost more
up front than their conventional counterparts.
With oil prices up 67 percent from a year ago, the climate might seem right
for cultivating solar-energy firms. But Enterprise Florida finds the obligation
unwieldy.
"We do have limited resources and limited staff, and we need to focus on
our core responsibilities -- economic diversity and creating high-wage jobs for
Floridians," spokeswoman Erin Heston said.
Florida makes other attempts to promote solar power, though with less of a
business-development focus. And legislators are floating several pro-solar
plans, including an indefinite extension of a tax break on solar heaters and
panels. Given those efforts, the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association --
a trade group for manufacturers and installers of solar devices -- doesn't mind
being dropped from Enterprise Florida's to-do list.
"We're really getting a lot of exposure [from other initiatives],"
Executive Director Bruce Kershner said.
But to another advocate, the state is proposing to do less when it should be
doing more.
"Sooner or later, we're going to have to operate with much more
[alternative] energy," said Philip Fairey, the deputy director of the
Florida Solar Energy Center, a state-backed research organization. "If the
state really wants to move actively toward what must be the future, then it
doesn't make a lot of sense."
-----
To see more of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- including
its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the
newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com
.
Copyright (c) 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at
(800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail
reprints@krtinfo.com.