Florida Lawmakers Consider Alternative Energy Bills

Florida Lawmakers Consider Alternative Energy Bills

By Kristi Swartz, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. -- April 3

While most consumers are grumbling about high gas prices, some Florida lawmakers have turned their attention to ways the state can beef up its use of renewable energy.

Holly Binns, the clean-air advocate for the Florida Public Interest Research Group, said this is the most attention lawmakers have paid to energy issues in recent years.

"It's been unusually active on this front," she said.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, chairman of the Senate Committee on Communication and Public Utilities, has said he is concerned about the need for other sources of fuel, Binns said, and is sponsoring two of the bills.

"It's the growing realization that business as usual isn't going to be adequate," she said.

Several bills designed to lessen the state's reliance on fossil fuels were heard in House and Senate committees earlier this week. None have come to the floor for a final vote.

"We are trying to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and in Florida, we have several renewable resources that we can utilize," said Alexander Mack, director of the Florida Energy Office.

Using Florida's renewable energy sources also means keeping dollars in the state instead of investing them elsewhere to import oil and coal, Mack said.

One of those sources is solid waste, or biomass.

Because of the high number of people flocking to Florida, the state is expected to produce 38 million tons of solid waste a year starting in 2018. The proposed Renewable Electric Energy Act wants to set up operations across the state that would help convert that waste to power.

The bill also would require public utilities to produce or purchase.5 percent of their annual net energy mix from renewable energy sources, starting in 2006. The utilities would have to increase this amount by.5 each year until 4 percent of its fuel mix comes from alternative sources.

Florida Power & Light Co. took steps earlier this year to provide renewable energy by starting a green-power program for consumers. The program lets residents buy solar energy to help fuel their homes.

"We're certainly supportive of efforts to utilize some more renewable energies," said FPL spokesman Bill Swank.

Lawmakers also want to move the Florida Energy Office from the state's Department of Community Affairs to the Department of Environmental Protection, which would serve as a clearinghouse for alternative energy programs and information.

The DEP also would oversee the proposed Clean Fuel Florida Advisory Board, which would study how alternative-fuel vehicles would impact Florida's environment.

The center would be a nonprofit research-and-development operation that would work on alternative energy projects with Florida universities and colleges. It would also make policy recommendations to the legislature.

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