Electric companies are installing smart meters across the state. The change has brought the national debate on smart meter technology to Florida. 

Florida Power and Light (FPL) is switching 4.5 million electric meters across the state to smart meters. Smart meters read energy digitally and send hourly electrical usage from customer’s homes to the utility. Information travels through a neighborhood system of two-way radio transmitters to an access point mounted on a power pole.

The Fort Myers-based company Algenol Biofuels, Inc., resumed construction last week on its expansion plans after a high-stress hiatus. 

The biotech company, which produces ethanol from algae, put a halt to its expansion about two months ago due to roadblocks from the state legislature. 

Palm Beach County Commissioners are scheduled to vote up or down Thursday on permitting a wind farm east of Belle Glade. Commissioners expect it will pass, but it still faces a number of permitting hurdles. Although the turbines produce so called green energy, there is concern about the toll it could take on wildlife. WGCU’s Jenny Bechtold has this report.

People are waking up and turning up their thermostats----electric utilities says there’s plenty of power to  meet demand but urge conservation all the same.  WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

Methods for saving energy ranged from simple to eclectic at the Charlotte County Economic Development Office’s third Annual Energy Options Conference Wednesday.  

Participants shared unique ways of harnessing energy while learning about a program for fostering new ideas for saving energy.     

Charlotte County has raised the thermostats in its buildings and installed sensors to turn off lights when people leave offices. This has resulted in significant savings. 

But how about harnessing ocean energy to power offices and buildings? Dr. Stephen Wood with the Florida Institute of Technology is working on ways to do just that.

 “Why is it that everyone is focusing on wind power and solar power when right here off the coast we have a tremendous amount of power,” he said.   “When you think of the density of water versus the density of air you can have a much, much smaller propeller in the water to get the equivalent of a gigantic propeller in the air.”

Wood and his students have developed two prototypes they’re testing right now.     

If ocean waves are abundant, so is sunshine in Florida.  Regenesis Power has installed solar arrays around the state including at Florida Gulf Coast University and the Florida governor’s mansion.  

But, Regenesis Vice President Dell Jones is touting a solar plan he says can create lots of jobs, reduce the average family’s  electric bill by 20 percent  and lead to a greener Florida.  Jones said this can be done by paying the company $34.95 a month to install and maintain a solar water heater.  

“If you give it to the electric utility – typically half of everyone’s electric bill is fuel.  And what do you with fuel?  You burn it. So literally we take what otherwise would have been given to the electric utility who will spend it on fuel and literally burn it, we keep that money in the local businesses and the local economy,” he said. 

A strategy still in the development stage for increasing fuel efficiency in vehicles was also on the agenda.  Darryl Keyes is the CEO of UK-based DieselMist Corporation.  Its idea is to run vehicles off a mix of diesel and propane.  Keyes said this kind of innovation is the path to the future.

“I think all new technologies gives sort of various opportunities. There are obstacles to overcome. And, I think if we think like we always did then we never progress. So, I think the key is to embrace these new technologies these new ideas, new patterns and harness them for mass market production,” he said.

And, Charlotte County is looking for more new ideas.  It’s doing that through its Innovation2IndustryFlorida program.  Inventors and others are invited to submit proposals for new, green technology to the county’s Economic Development Office between now and the end of the year.  

Three winners will be announced in March.  They will receive a cash prize plus free rent and maintenance on office space in Charlotte County for two years. The county’s Sharon Fumei said everybody wins. 

 “We’re in economic development.  We want to bring business to this county.  We want jobs for the people here. We want growth for the people here. This is our way of helping foster those new entrepreneurs out there,” she said.  

Details about the Innovation2Industry contest are available at www.i2ifl.com.

Officials at Florida Power and Light say their nuclear reactors can stand up to the worst Mother Nature can dish out.

In Japan, officials are still dealing with radiation leaking from nuclear power plants damaged in the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. FPL spokesman Mayco Villafana said earthquakes aren’t a factor in the Sunshine state and that their facilities are pretty much hurricane proof.

“These plants have taken an incredible array of processes and procedures to make them safe and secure. In the case of Turkey Point those power plants have already gone through category 5 hurricanes and have resurfaced without any kind of impact” he said.

FPL operates two nuclear power plants in Florida including Turkey Point, which withstood Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in August 1992.

FPL’s St. Lucie nuclear facility went through a number of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, although none reached category 5. Progress Energy also operates a nuclear plant at Crystal River on the Gulf Coast.

Right now Tropical Storms Bret and Cindy are swirling around in the Atlantic – neither poses any threat to Florida.

Business owners, government officials, local residents and investors joined a day-long tour and Town Hall Meeting Thursday intended to boost interest in developing Florida’s green and renewable energy economy. WGCU’s John Davis reports.

Would you sign a 30 year agreement with your power company right now, knowing the future of renewable energy is still up in the air?  That's exactly the decision Sarasota City Commissioners are trying to make and they are looking for input from everyone from experts to city residents.  Mia McCormick reports.

Fort Myers writer Shawn Holiday has been watching and listening to news coverage of the oil disaster with great interest.  He wonders whether this unnatural disaster could have a natural solution?

Floridians acted quickly to take advantage of a recent appliance rebate program to provide a 20-percent discount on energy star appliances. The program’s funds were exhausted in just one day.  But, there are still a number of ways to make a home more green. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.