There’s a new tree in town that doesn’t need any fertilizer and requires very little water. But what makes this exotic tree really unique is the small seeds that come from its fruit. These are what some state and local officials are counting on as an alternative to corn ethanol. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports on the first Jatropha Curcas trees planted in Florida Thursday.

The Florida Department of Agriculture is hosting an alternative fuel conference starting Wednesday in St. Petersburg. WGCU's Valerie Alker reports.

One of Florida’s largest electric utilities may build a new nuclear power plant in the sunshine state. It says it’s needed to meet a demand for electricity that’s expected to increase 25 percent in the next ten years. Environmentalists say not so fast. WGCU’s Valerie Alker prepared this report.

Florida Power and Light has chosen a Sarasota site to build the Sunshine State’s largest solar array. It’s being paid for by FPL customers participating in what’s called the Sunshine Energy Program.

Under the voluntary program FPL customers agree to pay about 10-dollars more each month toward renewable energy production.

For every 10-thousand customers who sign up, FPL has agreed to build a solar array capable of generating enough electricity to power about 30 homes. This first one – being built at Rothenbach Park in Sarasota – will power nearly 50 households.

David Bates is the Sunshine Energy Program Manager.

“To provide energy for a little less than 50 homes it’s a half a football field, and land is pretty precious in Florida…and this requires a lot of land space in order to provide generation to the customers. Fortunately for this particular case it’s on a landfill so we’re taking advantage of a facility that really wouldn’t be used for something else.”

FPL’s Sunshine Energy Program also buys environmental credits from green energy producers around the state and nation. Buying these credits helps fund renewable energy production elsewhere to help offset pollution created here.

So far about a half a percent of FPL customers have signed up…that means nearly 28-thousand homes. The Rothenbach Park solar array should be up and running by April.

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A solar array half the size of a football field will soon be built in Sarasota County. It will generate enough electricity to power nearly 50 homes.

And while that might not sound like a lot, using the sun to generate even that much clean electricity prevents the release of more than 680-thousand pounds of carbon dioxide into the air…each year.

The array is being built as part of Florida Power and Light’s Sunshine Energy Program, under which customers agree to pay about 10-dollars more each month to help pay for renewable energy.

Program Manager - David Bates - says so far about 28-thousand customers have signed up…

“This is offered as a voluntary program because quite honestly not everyone wants to invest in it…not everyone has an environmental purpose. But for those that do and want to invest in the cleaner generation, this is an option that’s available to them.”

For every 10-thousand customers who enroll, FPL will build a solar array capable of generating electricity for about 30 homes. The program also buys clean energy credits from around the country to help offset locally produced pollution.

The array in Sarasota will be built off Bee Ridge road east of I-75. It should be up and running in April. Bates says as more FPL customers sign up to the Sunshine Energy Program more arrays like it will be built around the state.

An informational meeting about a coal burning power plant planned for Glades County will be held tonight in Ortona. Florida Power and Light recently got the go-ahead from Glades County to move forward with permitting of a coal burning plant to power 650-thousand homes. County officials say it’s an economic boom, bringing tax revenue and jobs. But Ellen Petersen, with the Sierra Club of Southwest Florida, doesn’t see it that way.

“We should be helping them with ecotourism and the wonderful aspects of the lake and the wonderful things that can be done in glades with Fisheating creek and cypress knee museum which would be spectacular tourist draws but this coal fired thing is an abomination.”

Petersen wants the national chapter of the Sierra Club to try to quash the plant. She says it threatens endangered birds like swallowtail kites. And she disagrees with FPL’s claim that new technology will minimize harmful emissions. F-P-L Area Manager for Southwest Florida, Grover Whidden, says the utility has done its homework – and the plant will do no harm.

“We have done initial environmental assessment of the site itself and have not found any endangered species. the site consists principally of the sugar cane fields – it’s presently cultivated in sugar cane fields – but even for any endangered species outside the immediate plant area it should not be a problem because this plant is not going to create any pollution.”

If the permitting process goes forward groundbreaking could be in two years – with the plant generating electricity by 2012. The informational meeting is at the Ortona Community Center at 7 P-M.

The Glades County Commission gave its unanimous approval yesterday for construction of a coal burning plant by Florida Power and Light. The new coal fueled power plant planned for rural Glades County would provide electricity for about 635 thousand F-P-L Customers. FPL is the largest electric utility provider in Florida. Spokesman Grover Whidden says the decision to build a coal burning plant is the result advances in technology.

“So far it isn’t being used yet in the u.s. although there are several companies that have announced proposed projects that use this technology, but the technology is actually u..s technology which has been proven in japan and germany where they actually have these plants right in their metropolitan area.”

The plant is welcome in Glades County. County manager Wendell Taylor says its an economic boon.

“Its unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. in fact its greater than all the things we’ve ever had before over here. it’s truly huge investment of two to three billion dollars and the taxable part will be about 2.6 billion dollars.”

Taylor says the Glades Power Park will also create about 180 good jobs. If the permitting process goes smoothly, ground breaking will be in 2008 and the plant will up and operating by 2013.




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Florida Power and Light got the go-ahead today (yesterday) from the Glades County Commission to build a coal operated power plant there. F-P-L spokesman Grover Whidden says the utility needs another plant to meet a growth in demand for electric energy in Florida. And he says at this juncture – coal is a good way to go.

byte: :43 companies are looking again at coal, because as you know it’s a very plentiful fossil fuel in the united states – we have very large reserves in this country – so its an opportunity you use our own domestic reserves and also there’s some reserves in this hemishphere in south America that are readily available and very economical

Whidden says the plant will be built with technology that makes burning coal cleaner. It will be the first power plant of its kind in the country. If all goes as planned it will operating by 2013, providing power an estimated 635 thousand F-P-L customers.

Sarasota’s been on the leading edge of conservation efforts in recent years. County commissioners have passed several resolutions mandating sustainability and preservation…and now they’re adding a hybrid bus to the county’s public transit fleet. The diesel-electric bus is the first of 30 that Sarasota County Area Transit plans to have on the road by next year. SCAT’s maintenance manager - Chad Engel - says it saves gas, emits less pollution…and is a downright smooth ride…


“It actually is much like riding in an automobile. Very quiet compared to a standard diesel bus. Very enjoyable – you don’t have to shout or yell if you’re sitting in the back if you’re riding with a friend or you meet somebody new on the bus. It’s a more pleasant atmosphere than a typical city bus.”

Engel says it’s all part of the county’s commitment to reduce fossil fuel use. Sarasota County Commissioners just passed what’s called the 2030 Challenge – a mandate to step down carbon emissions to ZERO over the next 24 years.

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Sarasota County Commissioners recently passed a resolution calling for the reduction in fossil fuel emissions. One of the first steps toward that goal got started Monday when the first of 30 hybrid buses hit the road as part of the county’s transit fleet. Sarasota County Area Transit maintenance manager Chad Engel calls the buses a win – win…


“The emissions are knocked down significantly…most by more than 90-percent, others by more than 50-percent. The overall diesel fuel consumption…you’re saving about 30-percent…the equivalent to about 7-thousand gallons a year.”

Engel says not only do the buses require less energy and emit less pollution, but they’re also so quiet you have to listen closely to tell if they’re running. The hybrid buses cost a half-million dollars each -- 200-thousand more than a standard diesel bus. They’re being purchased with federal grants.

The Senate is debating a bill that would open up more than eight million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas drilling. Republican Florida Senator Mel Martinez says Florida will be protected and supports the bill. But Florida Democrat Bill Nelson is concerned the U-S House could change the legislation. From Capitol Hill, Terry Gildea reports.

The Senate Energy Committee is considering legislation that would open up millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico to drilling for oil and natural gas. Republican Florida Senator Mel Martinez was at a hearing Thursday offering a solution to protect Florida’s coastline. From Capitol Hill, Terry Gildea reports.