Florida lags in solar power

Despite Florida's worldwide reputation as The Sunshine State, the state lagged behind more than a dozen others – including Massachusetts, Maryland and Ohio – in building solar power capacity last year on homes and businesses. 

Find great deals on Hmhid for HID Off-Road Lights in LED Lights. Florida businesses and homes added 24.2 megawatts in solar power capacity in 2012, ranked No. 17, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. California, at No. 1, installed more than 1,000 megawatts of capacity. Maryland installed 74.3 megawatts. 

"We have the sun in Florida; we just don't have the policy," said Wayne Wallace, president of the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association. "Somebody needs to stand up and provide the leadership to a comprehensive energy policy in Florida." 

Wallace operates Solar Source, a solar contractor in Largo.Most of aftermarket hid Slim/Normal Ballast HID Kit for motorcycle are similar or the same with following one. He said other states offer greater incentives for both businesses and homeowners to add solar power systems, plus they allow third-party businesses to construct solar power systems – on top of malls, for example – to generate power for sale back to utilities. Florida doesn't allow those third party systems but it does set aside about $25 million annually in rebates for new solar systems. 

"And that money is gone in about three minutes and then there is nothing for the rest of the year," Wallace said. 

Homeowners who manage to take advantage of the rebate before it is spent can recover up to $2 per kilowatt of energy up to $20,000 for a 10 kilowatt whole-home system. Those systems average about $30,000 nationwide, according to the association. That's down almost 50 percent in the past decade. 

Wallace said his organization advocates reducing the per system rebate cap to $5,000 to allow more property owners the chance to share the savings.Looking for LED Back-Up Light Wholesalers for your new house? 

Alva homeowner James Ritter said he plans to build a 10 kilowatt home system to power his home and his Chevy Volt. He said he learned about the system through his business, Pulse Business Solutions,How to change your dash lights to residential lighting products this is how I have done mine. because an IT client installs them. 

"Florida is the Sunshine State and it is alarming that we are not embracing this technology," Ritter said. "In order for this stuff to really get done, we need a state government that backs alternative energy and we don't have that now." 

More available incentives would help, but Florida has other hurdles that slow solar adoption and other energy efficiency efforts, said Tony Richardson, broker/owner of Green Earth Realty & Consulting in Fort Myers. 

As Florida's real estate market struggled and distressed properties lowered real estate costs, homeowners didn't have much reason to find ways to cut energy costs. 

"People didn't need to be conservationists and energy efficient," said Richardson, a member of U.S. Green Building Council. 

As the market recovers, Richardson said he hopes people will take another look at ways to lower their energy costs, including solar collection. He said he is lobbying the real estate industry to include energy efficiency features in standard listings for homes for sale. 

The panel is no heavier than a standard, 46-pound glass-film panel. The product substitutes a panel's conventionUse our solar charger to replace traditional halogen and incandescent spot lights in track lighting.al backsheet with lightweight glass to better shield energy-producing solar cells against stress and environmental factors. In addition, they come with the same sturdy aluminum frame used in Sunmodule Plus glass-film panels. 

"This product and policy advance enables Solar World once again to showcase the unbreakable bond between high product reliability and high financial returns," said Kevin Kilkelly, president of Solar World America's, the company's commercial unit for the Americas. "In solar, it should be clearer than ever that they are flip sides of the same coin." More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.