Sun is Florida's solution to climate change (Tallahassee Democrat OpEd)

[jpak]

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/OPINION05/704170315/1006/OPINION

Imagine a time in the near future when Florida-produced solar electrons are flowing from your roof to power your zero-energy home, and your plug-in hybrid vehicle in the garage is getting its power from that same rooftop system. You could have all the electricity and hot water you needed for your home 24/7, along with a way to fill up your car without leaving home - all produced by Florida's sunshine.

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I suggest that the plan he needs for the Sunshine State is simple: We reduce the burning of fossil fuels that dirty our air and water, that produce the greenhouse gases that increase global air and ocean temperatures, and which we import from other states and foreign nations at great expense. The way to do this is to make our homes and cars more energy-efficient.

More than half of Florida's energy use is for buildings, with the biggest user being our residences, meaning that if the state really wants to minimize its use of electricity consumption, it starts with you and me - the homeowners. Our plan must start with efficiency.

The least-expensive kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the one that we do not use or produce. Energy-efficiency strategies can result in the 190,000 new homes built in the state every year achieving almost 40-percent greater efficiency than the 2007 building code requires, and the state's 7.3 million existing homes can be cost-effectively improved by more than 30 percent.

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[ixion]

1. yep, 'tis true

now we just have to do it.