Federal Agency Knocks PACE Off Course

Florida Clean Energy Needs Leadership
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA, the U.S. housing finance regulator) recently solidified its opposition to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. The lone renewable energy initiative that won support in the 2010 Florida legislature, charting state-wide procedures for PACE, was the only move for clean energy the Florida legislature made since 2008—but [...]

Public must come first at Florida PSC

E. L. Jacobs, Jr.

As a former chair of the Florida Public Service Commission, I am concerned that recent actions in Tallahassee to dismantle the PSC send the message that the views of the working and bill-paying public count for nothing. Those actions show contempt for balancing the interests of ratepayers with politics.
What other meaning could [...]

Gulf Gusher Tentatively Plugged, Residents Left With Oily Sludge and Distrust

BP and government officials state that the “static kill” procedure used to stop oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for over 3 months is a tentative success as of Friday, August 6th.  On Aug. 5th, crews pumped cement down into the blown-out well in hopes of securing a permanent seal.  This seal, however, is [...]

Bloated costs for Florida IOU energy efficiency programs

Two weeks ago, SACE provided detailed analysis and findings based on evaluation of proposed energy efficiency programs filed by Florida power utilities. Over the past couple of days, one of those utilities responded.
Progress Energy Florida feels that our comments “should not be considered ” by the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC).  Progress Energy also says [...]

Clean Energy Gulf Challenge FINALIST Webinar Series begins today July 6th - 8th

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s (SACE) “Clean Energy Gulf Challenge” Finalist Webinar Series begins today.  SACE, along with a panel of expert reviewers, have chosen three Clean Energy Gulf Challenge finalists to present their ideas to the public via lunchtime webinars on July 6th, 7th and 8th.   Beginning on July [...]

The Saddest Thing: First-hand Encounter of Oil on Florida and Alabama Beaches

On Monday, June 28, I walked the once pristine beaches of Perdido Key, Florida and was sickened by what I saw. Until recently, these beaches were arguably the whitest sugar-sand beaches in the world. I’ve spent time in this area during nearly every year of my life and never thought I would see this [...]

Hands Across the Sand United for Clean Energy

This blog post was co-authored by Toni Reale and Jennifer Rennicks
On Saturday, June 26th tens of thousands of people gathered at more than 900 locations in 39 countries to be part of an event called Hands Across the Sand.  The message was simple, clear and powerful: NO to offshore drilling and YES to a clean [...]

Dams in the desert, windmills in the doldrums, biopower in the Berkshires

From SACE’s perspective, the Manomet study of biomass and carbon offers an important new way to describe and think-through the possible impacts on the climate from biomass energy. Although the study’s findings are limited in geographic scope, the methodology can be applied elsewhere to great benefit.

Join Hands Across the Sand this Saturday

On summer weekends visitors and residents alike head to beaches across our region to surf, fish, swim and play. One hard reality of the still-ongoing Gulf oil disaster is that at least 100 miles of Gulf coastline cannot welcome people or animals due to the oil and tar balls that continue to wash up [...]

Field Update from the Front Lines of the Oil Disaster

Guest blog by Linda Young, Director of the Clean Water Network of Florida
As I sit here typing, wave after wave of oil is washing ashore in Orange Beach, AL and there is not one skimmer boat in sight. Senator Bill Nelson (FL) has said that the Coast Guard command and control operations are not [...]