Florida holds great potential in developing renewable energy utilizing its climate and natural resources. The sunshine state has fantastic solar energy opportunities boasting investment in large-scale solar energy projects and private households installing solar panels to generate electricity and heat up water.
There are many wave energy opportunities in Florida, the Straits Current and Gulf Stream Current are only a few miles away from the shorelines in the south and eastern parts of the state. Those can be used to generate electricity from tidal wave energy.
Light winds make wind energy the least attractive when it comes to renewable energy in Florida, at the same time new technologies in wind energy do give the possibility for home owners to install wind turbines privately and generate their own power in windy areas.
The current government of Florida is pushing for reforms in the energy sector, particularly after recent fossil fuel disasters such as the Deep Horizon explosion and the huge oil spill that followed after it. The ecological impact of catastrophes like this had triggered a large wave of awareness about the ability of states and countries to utilize their natural resources for the benefit of creating clean and sustainable energy. The Obama administration is also pushing towards a new energy bill to boost renewable energy investment all over the United States and get rid of "America's addiction" to oil. This energy bill will have a direct influence on new energy laws passed on a local state level.
Florida has all the potential to become a leader in solar energy attracting large-scale investments that can help the state to create additional new jobs in the energy sector, help meeting the electricity demand during high peak times through out the year and enjoy the environmental benefits that derive from clean, sustainable, renewable energy.