Gainesville borrowed the solar feed-in tariff concept from Germany. Now a German subsidiary based in Lakeland is building the largest privately owned solar array in the state through the program, covering 7 acres on vacant land near the confluence of Northwest 13th and Sixth streets. When complete, 8,600 photovoltaic panels will supply 2 megawatts of power — enough to power 200 to 300 homes.
What a waste of resources.
Not bad for something that costs pennies to produce by other means. :sarcasm: 
Germany has drastically changed it’s lucrative solar feed-in-tariff
Now theres a program to put people to work who wouda thunk it
You can put people to work building dirt hills and then pay them again to tear them down.
Doesn’t make much sense, does it?
I dunno… worked in the great depression with the WPA project. Of course you could get a loaf of bread for a dime then.
get real dude…eventually alternative energy will have to dominate…maybe not in my life time but in my kids lifetime for sure. Why not be prepared instead of waiting for some towelhead to force this on us. All it will take is one middle eastern country to withhold a small % of oil from export and it’s over. Of coarse we could always go over there and just take it like the old days.
Do some research.
The great depression ended because of the ramp up to build a war machine to end WWII.
Since the Allies destroyed Europe’s and Asia’s industrial production capacity and we were not touched stateside we had a ready market to sell our goods to post war.
This is what got us out of the depression.
If you were taught something different you need to get your money back.
FWIW I have no problem with alternative energy that does not require a government subsidy or mandate to survive.
When one comes along the transition with be quite dramatic until then we are wasting capital propping up one inefficient alternative after another.
Ethanol has been around for over 20 years and still cannot survive without massive subsidies and mandates that it be in our fuel.
The same problem exists with wind and solar with present technology.
I got my money back a long time ago…
I think you should return yours…Just about every corp. business banks mortgage oil gas cigarettes suger etc. is propped up by some form of subsidy of another. So either elimate all subsidies (which we know will never happen) or continue putting the common man back to work with more.
What did you find a gas gusher in your back yard.
I’m for ending all subsidies but you are not making a fair comparison.
The alternative energy subsidies make the least sense to me as it only increases the cost of energy for everyone.
Ethanol is a large waste of money that they are holding on tight to. Expensive and very inefficient. believe me I know, I have an E85 truck.
Did you know that 1/2 of all the money given to the electric companies leaves the state. If we spent the same money on solar, the money would stay here. This would cause a money multiplier and boost the economy. The jobs it created would just be minor compared to keeping the money here.
Until a huge *** hurricane comes along an blows away all the pretty solar panels. Then your are twice tubed, no power and no way to get it back on line anytime soon. After Hurricane Ivan it was only 5 days before most folks had their power back.
That’s why we need wind turbines along the coast instead the harder the wind blows the more current we get. They just need to be real strong.
The wind is not steady enough in Florida.
Really the technology for solar needs to be incorporated into the individual homes. Buy your chevy Volt and charge it off the grid. Put lighting that runs off baterries that charge from your own solar cells. Create hydrogen through electrolysis for storage and later use. It would all be free aside from the upfont cost of the cells which are cheap but outragious prices are paid for the units prefabicated and offerred for sale.
Not true John, along the coast it is drawn in toward the interior during the day and flows SE at 10 MPH 50% of the time. Besides I was joking the investment is too large and they need to be too strong and the salt water is too corrosive.
:roll::roll::roll::roll::roll:
The fact is solar is where it’s at . The benefits far exceed the negatives…
Unfortunately you can’t lead a horse to water…Mandates and subsidies are needed.
Heres an idea that,s been pushed around…buy a house…add the cost of a solar htw
on to your mortgage. Everyone wins…
Except Gas, oil, coal, electric, Arabs (temporarily) etc…
No they don’t.
It costs anywhere from 2 to 5 times as much for solar derived power.
Peter already admitted that Ethanol was a joke and it has received massive subsidies and mandates for 20 years.
Why should we expect solar to be any better?
The state Senators are working on it, seriously.