Sunisthefuture Team Goes To State Capitol To Meet Senator Geraldine Thompson
Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,
(Please click on red links below)
Being a resident of the beautiful Sunshine State of Florida, I would love to see greater spread of solar installations (for the sake of cleaner, healthier, less war-proned planet earth and creation of local jobs) and be able to build a solar farm for future generations in Florida some day. These are some of the main motive forces (in addition to memory of my father) behind my embarking on the journey of Sun Is The Future. I personally feel strong and urgent enough about the issues of energy-pollution-climate change that I have taken sabbatical from teaching university/college math to devote my time into educating general public about solar energy. Along this route of sharing and discovery, I’ve come to realize that the most important driving forces behind solar installations any/every where on planet earth are policy and economics. For this reason, I’ve traveled (with my technical supporter and hubby Michael Nunamaker) to our state capitol, Tallahassee, on April 4, 2013, to see our Senator Geraldine F. Thompson, who proposed the renewable energy bill, SB 0498. We would have loved to travel to Tallahassee to meet with other solar advocates in March, but my March/Spring allergy delayed this trip. This is the first time in my life EVER that I have personally scheduled for an appointment with a State Senator concerning any legislation! Naturally, during the drive toward Tallahassee, I tried to mentally prepare myself with a short introductory speech, below:
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Greetings, Senator Thompson,
Thank you for agreeing to meet with us on April 4, 2013, at the Senate Office Building to discuss the SB 0498. My name is Susan Sun Nunamaker, next to me is my technical support and husband Michael Nunamaker. We are here representing www.sunisthefuture.net . I started www.sunisthefuture.net in 2011 as an educational site, advocating solar energy;then recruited Michael in 2012 for technical support. As the site has reached viewers/readers from 160 different countries across the globe, we’ve imbued ourselves in learning, researching, and comparatively analyzing renewable energy policies from different countries. So, we’d like to offer our input for any of your current or future renewable or solar energy bills.
During our research, we’ve come across a very informative document produced by NREL, A Policymaker’s Guide to Feed-In-Tariff Policy Design at :
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/44849.pdf
(Toby D. Couture is no longer with NREL but is reachable via http://www.linkedin.com/pub/toby-d-couture/15/282/102 , but I believe Karlynn Cory Claire Kreycik and Emily Williams are still at NREL)
Since we are strong proponents for solar energy, we’re very pleased to find that you are introducing the renewable energy bill, SB 0498.
Regarding SB 0498, its strength lies in the fact that it is clean and simple. However, it would be even stronger if:
- The contract duration will be of 20-year term rather than 10-year term.
- The feed-in rate will not be fixed but subject to periodic re-evaluation by the Public Utility Commission depending on grid penetration and cost of solar (e.g.Germany now reassesses its feed-in rate on a monthly basis, much more frequently than in the earlier years). This type of periodic reassessments would help to avoid problems that occurred in Spain or Czechoslovakia, where the market became over-heated, resulting from overly generous feed-in rate that was not reassessed frequently enough.
We hope you will be taking an interest in some issues in future bills, separately:
- Setting Solar/Renewable Energy Goal for the state of Florida, given that state of Florida is one of the 13 states that still does not have any Renewable Portfolio Standards or Goals
- Streamline the permitting process of solar PV and solar thermal so to reduce the cost and amount of time in completing the process. Residents at Broward County of Florida are now able to get a solar energy system permit online in just half an hour;please refer to Jefferery Halsey, Broward County of Florida’s Director of Pollution Prevention, Remediation, and Air Quality Division during the video clip below, at our Feb. 22, 2013 post of Sun Is The Future: http://sunisthefuture.net/?m=201302223. Streamlining the permitting process would help to reduce costs for government and therefore be welcomed by both Democrats and Republicans.
- It seems feasible to introduce regulation to require solar thermal (solar hot water heating systems) when/where it is already a foregone conclusion that this would be an economically feasible approach in building design. Perhaps it is time to start the discussion in considering implementing this as part of the building code.
Senator Thompson, we here at Sun Is The Future of http://www.sunisthefuture.net would be happy to assist with any future research or gathering of information and material concerning solar energy or effective renewable energy policy for the state of Florida.
Respectfully,
sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker & Michael Nunamaker
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This is the first time for us to visit Tallahassee;it is a beautiful city and state capitol, full of the Southern charm, with swaying Spanish moss adhering to majestically aged trees.
State Capitol of Florida, at Tallahassee, 2013, photographed by Susan Sun Nunamaker
With the help of Legislative Aides Roosevelt Holmes III
Legislative Aide Roosevelt Holme III, photographed by Susan Sun Nunamaker
and Dan Rogers,
Legislative Aide Dan Rogers, photographed by Susan Sun Nunamaker
we not only managed to present our findings to Senator Geraldine Thompson, but learned a great deal about the legislative process. Even though it is a very slow process that is often more reactionary rather than precautionary, we are provided with many more contact names and information that will hopefully help to reach our cause of seeing more effective renewable/solar energy policies implemented in our beautiful Sunshine State of Florida. Hopefully, more effective solar/renewable energy policy’s implementation will occur soon enough for the officer standing next to the Great Seal of The State of Florida, right below (yes, we found out that he wants to build a solar home/house in the near future too! ).
Senator Geraldine Thompson (L), Susan Sun Nunamaker (middle), Michael Nunamaker (R), photographed by Roosevelt Holmes III
Officer standing next to The Great Seal of The State of Florida wants to build a solar home/house too ! Photographed by Susan Sun Nunamaker
~have a bright and sunny day~
written and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
any of your comments or suggested will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Tags: A Policymaker's Guide to Feed-In-Tariff Policy Design, Broward County, Czechoslovakia, Dan Rogers, Geraldine F. Thompson, geraldine thompson, NREL, permitting, Renewable Energy Bill, Roosevelt Holmes III, SB 0498, Senator, Solar Energy, Spain, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker