FAREness!

Florida is known as the sunshine state. We brag about how much more sun we get then anyone else. Wouldn’t it be great to use that solar energy for ourselves? We all know about solar PV and solar thermal and the benefits towards the environment and our bills. We know we can save money but wouldn’t it be great if we could get paid for contributing our energy to the grid. Well that is the mission behind FARE.

The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy “FARE” is a coalition of concerned individuals, businesses, communities, associations, policy makers, non-profits, and renewable energy producers. FARE has 3 simple goals job creation, energy Independence, environmental stewardship. FARE is a grassroots organization that is dedicated to educating and engaging Floridians on Renewable Energy Dividends. RED’s have proven to be the most wide-spread and effective legislation for the promotion of renewable energy.

Renewable Energy Dividends is the same concept they have in Europe. In Europe they are called “feed in tariffs” no matter the name difference they both have the same ideas. A simple and commonsense approach to encouraging everyone to use renewable energies. All producers big and small, private and commercial, get paid a premium for each kilowatt hour they feed back into the system. This very simple idea is already being experimented with in Gainesville which is in northern Florida. It seems to be a success as they have just increased the limit of renewable energies to 4 megawatts a year. This policy has tripled the solar state’s capacity over night.

The principals behind this idea are simple and realistic because unlike renewable energy certificates they benefit everyone from the small homeowner to the huge corporations. The idea is that everyone who produces any amount of renewable energy is given a contract by the utilities and are guaranteed a rate for a certain number of years. In order to encourage growth these premiums have to be set high. No worries about the utilities losing money, they can always just pass it on to the consumers.

Why use REDs?

* Job creation
* Energy Security
* Simplicity
* Stability and Investment
* Fairness
* Equality

I encourage you to go to FARE now in order to find out more about how you can personally support the cause. Prepare youself for when this policy comes into effect and be a pioneer in your communityby checking out FL Green Energy. They can help get you a solar panel into your house right away.