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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Clean Power Plan Offers Cities Millions In Savings

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Thursday, August 4, 2016   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida's city skylines offer beautiful sights and twinkling lights, but they're also a major source of carbon pollution, which a new report finds could be mitigated and save businesses money by complying with the Clean Power Plan.

Marilyn Brown, a professor with the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, says because businesses in Florida and across the nation are such big energy consumers, the switch to cleaner, greener sources would not only help meet the carbon emissions targets laid out in the Clean Power Plan, but it would save a lot of money.

"We estimate that bills for electricity could be reduced by 6.7 percent if states were to include energy efficiency as a strong component of their compliance approach," she states.

The analysis found that commercial building owners and occupants in Florida could realize an average annual electricity savings of just over $1 billion in 2030, and reduce their natural gas bills by $171 million, compared to doing nothing.

The Clean Power Plan places the first-ever federal limits on carbon emissions, but its enactment has been stalled by lawsuits and mired by critics who claim it will raise utility rates.

An earlier study by Georgia Tech found the plan also offers significant potential savings to homeowners, and Brown says the combination packs a powerful punch for the people of Florida.

"Particularly in the South – you know, we have more than our fair share of poverty here – to be able to reduce electricity bills is very meaningful, and now for businesses, of course, so important for competitiveness," she points out.

In contrast, the report found that under a business-as-usual scenario with no new regulations, the electricity bills of commercial building owners and occupants in Florida would rise by about 20 percent over the next 15 years.

Patrick Altier, vice president of the Florida Solar Energies Industry Association, says Florida businesses aren't just missing out on potential savings by not fully embracing energy efficiency.

"We hear stories every day of students and young adults who want to work in the renewable energy field struggling to find jobs in Florida, and needing to leave the state to pursue a career," he stresses.

In an effort to expand renewable energy production in the state, Florida voters will be asked Aug. 30 to extend to commercial and industrial properties a renewable energy tax break that residential property owners currently enjoy.





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