Hot news

Watch video:

MIAMI(CNN American Morning) — Jessie Prado sees himself as a bit of a trailblazer. His house in Boca Raton, Florida is easy to pick finished. It’s the only one with solar panels – and solar power. He, as well as his power company, Florida Power and Light, are making an investment in solar power in the Sunshine State.

"I think by me doing it, other people intention see, and will learn," said Prado.

But believe it or not, Florida has never been considered a great city for solar power. Why? Too much moisture and rain.

"We do have moisture in the air and it scatters the light as it comes through the atmosphere," said Robert Reedy, the Director of the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida. "If you spend money on a piece of kit that can arrest the sun’s ‚lan – it’s an investment," he said.

But big utilities like Florida Power and Light (FPL, Fortune 500) compel ought to historically been hesitant to build solar in the Sunshine State.

"We looked into solar, but for a long time we thought the technology and the pricing wasn’t feasible to deploy it here," said Eric Silagy of FPL.

FPL has already built the largest solar power plant in the Mojave Desert, in California, and now it has just gained approval to build the nation’s second largest solar plant in Martin County, Florida, northwest of West Palm Beach.

180,000 solar mirrors will extent about 500 acres, and fruit steam to help power up FPL’s adjacent power plant, which is run on holiday natural gas. It will produce enough electricity to power up relative to 11,000 homes.

And that is where solar energy’s deficiencies lie. Solar panels are not efficient enough to provide all of our power. For standard, FPL’s Martin County plant is the largest fossil-fueled power plant in the country. To take it off line, and to provide totally solar power, you’d have solar-ray farms on nearly half the state of Florida.

And, what do you do for power when night falls? The sun doesn’t brightness 24-hours a day. Collecting the sun’s rays in a battery set-up is not yet available.

"Right instant, it’s very expensive. The only way to efficiently store it is through batteries, large batteries," said Silagy. "But to do so on a large scale is just not technically feasible and very, very expensive," he said.

Prado has a everyday battery system to run a handful of appliances at night. His two dozen roof top panels are part of another form of solar power, called photovoltaic. His system immediately converts sunlight into electricity, but it’s not nearly strong enough to keep his whole house running at the same time. His central bearing conditioning system, a must in Florida, uses dilapidated too much electricity to run on this arrangement. He is extenuating about $75 a month off his electric bill.

Roger Messenger works for Vergona Bowersox, one of about 20 solar companies operating in Florida. "His residence uses whatever it needs and anything left over, it goes back into the utility line and the utility pays him for what he sells undeveloped," said Messenger.

So, by using solar and by being frugal, Prado’s stimulating bill is $6.86 this month, after he sold $27.93, in power, back to FPL.

An average home command cost, on average, just over $40,000 to equip it with a photovoltaic system, like Prado’s. With state and federal rebates, the out-of-pocket cost is about $20,000.

"You always have to think long term on this kind of investment," said Prado. "It will get revenge on itself off, probably in 7 years – 7 to 12 years depending on how much you invested into it, but then after that you don’t beget to pay for power anymore," he said.

And as the price of oil continues to rise, the out-of-pocket cost may not look so bad to folks anymore because the difference in price has narrowed. Right at present, less than 1% of the United States is powered by solar. But, experts say, that can quickly change.

"It’s all about volume," said Reedy. "We’ve seen it over and all through. Cell phones, computers, calculators."

Reedy believes the market is getting serious. People, they say, are furious with the oil and gas situation. For instance, 24,000 FPL customers pay a monthly surcharge of $9.75 for this type of green verve to be built. Funds from the Sunshine Energy Renewable program funded a photovoltaic solar plant, in Sarasota, Florida. These customers don’t get anything for their money except knowing that they helped their environment, in a sheerest green way.

Jessie Prado thinks green too, and he looks forward to the day when his electric bill will be a thing of the past – and he’ll be prepared if lubricant prices reach crisis levels.

"When I’m older, power won’t be an issue for me," he said. "I don’t have to worry, can I pay the electric bill? Because I know this will generate at least the minimal I will need to survive." 

From: money.cnn.com