With Florida's unemployment rate currently standing at 11.5 percent, environmental and renewable energy advocates and business leaders are pushing a transition to a green economy as a way to mitigate job losses.
Renewable energy conventions, like the Space Coast Energy Symposium in Cocoa on Tuesday, are popping up all over the state. Speakers and panelists at these gatherings are pointing to the jobs that would follow green businesses that emerge in Florida.
"It's not just on energy independence that does great things, but it has a tremendous opportunity to provide jobs," said Mark Senti, president of Advanced Magnet Lab, a Palm Bay-based company that designs and manufactures magnets and other products for use in the energy, space and medical industries.
The BP oil spill has heightened awareness of the need for energy independence among Floridians, boosting the attendance of recent energy conventions, but organizers of the Space Coast Energy Symposium say the purpose of these meetings is to get business leaders to collaborate, innovate and move Florida toward a greener economy.
"By bringing that many people together, that's how we're going to get it done," said Lance Orchid, Florida director of the Alliance for Climate Protection and one of the symposium's organizers.
Besides creating jobs and reducing Florida's dependence on fossil fuels, renewable energy advocates and business leaders say using more solar and wind power technologies for our energy needs will give Florida a foundation in an emerging industry and a competitive advantage over other states and countries in attracting businesses involved in new energy technologies.
The profit motive is essential in sparking this transition in Florida, but advocates of a greener economy would like to see more support from the state's political leadership.
Setting incentives for reaching a goal of having 15 to 20 percent of energy production being provided by renewable energies would go a long way to attracting new businesses to the state. Unlike many other states, Florida has no such energy policy.
"Florida has been behind the eight-ball in getting an energy policy. It's a signal to investors that investment in these types of businesses is going to be profitable. Investors are really waiting for that certainty in the market," Orchid said.
Yet, some are hopeful such a policy will be forthcoming in the next legislative session.
"We're hoping that they'll be co-sponsors," said Linda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast.
"Until we do that, with the jobs that are being created right now, we're at a disadvantage," she added.
An influx of new businesses and the jobs they will bring are needed all over Florida, but perhaps nowhere more so than on the Space Coast, where the looming loss of thousands of jobs related to the defunct Constellation program has businesses and workers of all stripes worried.
Brevard County's highly educated work force is seen as a possible attraction for businesses involved in emerging technologies and renewable energies in need of highly-skilled engineers and workers.
"There's so much potential here in Brevard and at the Space Coast. The goal is to put this county and this region on the cusp of what's happening," said Orchid, who added that a green economy groundswell could soon spread to Orlando and elsewhere in Florida.
But many Kennedy Space Center workers, uncertain about the future, are already planning moves away from the area. Renewable energy advocates are hoping a transition to a green economy is not too little, too late to prevent a brain drain on Florida's Space Coast.
"This can't be done overnight, but we need to get started right away," Senti said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com, or at (321) 759-3152.
