March 19, 2024

A Sector Portrait

The Supply Side - Profile on Energy in Florida

Florida's total power consumption: 226,172 million kilowatt hours, ranking the state third nationally, behind Texas and California

Cynthia Barnett | 1/1/2011
School Notes

Alternative energy research news from Florida’s universities:

» Poplar Alternative — University of Florida plant geneticist Matias Kirst is working on what scientists consider one of the most promising alternatives to corn ethanol — fuel derived from poplar trees. Kirst has an $873,000, five-year grant for the work; he was the only researcher in Florida to land the U.S. Department of Energy special funding designed to “bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years.” Kirst uses a technique called “association mapping,” which compares different poplar trees to find out which genes contribute to those properties most important to bioenergy production. Eventually, Kirst and colleagues hope to create the ideal poplar for cellulosic ethanol.

» Ocean Energy — The U.S. Department of Energy recently designated Florida Atlantic University as a national center for ocean energy research and development. The new Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center at FAU joins centers in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii working on readiness for ocean-energy technologies including currents and thermal energy. FAU researchers have already developed a potential turbine for the Gulf Stream. At this point, they’re working on ocean-current observation systems to monitor the potential promise and effects, such as environmental impacts, of that and other technologies. The center will ultimately field test prototype devices on behalf of the Department of Energy.



Ian Winger and Sean Barton
Ian Winger (left) and Sean Barton hope to take their “solar sausage” to market in 2011.
» Solar Sausage — A team of scientists at Florida State University has come up with an inflatable solar-energy collector that costs 1/20th and weighs 1/50th of a traditional system. Traditional solar-concentration systems involve heavy parabolic mirrors that focus sunlight on fragile, vacuum-sealed tubes, all expensive and difficult to maintain and clean. FSU’s transparent, cylinder-shaped membrane can produce temperatures of more than 750 degrees in just a few minutes in the sun. Inventors Ian Winger and Sean Barton call it the “solar sausage” and hope to commercialize it this year.


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