April 26, 2024
Feature
Homestead Resistance
Evenings at David Herring's house and farm in Walton County in Northwest Florida are marked by the whining of motors coming on. Herring's farm abuts an 866-acre solar power plant completed this year by FPL. At the close of the day, the motors turn on to reset the panels, which track the sun to maximize power production, so they can face the next day's morning sun. “If you're outside, that's what you hear,” he says.
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Published on 9/30/2023
Where the Wild Things Are
If it’s built in rural Florida, there will be wildlife roaming about. In Southwest Florida, an FPL motion-activated wildlife camera in Hendry County has captured Florida panthers traversing a fenced...
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Published on 9/30/2023
Seeking Protection
Three activist groups served notice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to sue to force the agency to invoke Endangered Species Act protection for the ghost orchid. The groups are the Institute for Regional Conservation in Hollywood, the Center for Biological Diversity and the National Parks Conservation Association. They say the orchid is threatened by poaching, habitat loss and degradation and by winds from intense hurricanes. The groups say the agency should have made a protection decision in January but the agency workplan indicates a decision won't be made until as late as fall 2026. The orchid is protected at Big Cypress National Preserve and other government and private preserves and sanctuaries.
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Published on 9/28/2023
Helping Black-Owned Businesses Thrive
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Black-owned businesses faced challenges accessing loans and other assistance to help them survive. To get a sense of the problem, entrepreneurial leadership coach Valecia Dunbar of Jacksonville teamed up with fellow entrepreneurs to survey those businesses and see how they might help.
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Published on 9/28/2023
Tech Focus
The Orlando Economic Partnership has spun off its development efforts in the technology sector to create Innovate Orlando, a non-profit that will promote its MetaCenter concept. David Adelson, who served as the partnership's chief innovation officer, will serve as Innovate Orlando's CEO.
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Published on 9/27/2023
The Partly Cloudy State
The Sunshine State nickname is more buzzword than actuality — at least if your business is power generation. Central Florida has 277 days a year — 76% of the calendar — that are cloudy or partly cloudy, notes Linda Ferrone, chief consumer and marketing officer for power provider Orlando Utilities Commission. “It's the partly cloudy state,” Ferrone says. Among large solar-power producing states, “it's very unique to Florida. California and Arizona don't have these challenges.”
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Published on 9/26/2023
Solar Surge
The Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), which supplies wholesale power to the state's municipal utilities, and Origis Energy are aiming to quadruple the power generated via solar farms. By the end of 2026, the Florida Municipal Solar Project will consist of more than 1.8 million panels installed on eight farms.
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Published on 9/21/2023
Charting a Cleaner Path
JEA's new clean energy goals call for 35% clean energy and an 80% reduction in the company's carbon emission reductions compared with 2005 levels, both by the year 2030. The goals were announced in the company's triennial Integrated Resource Plan.
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Published on 9/20/2023
Power Lessons
After working as a paramedic for eight years — and dealing with the emotional toll that comes with such a job — Alejandro Guillen was ready for a career change.
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Published on 9/19/2023
All Together Now
You may know a community manager, a head of community or even a chief community officer. The job titles are popping up with more frequency at organizations of all sizes, from big brands like Peloton, Lululemon and Tesla to local small businesses and non-profits. They engage with customers, solve problems and learn from their feedback. They may recruit brand ambassadors, host events and share on social media, among other duties.
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Published on 9/19/2023
Sowing Solar
As it implemented plans to expand solar power in Florida last year, Florida Power & Light made a huge land purchase, even by its own standard as the state's largest utility. It paid a California investment firm $76.7 million for 10,330 acres of farmland in St. Lucie and Indian River counties on Florida's east coast.
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Published on 9/18/2023
Lighting the Way
In April, the city of Orlando teamed up with Kolumi — an Orlando startup that makes lighting systems out of recycled aluminum, glass and plastic — to outfit an administrative parking garage with its light fixtures.
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Published on 9/15/2023
Green Machine
By this time next year, thousands of North Florida homes will be powered by natural gas drawn from cow manure, an emerging source of clean, renewable energy.
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Published on 9/14/2023
The Butterfly Effect
With more than 10 million specimens of butterflies and moths from around the world, the Florida Museum of Natural History's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the University of Florida is the most active lepidoptera research center in the world. It is arguably also among the fastest growing collections, adding about 200,000 specimens per year.
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Published on 9/13/2023
Candy King
Inside an Orlando confection factory that would make Willy Wonka proud, a conveyer belt is rolling with rows of Hoffman's Chocolates chocolate-covered pretzels. Without missing a beat — or a pretzel — a female employee meticulously oversees the march of sweets, hand-drizzling each treat with far more ease than Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz mustered in the iconic bit that made TV history.
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Published on 9/12/2023
Enabling Orion
Darryl Howard grounds himself to his workstation to prevent a spark. Specially designed sticky floor mats and electrostatic smocks serve as additional safeguards, and for good reason: An unexpected zap could fry sensitive circuits that will go to the moon. The lives of four astronauts depend on more than just clean equipment.
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Published on 9/12/2023
Icon: Rita Lowman
When I was 2, my parents divorced, and, (when I was) 5, they both remarried. So, for the first years of their marriages to my stepparents, I was living six months with one parent and six months with the other. When I was 9, I had the opportunity to go before a judge and he asked me what I wanted to happen. Since my parents only lived about five blocks apart, I said I wanted to live with my mom during the week and my dad on the weekends. The judge thought that was a great idea. For a judge to listen to me, a 9-year-old, that made a big impression on me. After that, I knew I would have the opportunity to have my voice heard.
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Published on 9/11/2023
Permanent Anchor
Pensacola has received a $3.9-million grant from the state to build a headquarters for the American Magic sail racing team at the city's port. The state grant will be coupled with an $8.5-million grant from Triumph Gulf Coast, a non-profit that doles out funds recovered from fines related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
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Published on 8/27/2023
Outfitting Firewomen
Women make up 9% of firefighters in the U.S. One challenge they face is finding clothing that fits well and is affordable. Shirts or pants made of Nomex, a fire- and heat-resistant material, can cost a couple of hundred dollars each and women's gear is often pricier, in effect creating a “pink tax” for female firefighters.
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Published on 8/24/2023
Helping Babies Thrive
Founders Glenn and Chelly Snow's LactaLogics processes breast milk from donor moms for use in feeding premature babies. The company is locating its headquarters and a processing facility in Port St. Lucie in the former Liberty Medical building on U.S. 1.
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Published on 8/24/2023
Optics Tech Training
Valencia College is launching a 15-week accelerated training program in September to meet growing demand for skilled precision optics and photonics technicians in Central Florida.
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Published on 8/23/2023
Big Deal
The Horse Creek Ranch conservation easement deal, costing $51 million and spanning more than 16,000 acres across DeSoto and Hardee counties, ranks as one of Florida's biggest single conservation agreements in 20 years. As part of the easement, the Carlton family-owned ranch will continue to be used to raise cattle while the land will be permanently protected from development.
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Published on 8/22/2023
Open Season
For Paul Cross — a scalloping boat captain and the director of operations at the Plantation on Crystal River Resort — scallop season is like an Easter egg hunt, except he's swimming 6 feet under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and looking for bay scallops instead of hardboiled eggs.
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Published on 8/21/2023
Icon: Phillip Frost
Why did I major in French literature? I had never left the country, and the idea of learning a foreign language was appealing to me. And so, it was an opportunity to major in a subject that would at the same time permit me to take enough science courses so that if I had decided to go to medical school, I had that option.
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Published on 8/21/2023
Jet Set
Pan Am airlines launched Miami's commercial aviation industry nearly a century ago. Now, its former headquarters is being turned into a luxury terminal for travelers looking to avoid crowded terminals and security lines.
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Published on 8/18/2023
