The easiest, cheapest way to save energy is to use less of it. Floridians get that, already.
We buy florescent light bulbs in increasing numbers, keep our air conditioning at 78 degrees or higher, install insulation and insulated windows and doors, replace aging appliances with energy-efficient models and use solar power when practical to heat our water.
So if Floridians get the importance of reducing our energy footprint, why doesn't the staff at the Public Service Commission?
Every five years the PSC sets new energy conservation goals for the state -- not just to save costs but, equally important, to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. No state's economy is more threatened by rising sea levels than the Sunshine State with its heavy reliance on tourism and coastal development.
To their credit, both Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature have emphasized improving the state's energy efficiency through legislation that created the Florida Energy and Climate Commission, among other things, in 2008.
Yet recent PSC staff recommendations for future energy efficiency and switching to more renewable fuels are disappointingly uninspired.
It's one more indication why the embattled PSC -- after a series of scandals involving too cozy relationships by staff and commissioners with the utilities they regulate -- continues to be out of touch with Floridians.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Miami Herald.
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