Climate Change Impacts on Florida's Energy Supply and Demand

Florida’s unique location in the contiguous United States ensures that the effects of climate change will be significant and persistent across the state. Florida’s current economy and its population have developed energy use patterns based on fully developed fossil fuel industries. These industries and Florida’s consumption patterns are presented and analyzed. Location of Florida’s electricity generating facilities are shown and a significant proportion of these facilities are literally at the water’s edge. Future actions to protect the state’s energy supply may need to include costly moving of significant fossil fueled facilities and/or outright replacement by newer, cheaper renewable energy power plants. The current status of energy consumption in Florida is presented in this chapter, along with disruptive technologies in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the electrical grid. World photovoltaic (PV) and wind power adoption rates are used to explore the possible time frames for renewable energy transformation.