» News-Press.com- Green Projects

Green projects a growth industry in Lee County

January 26,2009

Access Our Economy Page For Our Series On Economic Solutions

Green was the buzzword of 2008.

Everybody talked about going green: buying hybrid vehicles, installing solar panels and using cloth shopping bags instead of paper or plastic.

Although the bad economy derailed many green initiatives, last year showed that many people and companies are willing to go green when the price is right.

“There are so many ways to be green in our area,” said Dave Russ, executive vice president for BioGreen, an organic, environmentally safe fertilizer with its Florida headquarters in Fort Myers. “Our county should be a leader in solar and wind, and we have the perfect breeze here. Put out some windmills and the cattle could graze around them.”

This week, The News-Press is exploring five strategies to aid Lee County’s future economy. Solution No. 1 is tapping into the growing interest of green energy and green technologies.

Green is the biotech of a decade ago. It’s all the rage.

It’s also just getting started. Case in point: Florida Gulf Coast University will need thousands of solar panels for its 2 megawatt solar farm on campus. The Sunshine State, however, does not have any companies that manufacture solar cells, according to Sherry Shields, assistant director of communications for the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa.

Instead, about 14,000 solar panels will be trucked into Florida for FGCU’s project.
One company has noticed that business opportunity. Advanced Solar Photonics is building a factory in Lake Mary, north of Orlando, that will be operational next fall. The solar market is entirely theirs, at least until it has some competition.

“You can have a good business model that also helps the environment,” said Edgardo Rodriguez, vice president of sales and marketing. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

In addition to its solar project, FGCU hopes to be on the cutting edge with its new Green Technology Research Group. The university won a $1.5 million Department of Defense grant to develop technology that combats biological weapons. Part of that research includes a chemical that destroys germs when activated by ultraviolet lights. It’s considered a green project because it has no negative effects on the environment. Faculty also are researching algae to see if it can be converted into biodiesel fuel.

“We’re not going to be the only people in the game,” said chemistry professor Jose Barreto, who leads the research group. “Everybody is trying to develop green technologies. If we don’t do it, someone else will, and we’ll be left behind.”

President Obama’s New Energy for America plan calls for a $150 billion investment into green technologies, creating 5 million new jobs. Barreto said FGCU and Southwest Florida can be players in developing green technology, but he is realistic about the region’s chances of being the Silicon Valley of green research.

“It’s grandiose to say we’ll be the epicenter of green technology, but we have to at least be participants, or we’ll just be a backwater to everyone else,” Barreto said.

Just east of Southwest Florida’s populated coastline, the $11 billion Everglades restoration project is under way. Janet Watermeier, Lee County’s former economic development director and president of Watermeier Property Services, said there’s no reason the area cannot capitalize on the thousands of workers who will carry out that project.

“They will be located on one coast or the other coast,” Watermeier said. “I don’t see why Southwest Florida couldn’t capture the environmental restoration people that come with that.”

Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20090126/BUSINESS/90125040/1075