By Binu jayakrishnan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41289832

I have a great deal of personal pride that the world’s first completely solar powered airport is in southern India . Cochin International Airport which serves the area my late Grandfather, a former Indian Supreme Court judge lived is the world’s first entirely solar powered airport. 

As of earlier this month, the airport is no longer paying for electricity. But here in Florida, where we can harness the power of the sun just about as well if not better than any other place on the planet, these sorts of progressive measures on environmental matters aren’t encouraged. In fact, thanks to the stranglehold the utilities industry has on state and local governments, the idea of creating transportation hubs that harness the power of solar energy hasn’t been seriously contemplated.

But as Florida’s fragile ecosystem continues to face massive challenges and urban/suburban growth test energy resources, this discussion is sure to be revisited. It certainly needs to be as Florida continues to be behind the curve in the most important aspects of environmental and global change.