This post is part of a series examining where 2024 candidates running for public offices in the Southeast stand on key energy and climate issues. Note: The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy does not support or oppose candidates or political parties. Links to reports, candidate websites, and outside sources are provided as citizen education tools.
In this blog post, we examine the policies and positions of Whitney Fox, Democratic Party candidate running for election to the United States House of Representatives from Florida’s 13th congressional district. Also in this series, we profile Republican candidate Anna Paulina Luna. Election Day is November 5, 2024.
Whitney Fox is a first-time candidate running to represent Florida’s 13th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, she served as the Communications Director for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. Fox was raised in the Tampa Bay area, and earned a degree from the University of Central Florida.
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Whitney Fox has stated her support for clean energy and energy independence on her campaign website: “Florida’s natural beauty is our greatest asset. I’ll fight for clean energy, environmental protection, and hurricane-resilient infrastructure. This approach will preserve our state for future generations while creating jobs and lowering costs. By embracing sustainable technologies, we can lead in clean energy, achieve energy independence, and secure our economic future. From our beaches to the Everglades, we’ll safeguard Florida’s ecosystems while driving innovation and growth.”
Climate Change
In her campaign material, Fox addresses the issue of climate change: “Florida is on the front lines of climate change. The increasing frequency and severity of storms are no longer just headlines; they are our reality. Our homes are more vulnerable than ever, driving insurance costs to unaffordable levels. In addition, the financial strain from repeated catastrophic losses has led to a wave of insurer bankruptcies.” Fox has proposed the Homeowners’ Expenses and Providing Equitable Rates Act (CHEAPER) Act, as a way to address rising insurance costs by creating a federal homeowners insurance program for natural disaster damage.
Electric Transportation
We were not able to find information on the candidate’s position on this issue.
Energy Equity and Energy Burden
Whitney Fox, has connected her support for renewable energy with the need to lower electricity costs in Florida, including these statements from her Twitter/X feed: “I know we’re all struggling with higher electric bills. Over the last 5 years, the average Tampa Electric bill went up 51%, and the average Duke Energy bill rose 28%. Florida relies on natural gas for 74% of its electricity needs – more than any other state. Consumers would not be so vulnerable to global fuel price swings if more of the state’s energy came from renewable sources. It’s better for our wallets, future, and environment.”
High-Risk Energy: Coal, Nuclear, Oil, Gas
Fox has expressed the need for Floridians to invest in clean energy rather than the continued reliance on gas. “The average electric bill in Pinellas is 5th highest in the nation – due in part to overreliance on natural gas. We need to invest in clean energy and grid updates to reduce costs for all Floridians, become energy independent, and fight climate change.”
Voter Information
Election Day is November 5. Here are important dates and deadlines to consider, from the Florida Division of Elections:
- Deadline for county election offices to send vote-by-mail ballots to UOCAVA voters: September 21, 2024
- Deadline for county election offices to send vote-by-mail ballots to domestic voters: September 26, 2024 – October 3, 2024
- Deadline to register to vote: October 7, 2024 (no deadline to change party affiliation)
- Deadline to request that ballot be mailed: October 24, 2024
- Early voting period (mandatory period): October 26 – November 2, 2024. [In addition, county supervisors of elections have the option to offer more early voting on the 5 days before the mandatory start, and/or 1 day after the mandatory end (i.e. potentially opening Oct. 21-Nov. 3 for early voting)]
- Election Day: November 5, 2024
*Visit Vote-by-Mail and Military and Overseas Citizens Voting for information about deadlines to send a vote-by-mail ballot, to request a vote-by-mail ballot and to return vote by a mail ballot.
Find additional important election information here.
#CandidatesOnEnergy2024
Featured Image Courtesy of Anita Denunzio on Unsplash.
The post Candidate Whitney Fox On Climate & Energy appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Australia’s $17B Grid Expansion, Recycling Blades to Steel
Allen covers Suzlon hitting 2 GW in a single Indian state, Nabrawind’s crane-free turbine install in Namibia, Antora’s South Dakota thermal battery, Australia’s $17 billion grid expansion, and Shimizu recycling old turbine blades into steel.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
GOOD MORNING.
The wind industry is not just getting bigger.
It is getting smarter.
And today … we have the proof.
Let us start in India.
SUZLON GROUP just crossed a milestone.
Two gigawatts of wind orders … in a single Indian state.
The latest deal … sixty-five turbines at three megawatts each
for a company called SUNSURE ENERGY.
SUNSURE is not a utility.
It is an independent power producer
building round-the-clock clean energy
for data centers … electric vehicles … and heavy industry.
Wind paired with solar and battery storage.
Power that does not stop when the sun goes down.
SUZLON is already building six hundred and sixty-four megawatts
of additional commercial and industrial projects in the same region.
And SUNSURE … backed by PARTNERS GROUP of Switzerland …
has seven gigawatts in development across India
with a target of ten gigawatts by two thousand thirty.
That is not government-led.
That is private capital chasing wind.
Now … across the ocean to Africa.
A Spanish company called NABRAWIND [NAH-brah-wind]
just solved a problem that has plagued remote wind farms for years.
How do you install a turbine
when you cannot get a crane to the site?
Their answer is a system called SKYLIFT.
No heavy-lift cranes. None.
A self-erecting tower combined with a blade installation tool
they call the BLADERUNNER.
They just put up a GOLDWIND six-megawatt turbine
at a wind farm in NAMIBIA.
And here is the part that changes the math.
Traditional crane installation needs calm air.
Six to eight meters per second. Maximum.
NABRAWIND’s system works in fifteen meters per second sustained …
with gusts up to twenty.
That site blows hard. All the time.
Which is exactly why they chose it.
When complete … seven turbines …
two hundred and thirty gigawatt-hours a year.
About six percent of NAMIBIA’s entire electricity demand.
NABRAWIND was acquired by Australia’s FORTESCUE last year
as part of its industrial decarbonization push.
So India is stacking private-sector wind orders.
Africa is installing turbines without cranes.
And in SOUTH DAKOTA …
they are storing the wind itself.
A California startup called ANTORA ENERGY
just built a five-gigawatt-hour thermal battery
at an ethanol plant in BIG STONE CITY.
More than two hundred solid carbon blocks.
When the wind blows at night and nobody needs the power …
the blocks absorb cheap electricity and heat up.
When the plant needs energy …
the blocks release heat or generate electricity
through special cells that capture light
from superheated material.
Think of it as a giant toaster oven battery.
Full power expected by October.
The plant’s president put it simply.
Nobody has got a switch for the wind.
It blows when it wants to blow.
Now … down under.
The AUSTRALIAN government just announced
the biggest single expansion of its electricity grid.
Nineteen renewable energy projects.
Seven-point-eight gigawatts of generation.
Seven-point-nine gigawatt-hours of battery storage.
Seventeen billion dollars in private investment.
Nineteen thousand construction jobs.
Power for four million homes.
Among the largest … RWE’s [arr-vay’s] THEODORE wind farm in QUEENSLAND.
One-point-one gigawatts. Up to one hundred and seventy turbines.
Three billion Australian dollars.
RWE … the same company building offshore wind
in England and Denmark …
is now building onshore in AUSTRALIA.
And the AUSTRALIAN government is not stopping.
They just opened the next round of tenders.
Another five gigawatts.
Finally … JAPAN.
Major contractor SHIMIZU [shee-MEE-zoo] CORPORATION
has developed a way to recycle old wind turbine blades.
Not into park benches. Not into landfill.
Into steel.
The blades are cut and crushed into a material
that goes into electric furnaces
to adjust the carbon content of steel …
making it harder and stronger.
JAPAN expects to replace one hundred to two hundred turbines a year
by the two thousand thirties.
That is two to three thousand tonnes of blade waste. Annually.
SHIMIZU has built about twenty percent
of the wind power facilities in JAPAN.
They see this technology as a way to grow
their entire wind energy business.
So … let us step back.
India stacks two gigawatts of private-sector wind orders.
Africa installs turbines in gale-force winds … without a crane.
South Dakota stores surplus wind in superheated carbon blocks.
Australia backs nineteen projects with seventeen billion dollars.
And Japan turns old blades into stronger steel.
From the factory floor to the scrap yard …
from the wind farm to the furnace …
the industry is solving problems
at every stage of a turbine’s life.
And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 25th of May 2026.
Join us for the UPTIME WIND ENERGY PODCAST tomorrow.
We’ve all heard ideas like the one being expressed here, though this one sounds extreme. Jail sentence? Education is exclusively an exercise in pounding in bad habits?
What’s the outcome for students in the very worst of our schools that make no attempt whatsoever to help its pupils learn to think critically? Well, their kids learn to:
- Read and write
- Do math, at least through algebra
- Understand some level of history and geography
- Make friends and get along with others
- Establish independence from the parents
- Gain the qualifications for employment
What’s the alternative? Illiteracy? Social isolation? Child labor? Poverty? Neurotic sloth? Being a burden on society?
Is it a coincidence that the countries with the best educated children are the happiest, sanest and most productive nations on the planet?
If you’re a competent woman working at the highest echelon in the U.S. government, better start packing your bags.
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