A public meeting on parking issues in downtown Melbourne.
The city of Melbourne hired a consultant to perform a parking demand study and analysis, based on existing parking inventory and occupancy counts earlier this year.
Data showed there are plenty of spaces to meet demand during the busiest times on weekdays and weekends, but most of the parking was off the main New Haven Avenue corridor.
The consultants are recommending a three-hour time limit for on-street parking and phasing in paid parking spaces in the main area.
Residents, business owners and others can learn more and provide input in the final parking management plan to be presented to the city council.
NASA Satellite Blast from the Past
A NASA satellite that had been launched into orbit in 1964 and dormant for 58 years, emitted a spark.
The burst of radiation was very bright, but the event only lasted less than 30 nanoseconds.
Astronomers tracked the source of the radio waves to a location that matches that of NASA’s defunct Relay 2 spacecraft, a communications satellite that failed in June 1967.
According to the researchers, the waves are more likely to have come from a "spark" of built-up electricity, which emitted a pulse as it jumped from one part of the spacecraft to another while passing through a charged environment above Earth’s atmosphere.
Regional water steward calls for biosolid testing amid forever chemical concern
A new national report on PFAS reveals contamination from the so-called forever chemicals at most sites downstream from land where biosolids were applied.
Those biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, are used as fertilizer in Central Florida,
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection estimates the state produces 340 thousand dry tons of biosolids each year. About a third of that gets applied to land, much of it near the headwaters of the St. Johns River.
Lisa Rinaman is with St. Johns Riverkeeper, a member of the national Waterkeepers Alliance, leading the new PFAS [[PEE-fass]] study. Rinaman says right now, there’s one big thing Florida could do to reduce PFAS contamination from biosolids: **testing those biosolids **for PFAS.
“That would be low hanging fruit, in our opinion. They could start that immediately: just test it before it's to put on farmland, exposing our farmers, their cattle, as well as the St Johns River and all of us downstream.”
An analysis published last month by 1000 Friends of Florida shows the most land application sites for biosolids are in Polk County, while Osceola County is where the most biosolids by volume are applied.
Federal Solar Tax Credit Set to Expire Soon
The federal solar tax credit is set to phase out soon.
The federal solar investment tax credit (ITC), first enacted in 2005 and extended multiple times since, allows homeowners to deduct 30 percent of the cost of installing solar panels from their federal taxes.
This incentive was designed to promote the adoption of clean, renewable energy by reducing the up-front cost for consumers.
However, federal energy policy changes have put the future of this credit in question. If Congress does not extend or revise the program again, the credit is scheduled to begin phasing out after 2025, just a few short months away.
After 2025, the credit would drop to 26 percent in 2026, 22 percent in 2027, and then disappear entirely for residential systems starting in 2028.
More: www.floridatoday.com
