The Impact of Economic Quality and Geographical Features on Renewable Energy Generation in Florida

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the impacts of economic status and geographical conditions on renewable energy production in the state of Florida. This will be done using the consideration of the per-capita real GDP of the state and average solar production, both on a yearly basis. The end goal of this analysis is to estimate the viability, in terms of GDP increase, of solar
energy as a renewable resource to push in the state of Florida and to compare it to other sources such as wind energy. This analysis will be conducted through linear regression and significance testing for slopes that aim to estimate the relationship between these parameters using collected data. The expected relationship is some statistically significant nonzero correlation between the independent and dependent variables of note, predicting a relationship using GDP as the independent variable. Endogeneity in data will be assumed as a nonfactor for the purpose of this analysis.