Solar energy discourse in the Sunshine State

This case study of a 2016 Florida constitutional amendment analyses the semiotic devices and mechanisms shaping public opinion on solar energy beliefs about distribution. After nationwide rise in rooftop installations between 2014 2015, utilities several US states were faced with challenges to their business models. Anticipating similar problems Florida, corporations promoted amendments. analysis follows voter from billboards flyers text ballot. Starting Peirce’s phenomenological categories, this critical campaign reveals how goals shrouded positive environmental consumer protection narratives. Lakoff ’s cognitive linguistics Stibbe’s ecolinguistics support deeper ballot text. shows that by leaving key concepts (especially net metering) out discourse, successfully framed an anti-solar as pro-consumer measure, while hiding direct legal implications concerning alternative In particular, explains opposition sharing surplus context neoclassical economics factor