City of Orlando – Karen Sweeney – 2021

Goals

The City of Orlando has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 90% from 2007 levels by 2040. To meet this goal, Orlando needs accurate reporting, strong policy, and actionable programs. Karen Sweeney was hired to advance Orlando’s GHG reduction goal via emissions measurement and reporting improvements, green building policy development, and rooftop solar project implementation.

Solutions

GHG Measurement & Reporting: Through analysis of the City of Orlando’s historical GHG inventories, Karen identified data gaps and sector-specific trends. Karen evaluated Google’s Environmental Insights Explorer tool for accuracy and completeness as a new data source for transportation and buildings emissions. Karen also created a roadmap for improving annual CDP and Global Covenant of Mayors reporting, implementing significant changes and strategizing further improvement.

Policy Development: Karen developed a building benchmarking best practices guide, sourcing successful policy and implementation steps from cities around the country. In response to stakeholder concerns regarding a proposed electric vehicle infrastructure policy, Karen compiled a fact-checked reference document for Orlando’s City Council.

Renewable Energy: In order to overcome rooftop structural limitations, Karen researched lightweight solar photovoltaic mounting systems, paving the way for expanded solar installations.

Potential Impact

With improved emissions data sources and reporting processes, the City of Orlando has a higher degree of confidence in their GHG inventory and their progress towards the 90% emissions reduction goal.

By implementing energy benchmarking ordinance best practices, the City of Orlando can achieve a building compliance rate of 80% or higher.

Implementation of rooftop solar projects using light-weighted mounting systems will enable 610 kW of solar energy installations across 4 city-owned facilities.