GETTING GREENER AND GREENER.

For a Cleaner Orlando.
This week, we did some digging to discover how DOP members are greening up around town. In fact, there are too many green projects in Orlando to fit into one issue! From buildings to awards and solar panels to carbon-neutral, DOP members definitely have their green foot in the game. Stay tuned for more on this topic.

AdventHealth
AdventHealth installed a new 850-kW solar carport on top of the McRae parking garage, that's 1,800 new solar panels, representing the largest on-site solar project for a health care organization in Central Florida, and is the largest solar project in the city of Orlando. It is expected to generate roughly 1.3 million kilowatt hours worth of energy each year and save the hospital more than $4.6 million in energy costs (WOW!).

Baker Barrios
Baker Barrios' Sustainability Committee just released the fall issue of their quarterly newsletter, Sustainable Inspiration. "The goal of our quarterly Sustainable Inspiration is to inform everyone of the impact sustainability has on our lives and our planet, and the opportunities to get involved. It’s important we all start becoming more environmentally conscious. As long as we think there is a choice to avoid environmentally responsible design, we are continuing to hold on to the past and not looking toward to the future."

The fall issue discusses radiant heat, autumn vegetable gardening, how to reduce your personal carbon footprint as well as Covid-19 returning to work sustainability tips.

CEMEX
CEMEX has developed a new concrete, a net-zero CO2 concrete to be exact, called Vertua. Their first net-zero CO2 concrete solution material that reduces the carbon footprint by up to 70% while the remaining 30% footprint is neutralized through carbon offsets. Additional benefits include lower heat generation and reduced cracking, and enhanced workability and consistency retention.

CI Group
CI Group partners with manufacturers that are on the forefront of sustainability. Since the development of the WELL building standard in 2014, Teknion has received WELL certification at four showrooms and is the first manufacturer in the world to be WELL certified. OFS has partnered with ecomedes to simplify sustainable decision-making for  customers. Users can easily select products from their portfolio and analyze to any of the major environmental or human health focused building certification standards.

OUC The Reliable One
Last week, OUC released a recommendation to significantly reduce the use of coal-fired generation no later than 2025, eliminating it completely by 2027. OUC will hold a public workshop on November 17, 2020, at 2:00 PM, which will give those in attendance the opportunity to learn more about the Electric Integrated Resource Plan and recommendation.  If approved, the Stanton Energy Center’s two coal-fired plants would be converted to natural gas while OUC makes the transition to solar.  This proposed conversion supports OUC’s strategic plan of reaching net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050, as well as achieve interim targets of 50% CO₂ emissions reduction by 2030 and 75% by 2040 compared with 2005 levels.

TLC Engineering Solutions
TLC’s Kristy Walson, PE, LEED Fellow, BEMP has been named a 2020 LEED Fellow by Green Business Certification Inc. LEED Fellows are nominated by their peers and must have made at least 10 years’ worth of exceptional impact on LEED and hold an active LEED AP with specialty credential, among other requirements. Kristy is TLC’s fourth LEED Fellow, joining TLCers Kim Shinn, PE, LEED Fellow, BEMP; Brian Lomel, PE, LEED Fellow, WELL AP, Fitwel Ambassador; and Mark Gelfo, PE, CxA, LEED Fellow, EMP.