Orlando
City Scorecard Rank
21
Orlando, FL
47.50Scored out of 100Updated 10/2020
Local Government Score:
7.5 out of 10 points
Local Government Climate and Energy Goals List All
The City of Orlando releases annual progress reports to its Municipal Operations Sustainability Plan.
Climate Mitigation Goal
The Municipal Operations Sustainability Plan established a goal for the Orlando city government to be carbon neutral by 2030. To meet this goal, the city must reduce per capita emissions by 5% annually. Based on ACEEE’s analysis of past years emissions data, ACEEE projects that the city will be within 77% of its near-term GHG emissions reduction goal for local government operations.
Energy Reduction Goal
The Plan includes a goal to reduce municipal energy consumption 50% below 2010 levels by 2030.
Renewable Energy Goal
The Plan also includes a goal to use renewable energy to power 100% of municipal operations by 2030.
Last updated: June 2021
Procurement and Construction List All
Fleet Policies and Composition
As part of the Energy Secure Cities Coalition (ESCC), the City of Orlando has made a commitment to transition 100% of city fleet vehicles to alternative fuels by 2030. Since 2013, the city has worked to increase the percentage of fleet vehicles with some form of alternative fuel, including an all-electric city motor pool at City Hall and electric motorcycles for the Orlando Police Department. Currently, Orlando's fleet is composed of 8.75% hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or battery electric vehicles. By 2025, Orlando reported the city would have 440 electric vehicles, 25% of total city fleet.
Public Lighting
Orlando passed a lighting ordinance in 2014 for public outdoor lighting. As an alternative to the development standard, lighting that conforms to the Joint International Dark-Sky Association and Illuminating Engineering Society Model Lighting Ordinance is also acceptable. Orlando has also installed over 20,000 LED streetlights in the city in collaboration with the utility, Orlando Utilities Commission. The total of 28,735 streetlights converted to LEDs represents 99.5% of streetlights.
Onsite and offsite renewable systems
The City generates over 4,500,000 kWh of onsite solar energy on city facilities annually.
Inclusive procurement
Orlando requires 18% MBE participation and 6% WBE participation for all municipal projects. The city has also expanded its inclusive procurement practices to support LGBTQ+ owned businesses. These policies were applied to contracting processes for recent on-site solar PV installations.
Last updated: June 2021
Asset Management List All
Building Benchmarking
The Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy requires municipal buildings 10,000 sq. feet and up to benchmark energy usage, this information was made public on September 1, 2018. The City of Orlando has brought their buildings online through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and Lucid BuildingOS to achieve greater visibility over their portfolio. This enables the City team to better benchmark and manage their facilities and turn what used to be speculative guesswork into data-driven decisions about energy improvements and building management.
Comprehensive Retrofit Strategies
Since 2010, the City of Orlando has conducted ASHRAE Level II audits and retro-commissioning of all City facilities and identified more than 55 buildings as a priority for retrofits, based on a seven-year ROI. Utilizing a revolving energy loan fund established from a municipal bond, the City is pursuing these improvements by investing $17.5M in these facilities. Currently, the City is surpassing its Better Buildings goal of 20% savings, with those investments are tracking at $1.1M in savings and an average 31% reduction across 6.8 million square feet in energy use from the baseline in 2010. The City has a comprehensive team of engineers and building specialists focused on energy management and building performance/optimzation. All facilities are incorporated into a Citywide BAS that measures and verifies building performance. Orlando's revolving energy fund provides dedicated funding for energy efficiency work.
Last updated: June 2021
Community-Wide Initiatives
Score: 8.5 out of 15 points
Community-Wide Summary List All
The City of Orlando’s Community Sustainability Action Plan outlines the city’s sustainability agenda.
Last updated: September 2021
Community-Wide Climate Mitigation and Energy GoalsList All
Climate Mitigation Goal
The Community Sustainability Action Plan establishes a greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal of 90% below 2007 levels by 2040. Based on ACEEE’s analysis of past years emissions data, ACEEE projects the city will achieve its near-term community-wide GHG emissions reduction goal.
Energy Reduction Goal
Orlando plans to achieve a community-wide energy reduction of 25% below 2010 levels by 2040, as stated in the Community Sustainability Action Plan.
Renewable Energy Goal
Orlando plans to generate 100% of it community-wide electricity by 2050, as stated in the Community Sustainability Action Plan.
Last updated: September 2021
Equity-Driven Approaches to Clean Energy Planning, Implementation, and EvaluationList All
Equity-Driven Community Engagement
While developing the Parramore Comprehensive Plan, the city conducted public meetings in Parramore, a historically black community, where residents were able to speak, provide comments, vote, and engage with community leaders
Equity-Driven Decision-Making
We were unable to determine if the city has created a formal role for marginalized community residents or local organizations representing those communities to participate in decision-making that affects the creation or implementation of a local energy, sustainability, or climate action plan.
Equity Accountability Measures
The Parramore Comprehensive Plan includes several metrics to track outcomes related to energy and health.
The city hosted internal social equity training and conducts monthly workshops to evaluate sustainability programs through a social equity lens.
Last updated: September 2021
Clean Distributed Energy SystemsList All
The Orlando Utility Commission offers district chilled-water cooling via OUCooling. There are several districts with access to OUCooling.
The City has partnered with Solar United Neighbors of Florida, to offer residents a solar co-op. Over 250 residents signed up in the first co-op (Aug-Nov 2019) and an expanded co-op will be offered in spring (Apr-Jul) 2020. OUC customers may also participate in the utility’s solar bulk purchasing program OUCollective or enroll in a community solar program (the city is an anchor tenant of the community solar farm).
The City is also partnering with the Orlando Utilities Commission and the Orlando Economic Partnership to launch a 100% Renewable Energy Pledge campaign in April, 2020. This will support the demand for additional utility scale solar farms to be added to the grid mix.
Working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Solar Energy Innovation Network, the city developed a Roadmap to 100% Renewable Energy that included analysis of rooftop solar and storage potential. This informed a Capital Improvements Projects request for five resiliency hubs, the expansion of the city's Fleet and Facilities Solar Array, and two distributed energy plus storage explorations.
Last updated: September 2021
Mitigation of Urban Heat Islands List All
UHI Mitigation Goal
The Community Sustainability Action Plan’s Livability chapter includes a goal to increase the urban canopy coverage to 40% by 2040.
UHI Policies and Programs
The city provides development bonuses for buildings that exceed the minimum environmental sustainability requirements, such as energy efficiency enhancements, stormwater design, and solar and/or other renewable energy installation.
The city has adopted a private tree protection ordinance. The Southeast Orlando Sector Plan Development Guidelines and Standards protect urban wetlands from development beyond what is currently required by state law.
Last updated: September 2021
Buildings Policies
Score: 11 out of 30 points
Buildings Summary List All
The City of Orlando complies with the State of Florida’s codes. The Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark energy use and will require energy-saving actions beginning in 2020. Orlando offers several incentives to encourage energy efficiency improvements, solar installation, and low-income energy actions.
Last updated: June 2021
Building Energy Code AdoptionList All
Overview
Florida law requires that residential and commercial buildings comply with the 7th Edition Florida Building Code. The code is based on the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code with state amendments. Cities are not permitted to adopt codes more stringent than the state codes. To learn more about Florida’s building energy codes, please visit the State Policy Database
Commercial
Commercial projects in Orlando comply with Florida’s building energy codes. Orlando has begun efforts to develop a special committee in partnership with Orange County to advance more stringent codes, and has partnered with UCF, ASHRAE and other delegates. The city’s zEPI score for their commercial energy code is 52.5.
Residential
Residential projects in Orlando comply with Florida’s building energy codes. Orlando has begun efforts to develop a special committee in partnership with Orange County to advance more stringent codes, and has partnered with UCF, ASHRAE and other delegates. The city’s zEPI score for their residential energy code is 60.7.
Solar-readiness policies
The city has not passed a policy mandating new developments be solar-ready.
EV-charging readiness and infrastructure policies
The city has not yet passed a policy mandating new developments be EV-ready. The City Council will review a proposal for an EV-Ready ordinance in August 2021.
Low-energy use requirements
The city requires municipal buildings to achieve LEED Gold standards.
Last updated: August 2021
Building Energy Code Enforcement and ComplianceList All
The city does not have any full time employees soley dedicated to energy code compliance. The city requires third-party plan review and performance testing for code compliance. The city provides opportunity to review plans prior to submission but only does so at a cost.
Last updated: June 2021
Policies Targeting Existing BuildingsList All
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
In December 2016, Orlando passed the Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy (BEWES), an energy benchmarking and transparency policy. The policy requires existing commercial and multifamily buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to track whole-building energy use. Building owners must report energy use data to the City annually and make their information transparent to the real estate marketplace. The city achieved a compliance rate of 40%.
Cross-cutting requirements
Starting in May 2020, in accordance with the Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy, owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet that score under the national ENERGY STAR score of 50 must either perform an energy audit or perform a retro-commission one time every five years.
Incentives
Residential and commercial property owners may access property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for both energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy installations.
The City launched a Green Building Incentive Program in Jan 2021 to encourage developers to build LEED Silver or greater, providing a one time property tax rebate.
The city partners with the non-profit Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) and the municipal Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) to provide property owners with home energy improvement loans. The program is far-reaching and provides additional support to low-income homeowners.
The city partners with Solar United Neighbors (SUN) to offer the Orlando Solar Co-op which helps residents save money on solar installations through bulk negotiations.
The municipal utility, OUC, offers the Efficiency Delivered program that provides up to $2,500 of energy and water efficiency upgrades to residents. The program provides a greater cost-share for income-qualified participants.
Voluntary programs
The city participates in the Better Buildings Challenge.
Last updated: September 2021
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Workforce DevelopmentList All
The City of Orlando has partnered with outside organizations to develop its local energy workforce. The city participated in a taskforce with Valencia College to develop an Associate’s Degree dedicated to energy management, automation, and controls technology.
The city has also partnered with the United States Green Building Council to host ENERGY STAR 101 and 102 workshops and webinars. These training sessions are free of charge and provided to building management professionals through a classroom-style learning experience.
Last updated: June 2021
Energy & Water Utilities
Score: 5 out of 15 points
Energy & Water Utilities Summary List All
Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), a municipally-owned utility, provides water and electric service to the citizens of Orlando. TECO Peoples Gas, an investor-owned utility (IOU), is Orlando’s primary natural gas utility. The State of Florida requires its utilities which post sales of 2,000 GWh or more to implement cost-effective energy efficiency programs and to conduct energy efficiency potential studies. Natural gas programs are required by orders and legislation. To learn more about the state requirements for electric and gas efficiency, please visit the Florida page of the State Database.
The City of Orlando’s Department of Public Works provides wastewater and stormwater management services for Orlando.
Last Updated: July 2021
Electric & Gas Energy Efficiency Programs and SavingsList All
In 2019, OUC reported 19,837 MWh in net electric incremental savings, representing 0.29% of retail sales. In 2019, OUC spent $6,912,000 on energy efficiency programs, which represents 1.04% of its electric retail revenue.
In 2019, TECO Peoples Gas reported 0.65 MMtherms of net natural gas savings at the meter, which represents 0.65% of its retail sales across the utility’s service territory. In 2019, TECO Peoples Gas spent $16,619,336 on energy efficiency, which equates to $45.15 per residential customer. These savings and spending figures cover the entire jurisdiction of both utilities, not just the City of Orlando.
OUC offers electric efficiency incentives and technical assistance to residential and commercial/industrial customers. TECO Peoples Gas similarly offers natural gas efficiency programs to residential and business customers.
The City of Orlando is actively working with OUC on developing more efficiency programs through the City Energy Project, including data access platform for whole-building energy use data and additional services, including benchmarking and retro-commissioning. Through the City Energy Project and the Central Florida Energy Efficiency Alliance (CFEEA), the City of Orlando is actively promoting OUC and efficiency rebates and incentives, along with organizing various summits and workshops including the efficiency and conservation managers for each company to participate. OUC also partners with the City on energy efficiency workshops for multifamily and Housing Authority communities.
At this time, the City of Orlando does not have a formal partnership with TECO Peoples Gas in the form of a jointly developed or administered energy saving strategy, plan, or agreement.
Last Updated: July 2021
Low-Income & Multifamily EE Programs List All
Low-Income Programs
The OUC offers the Residential Efficiency Delivered Program to qualified low-income residential customers. This program provides up to $2,000 of energy and water efficiency upgrades based on the needs of the customer’s home. Upgrades include ceiling insulation, duct system repair, pipe insulation, window film, window caulk, door caulk, door weatherstripping, door sweep, threshold plate, air filter replacement, toilet replacement, irrigation repairs, water flow restrictors and minor plumbing repairs. This program is implemented in collaboration with an Efficiency Delivered contractor, who are selected through a request for proposal process on a routine basis. Households with annual income less than $40,000 a year qualify for the program. Customers may qualify for on bill financing options. OUC and the City partner to conduct in-person outreach, host workshops and information sessions, and spread the word about the program.
In 2019, according to OUC, it achieved 6,071 MWh savings, while spending $597,817 on its low-income program and served 76 low-income customers.
At this time, TECO Peoples Gas does not offer energy efficiency programs targeted at low-income customers in Orlando.
In February 2021, the city launched the Tiny Green Home exhibit in partnership with OUC and the Orlando Science Center. The exhibit is mobile and will be deployed to marginalized communities and community-wide events. It promotes both high tech and low and no-cost programs, including the Efficiency Delivered program, free home energy and water audits, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and the Solar Energy Loan Fund.
Multifamily Programs
OUC offers the comprehensive retrofit Multi-Family Efficiency Program. This program provides rebates for energy efficiency upgrades such as window improvements and film insulation, cool reflective roofs, ceiling and attic insulation, new heat pumps, proper sizing of air conditioning systems, duct repair, ultra-low-flow toilets, and new water heaters and washers. A property inspection is performed to validate which energy efficiency upgrades are needed.
Savings, spending, and participation data was not available for 2019.
At this time, TECO Peoples Gas does not offer energy efficiency programs targeted at multifamily properties.
Last Updated: July 2021
Provision of Energy Data by UtilitiesList All
Neither Orlando Utilities Commission nor TECO Peoples Gas provide building managers with automated benchmarking data through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager for multitenant commercial or multifamily buildings.
The city of Orlando provides community wide energy usage information for planning and evaluation purposes through their annual community reports. The City also utilized prior community-wide energy consumption as foundational data for the development of the Green Building Incentive Program, launched in January 2021 in partnership with the city’s Economic Development department. OUConsumption Online is now live and allows residential and commercial customers access to the AMI meter data at hourly intervals.
The City of Orlando is in the process of working to accelerate data provision by its utilities.The city continually advocates for utility data access through letters written by the Mayor to the state government on related advocacy items. As a result of the city's successful advocacy, OUC makes customer usage data available through their website and has developed new proceducures to facilitate data sharing to OUC customers.
Last Updated: August 2021
Renewable Energy Efforts of Energy UtilitiesList All
Utility Climate Mitigation Goal
In 2020, OUC established a goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with an interim target of 50% carbon emissions reduction by 2030 and 75% by 2040 compared to 2005 levels. To achieve 50% by 2030, OUC will need to reduce emissions by 3.6% annually from 2020 levels.
City-Led Efforts to Decarbonize the Electric Grid
In 2020, OUC emitted 22.55 metric tons of CO2e per capita (scope 1 emissions only).
Last Updated: August 2021
Efficiency Efforts in Water ServicesList All
Citywide Water Efficiency and Goals
The Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) provides water saving solutions and rebate programs for residential and commercial buildings that include both water and energy efficiency measures.
The City has set a goal of reducing potable water consumption per capita by 20%, which has been reduced from 92 gal/day in 2012 to 83 gal/day in 2017. The City has also developed a Water Resource Strategy to address water conservation concerns.
Water Plant Efficiency and Self-Generation
In 2015, the Orlando Utility Commission set a Clean Energy Strategy goal of 20% of retail sales from renewables and energy efficiency by 2020. This target will require significant investment in both landfill gas and solar generation. The wastewater division is an enterprise fund, which requires it to make strategic investments to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The City invested in energy efficient upgrades to its Water Conservation and Water reclamation Facility.
The City utilizes three of its wastewater generators for the purpose of co-generation and heat recovery. These units are automatically started, regulated and stopped based on the availability of methane gas in the gas holding digester.
Last Updated: August 2021
Transportation
Score: 15 out of 30 points
Transportation Summary List All
The transportation authority serving the City of Orlando is The Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority (Lynx). Lynx provides the public transportation for the city and the broader metropolitan area, including bus service. METROPLAN Orlando is the MPO in charge of conducting metropolitan transportation planning. Its area of jurisdiction encompasses Orlando, and many surrounding cities and towns. The Department of Transportation Engineering is the city agency charged with managing the city’s transportation network.
Last updated: January 2017
Sustainable Transportation Planning List All
Sustainable Transportation Plan
Orlando’s Community Sustainability Action Plan outlines strategies to reduce energy use in the transportation sector including expanding pedestrian and bike access to roads, increasing transit ridership, and expanding EV infrastructure.
VMT/GHG Targets and Stringency
Orlando does not have a VMT/GHG target in place for the transportation sector.
Progress Achieved Toward VMT/GHG Targets
Orlando does not track progress towards a VMT/GHG target.
Last Updated: March 2020
Location Efficiency List All
Location Efficient Zoning Codes
Orlando’s zoning code includes transect-based zoning as well as form-based zoning.
Residential Parking Policies
The City of Orlando was the first municipality to incorporate maximum parking standards into their parking code. The city has also adopted a new parking minimum requirement (to one-space per unit) for multifamily properties in Downtown Orlando.
Location Efficiency Incentives and Disclosure
As an incentive to promote location-efficient real estate development, Orlando provides discounts on impact fees up to 80%. The city also offers a robust density and intensity bonuses for development within mixed-use activity centers; mixed uses are required to obtain bonuses.
Last Updated: May 2020
Mode Shift List All
Mode Shift Targets
Based on the Community Sustainability Action Plan Update in 2018, the city is pursuing the goal of more than 50% of trips to be made by carpool, transit, bicycle, or walking city-wide.
Progress Achieved Toward Mode Shift Targets
Currently, Orlando is only tracking commute trips and no data is available for total trips made within the city.
Complete Streets
The City of Orlando has not yet adopted a complete streets policy.
Car Sharing
Orlando has a parking space lease agreement with FDOT for the on-street spaces (and one garage location) to be used for carsharing.
Bike Sharing
The city has 175.001 bike share bikes per 100,000 people.
Last Updated: May 2020
Transit List All
Transportation Funding
The transportation entities that serve the City of Orlando have received $148,156,785on average annually between 2014 and 2018. That equates to roughly $57.58 per capita between 2014 and 2018 within the Authority's service area.
Access to Transit Services
The Transit Connectivity Index measures transit service levels. It is based on the number of bus routes and train stations within walking distance for households scaled by frequency of service. The City of Orlando Transit Connectivity Index value is 6, scoring 0.5 points in the City Scorecard.
Last Updated: May 2020
Efficient VehiclesList All
Vehicle Purchase Incentives
The Orlando Utilities Comission offers a number of EV incentives, including a $200 bill credit for purchasing an EV, a $3,000 rebate towards the purchase of a new Nissan Leaf, and a $450 tax credit for installing alternative fuel charging at home.
Vehicle Infrastructure Incentives
OUC offers incentives for EV vehicle charging via its Charge-It program, in which commercial customers can obtain electric vehicle charging services from OUC for a fixed monthly fee over a contracted period of time. The fee is based on specific characteristics of the site and the equipment type. Additionally, OUC provides the option for customers to pay for the equipment and installation that OUC provides, then own it immediately.
EV Charging Locations
The City has 155 charging stations available for public use, equivalent to 54.25 stations per 100,000 people.
Renewable Charging Incentives
Orlando does not have any incentives for renewable EV charging infrastructure installation.
Last Updated: March 2020
Freight System EfficiencyList All
The City’s Parking Division manages freight zones and coordinates with the Transportation Engineering Division on the creation of new zones or modification of existing zones. The freight zones are located along curbs and designated through signage and orange colored curbs. At night, these spaces convert to passenger loading/unloading zones. Presently, freight zones are limited to the downtown core.
Last Updated: March 2020
Clean, Efficient Transportation for Low-Income CommunitiesList All
Affordable New TOD Housing Policy
Orlando allows for affordable housing as a qualifying use towards mixed use requirements for density and intensity bonuses.
Connecting Existing Affordable Housing Stock to Efficient Transportation Options
As a strategy included in the Community Sustainability Action Plan 2018 Update, Orlando in the process of developing a car sharing program for low-income neighborhoods where public transit services are currently lacking. This will temporarily boost mobility options until public transit infrastructure is expanded to provide the level of service needed in these areas. To encourage the use of this program, the city will also consider providing subsidized rates for the program’s membership options to ensure affordability for all users.
Last Updated: March 2020