City of Orlando

At a Glance

Industry

Government/Public Administration

Project Types

Climate Justice/Energy Equity, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy

Year

2022

Location

Orlando, FL

Summary

Devon von Lichtenstein improved the city’s CDP Report score and equipped the Energy Burden Task Force with insight to support efforts in reducing energy burden throughout the city.

Goals

The City of Orlando is one of the top 100 sustainable cities in the U.S. with ambitious GHG reduction and renewable energy goals. Through CDP reporting, the city needed help highlighting their numerous programs and improving their overall score. Additionally, energy burden is disproportionally elevated in low-income areas and communities of color, and more than triple the national average in some neighborhoods. Creating a resource with available programs and highlighting peer programs to emulate will help focus the city’s efforts to evaluate and establish additional solutions to mitigate energy burden.

Solutions

For the CDP report:

  • Review current progress and previous years’ reports.

  • Identify areas for improvement and reach out to appropriate contacts to gather needed information.

  • Submit report draft by July 7th to receive feedback from CDP.

  • Review feedback, make necessary adjustments, and complete report.

  • Submit final report by July 27th.

For energy burden:

  • Research energy burden specific to low-income families living within Orlando and potential areas for improvement.

  • Review local programs for current resources.

  • Review peer programs in sister cities including Seattle, Washington D.C., and San Diego.

  • Create database with available local programs and comparable peer programs and analyze for key trends, gaps, and opportunities.

  • Create briefing sheet with findings for Energy Burden Task Force to utilize.

Potential Impact

While results will be available in the fall, it is anticipated that Devon was able to increase the Adaptation score from C to A, the Mitigation score from B to A, and the overall score from B to A on the CDP report, by adding more details, answering additional questions, and including specific programs.

By combining current resources and drawing ideas from peer programs, Devon was able to create a list of 30+ local resources that community members could potentially qualify for to help ease their energy burden. Devon also created a briefing sheet with his findings from researching 20+ peer programs to help guide the Energy Burden Task Force in assessing additional strategies to implement in Orlando to accelerate residential energy efficiency.

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