One ordinance's milkshake brought all the business people to the yard Monday at the City Council meeting in City Hall. Ordinance No. 2016-64 which would establish an optional and voluntary Building Energy Benchmarking Program in which all buildings in Orlando over 50,000 sq feet (except theme parks) would voluntarily report their energy usage to the City if they chose to participate. The ordinance was approved 5-2 with Commissioner Jim Gray and Commissioner Tony Ortiz voting no.
According to Energy.gov, "...Building energy benchmarking serves as a mechanism to measure energy performance of a single building over time, relative to other similar buildings, or to modeled simulations of a reference building built to a specific standard (such as an energy code)."
Here's a play by play of what happened in the council meeting leading up to the vote.
Chris Castro, the City's Director of Sustainability, saver of a woman's life at Playalinda Beach and the namesake of the City's official Chris Castro Day gave a presentation on the City’s sustainability initiative and currently proposed ordinance.
Back to that milkshake: each of these people spoke for a max of three minutes:
- Megan O’Neil, on behalf of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, appeared in support.
- Caroline Golin, on behalf of The Greenlink Group, appeared in support.
- Leslie Cook, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, provided information.
- Steven Jamieson, on behalf of the Mall at Millenia, appeared in opposition.
- Steven Beumer, on behalf of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, appeared in support.
- James Fenton, on behalf of UCF’s Florida Solar Energy Center, appeared in support.
- Resham Shirsat, on her own behalf, appeared in support.
- Kevin Craig, on behalf of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association, appeared in support. 9. Ken LaRue, on his own behalf and as CEO of First Green Bancorp, appeared in support.
- Clayton Louis Ferrara, on behalf of Ideas For Us, appeared in support.
- Dr. Penelope Canan, on her own behalf, appeared in support.
- Kevin Logue, on behalf of the local chapter of Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), appeared in opposition.
- Joe Territo, on his own behalf, appeared in opposition.
- Patti Riva, on her own behalf, appeared in support.
- Paul Dudley, on his own behalf, appeared in support.
- Gregory Territo, on his own behalf, appeared in opposition.
- Rob Vieira, on behalf of UCF’s Florida Solar Energy Center, appeared in support.
- Edna Trimble, on behalf of Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Orlando, appeared in opposition.
- Robert Phillips, on his own behalf, appeared in support.
- Mark Meara, on his own behalf, appeared in opposition.
- Kane Morris-Webster, on behalf of International Council of Shopping Centers and Certified Commercial Investment Members (ICSC/CCIM), appeared in opposition.
- Josephine Balzac, on her own behalf, appeared in support.
- Brendon Dedekind, on behalf of the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP), appeared in opposition to the current form of the proposed ordinance.
- Ivan Aron, on behalf of Siemens, appeared in support.
- Patrick Hughes, on behalf of National Electrical Manufacturers Association, appeared in support.
- 26. Carol Davis, on behalf of League of Women Voters Orange County, appeared in support.
- Marty Sullivan, on behalf of League of Women Voters Orange County, appeared in support.
- Kathy Lawson, on her own behalf, appeared in support.
- Michael Aller, on behalf of Energy Florida, appeared in support.
- Mike McConnell, on his own behalf, appeared in support.
- Sarah Boren, on behalf of U.S. Green Building Council Florida, appeared in support.
- Julio Rovi, on his own behalf, appeared in support.
- Michelle Suarez, on behalf of Organize Now, appeared in support.
- Maria Bolton-Joubert, on her own behalf, appeared in support.
- Marie Boyle, on her own behalf, appeared in opposition.
- David Dunn, on behalf of the International Facilities Management Association, appeared in support. At approximately 5:26 P.M. Mayor Dyer returned to the meeting.
- Kris Stenger, on behalf of City of Winter Park as Sustainability Manager, appeared in support.
- Jim Callahan, on his own behalf, appeared in support.
- Eric Rollings, Chair of Orange Soil and Water Conservation District, appeared in support.
At the end of all that milkshaking, Mayor Dyer asked for questions and comments from Commissioners.
- Commissioner Sheehan asked for clarity on voluntary participation and Chris Castro answered that participation is voluntary.
- Commissioner Ings asked when the OUC utility data tool would be ready and Mr. Castro stated the estimated start date is mid-2017.
- Commissioner Hill asked how soon advisory board committees could convene and recommend appointments, and Mr. Castro replied the goal is to convene in the first quarter of 2017 and meet quarterly thereafter.
- Commissioner Gray expressed opposition to the ordinance and questioned the exemption of theme parks from participating. Mr. Castro responded that theme park attractions are currently unable to be benchmarked using the Energy Star tool. Commissioner Sheehan noted that the revisions to the ordinance addressed all of the concerns voiced at the initial reading on September 15, 2016 and stated her support for the ordinance.
- Commissioner Hill echoed Commissioner Sheehan’s comments and stated her support for the ordinance.
- Commissioner Ings inquired about OUC and Mayor Dyer responded that OUC is supportive of the ordinance. Mr. Castro responded to Commissioner Ings’ question about separately metered electric vehicle charging stations not impacting a related building’s score.
- Commissioner Stuart also spoke in support of the ordinance and the pilot testing program.
- Commissioner Ortiz expressed reservations about the public reporting aspects of the ordinance and whether there was a compromise to change the “eligible not participating” designation to simply “not participating.” Mayor Dyer responded that the ordinance as proposed is already significantly altered from its original version to address all of the previously raised concerns and that on climate change issues cities have to lead because cities are where 50% of all energy use is occurring.