With over 800 people in attendance, Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty outlined his "A New Vision for Orange County", implementing his plan for a greener Orange County. The sold out event was packed with insightful ideas on how business, individuals and governments could work together for the betterment of the environment. 

Mayor Crotty discussed many of the plans currently underway and stated, "I am committed to provide the leadership necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our region. Orange County Government is already taking steps to improve efficiencies and reduce our impact on the environment".

Eight target goals were announced but the effort to reduce emissions over the next 12 years or take us back down to pre-1990 levels is a key focus.  Specifically, the first target is to reduce our 2005 greenhouse gas emissions by 15%, by the year 2010. Our second target is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 28% by the year 2015. Lastly, is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from the by the year 2020.

Fuel consumption is another large area of focus. The county is looking at using solar and other alternative energy sources, especially in our buildings, such as the convention center.  We will work to increase recycling efforts throughout the community. We will tailor our land-use policies, such as transit oriented development and wetland protection, to reduce greenhouse gases.  We will continue to be very active in acquiring environmentally sensitive lands and we will continue to plant trees to help reduce greenhouse gases. The county will reduce our emissions by 40% by the year 2020, it's really more than a 40% decrease, particularly if you factor in the continued growth of our community, and it ends up closer to a 61% decrease.

The eight target goals announced by Mayor Crotty include;

Goal #1 is to adopt polices to establish and implement a County Renewable Energy Initiative. This includes moving forward with photovoltaics at the Convention Center and developing a program to provide incentives for solar energy manufacturers within our county.  We will retrofit county buildings with renewable energy systems, supporting our hurricane mitigation efforts to have decentralized energy available. 

Mayor Crotty will work toward setting standards that include an increase to 15% of the power from county-owned buildings come from alternative energy sources within the next 15 years. All new county buildings will be green, meeting the LEED standard.  We will work with local power companies to develop and promote "green power" and we will explore an incentive program to increase solar hot water and photovoltaics on homes and businesses in our community.  Our goal is to make alternative energy a feasible option for everyone in our community.

Goal # 2 is to implement a Green Procurement Program.  
This ensures that Orange County will purchase products that reduce toxic chemicals, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support water and energy conservation. We will buy products that are recyclable or made from recycled products and/or support renewable energy sources.  We are looking at a 10% differential for products that are "green." As we renew our building cleaning contracts, we will require that "green" non-toxic cleaning products are used.  Although we have yet to become a truly paperless society, we will increase our recycling efforts and purchase recycled product to a minimum of 35% post consumer paper. 

Goal #3 is to adopt policies to support greenhouse gas mitigation.
We are looking to develop a program to mitigate greenhouse gases during official county travel.  We hope to offset these emissions by planting trees and using alternative energy. We can even expand the program to offer similar a mitigation opportunities to guests of the Orange County Convention Center.  Imagine the option of hosting a  "carbon free" event. To encourage preservation of trees, we can strengthen our Tree Protection and Removal Ordinance to eliminate some exemptions and require a higher percentage of trees for canopy replacement.

Goal #4 is to adopt educational programs at the community and county levels. Our event today is a good example of this.  We also plan to host regular workshops to discuss topics related to climate change such as smart growth, transportation, recycling and alternative energy.  Our specific goal is to be certified as a Florida Green Local Government within a few months. 

Goal #5 is to adopt policies to support recycling, methane recovery and biomass energy. We will strengthen both commercial and residential recycling.  Currently our residential rate is 32%. We'd like to increase this to 50%.  We will continue to support methane recovery at the landfill in place of burning off the gas and we support new technologies to generate energy by recovering methane at our wastewater treatment plants. 

Goal # 6 is to adopt policies to support greenhouse gas reductions in the transportation sector. Mayor Crotty set a goal that 60% of all county vehicles will be either hybrids or use alternative fuel, by the year 2012.  We will also continue to reduce our mileage by using mobile technology in vehicles such as wireless laptops. We will stay the course to reduce our petroleum consumption by 20% by the year 2010.  We will continue to support mass transit, such as commuter rail and multimodal transportation centers. We will continue to build more bike trails and roadside bicycle lanes.  We will participate in a pilot program for plug-in hybrid vehicles and we will continue to support hydrogen projects as feasible, such as testing of the OCCC 12-passenger hydrogen buses.

Goal #7 is to adopt policies to support Green Buildings.
We have committed to LEED certification on a minimum of three new county buildings.  We are training staff to become LEED certified.  We support revising the state building code to support greater efficiencies.  We are looking at providing incentives, such as reduced fees and expedited permit review, to support green building and green development in the private sector. 

The final goal is to formalize partnership agreements on a regional and even worldwide basis. That includes encouraging local municipalities to develop climate action plans so we can work together to reduce greenhouse gasses. We should consider establishing a "sister city" relationship with the United Kingdom and perhaps elsewhere around the world to share ideas and plans, concluded Mayor Crotty.

Orange County has been implementing energy efficient measures for many years and we made a commitment in 2005 to begin reducing our petroleum consumption.  Mayor Crotty emphasized, "The goals outlined today will be fully developed to include a timeline, financing mechanisms and an assignment of responsibility to my staff.  Once the plan is fully developed, Orange County will monitor and verify its results.  This will be an ongoing process and at a minimum, our targets and goals will be evaluated at least every 3 years".