- January 30, 2025
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by: Pat Kuehn,
Community Information Specialist, Volusia County Government
Volusia County Government is taking part in a regional initiative to fight climate change, save taxpayer dollars and train future environmental specialists through a greenhouse gas inventory. The county is going to use this collaborative effort to assess energy use in its own operations.
The initiative, which is funded by Audubon Florida in partnership with the East Central Florida Regional Resilience Collaborative, will provide data and develop baselines for greenhouse gas emissions for 18 participating cities and counties.
According to Audubon Florida, these baselines are a critical first step in helping local governments track their efforts to improve energy efficiency in their operations and shift to renewable energy sources over time. Both can result in cost savings to taxpayers and reduced emissions that contribute to climate change.
Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties have also joined the effort. Participating cities are Apopka, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, DeLand, Kissimmee, Melbourne Beach, Ormond Beach, Palm Bay, Satellite Beach, Titusville and Rockledge.
Other partners are ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, the University of Central Florida, Florida Institute of Technology and Stetson University.
Participating cities and counties, with assistance from university student fellows recruited by Audubon Florida, will collect data about emissions produced by government operations in their buildings, fleets, waste services and other services. With the data, local governments can create a framework for local resiliency decisions to reduce emissions and maximize efficiency.
“This initiative gives us additional resources and capacity to gain a better understanding of where our emissions are coming from in our own operations,” said Katrina Locke, Volusia County’s sustainability and resilience manager. “It will also help us set goals to reduce emissions. It’s wonderful to see that 18 cities and counties have joined the effort.”
Volusia County is also partnering with the Regional Resiliency Collaborative to complete a regional greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
Locke noted that both greenhouse gas inventories will work to further resilience efforts in the county and dovetail neatly with the county’s Sustainability Action Plan, which was approved by the Volusia County Council in 2014 to look at ways to reduce greenhouse gases in government and the community.
