Office of Sustainability & Resilience
Welcome to the Orange County Office of Sustainability & Resilience’s Earth Month page, where every month is Earth Month for us!
Take a look below and find out what we’ve been up to over the past year.
Advancing Clean Mobility
- Increased the number of EVs in the light-duty fleet from 1 to 19 and number of hybrids from 15 to 94.
- Something so quiet about that ride!
Orange County employees test driving an F-150 Lightning fleet vehicle.
Delivering Savings through Efficiencies
Investing in energy-efficient infrastructure saves energy, saves money, and reduces risk. These investments include:
- Upgraded lighting at the Orange County Convention Center, which is projected to save approximately $700,000 annually and an estimated $14 million in total savings over 25 years.
- Facilities upgraded reflective roofing across County buildings. These are expected to save an additional $6 million in cooling and replacement costs.
- Keeping our building occupants comfortable and our rooftops cool.
- Kicked off the development of an energy roadmap to reach a 20% energy use intensity reduction across our building portfolio by 2032 as part of the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge.
- We’re all about asking for directions to help us get there!
- Completed four ASHRAE Level II Energy Audits for some of the County’s most energy-intensive buildings. We prioritized the energy efficiency recommendations to maximize returns. Implementation is getting underway.
Resilience
158,552 critical community assets were evaluated for flood vulnerability using extreme rainfall depth modeling, considering present-day conditions as well as future scenarios for 2040 and 2070.
- Buildings had minimal vulnerability.
- We shared findings with critical asset owners.
- These findings will help inform future infrastructure projects.
Chief Sustainability & Resilience Officer Carrie Black speaking about the Orange County Flood Vulnerability Assessments at a Board of County Commissioners Meeting (BCC).
Beyond Energy & Emissions: 2025 Accomplishments
- Secured a $500,000 Grant: This planning grant will enable us to evaluate how County facilities can serve as resilience hubs for disaster relief, with a focus on at-risk communities.
- Community Engagement: During last Earth Month, the County received over 25,000 views on Orange County Earth Month videos on social media, and over 1,400 participants across 19 Earth Month events.
- Social media helps us read ALL our community, including businesses and companies alongside homeowners and residents!
- Building Green Expertise: 10 staff members earned LEED Green Associate accreditations, demonstrating expertise in sustainable building practices.
- This totals up to 23 Leed Green Associate accreditations in Orange County!
Office of Sustainability and Resilience at the 2025 Central Florida Earth Day.
For more information, visit Sustainability and Resilience.