Green Energy & Buildings

• Partner with public and private organizations to establish an energy finance program.

Many properties in Clearwater can reduce energy use significantly through minor improvements, such as adding insulation, high-efficiency appliances (e.g., water heater), and high-efficiency lighting. Properties can also generate a percentage of their electricity use through the installation of renewable energy systems. This includes solar and geothermal systems which run on thermal energy found below the earth’s surface. While basic energy efficiency improvements are the most economical way to reduce energy use, property owners may be discouraged by up-front investment costs.

The city will partner with public and private organizations to establish an energy finance program that provides commercial property owners with long-term, low-interest loans for energy improvements. The program would target older, inefficient commercial and industrial buildings and prioritize retrofits that result in cost savings that exceed, or at least offset, the original investment. Loan payments will be assessed to the property tax bill (e.g., Property Assessed Clean Energy) so that the loan is assigned to the property instead of the property owner.

• Develop and implement a program the performs comprehensive energy evaluations, recommends conservation practices and upgrades, provides basic information on financing options, and measures the environmental and economic benefits after implementation.

Commercial and industrial properties are responsible for nearly half of the electricity use in the city. With the help of private companies and educational organizations, the city will develop and implement a program that performs comprehensive energy evaluations, recommends conservation practices and upgrades, provides basic information on financing options, and tracks the environmental and economic benefits after implementation. Program partners, such as local vendors and utilities, could offer discounted products to incentivize improvements that increase resource conservation.

• Implement a “feebate” program.

Major renovations on commercial buildings in Clearwater provide a great opportunity to improve existing buildings with energy efficiency improvements. To encourage both improvements on existing buildings and building preservation, the city will implement a “feebate” program, a self-financing system of fees and rebates that would reward developers that renovate buildings to a nationally recognized high-performance standard using fees charged to developers that do not.

• Encourage and assist developers in incorporating green building practices and standards into their design, construction, maintenance, and operations plans.
• Encourage the use of national building performance standards.

During redevelopment projects, the city will work with and encourage developers to incorporate green building practices and standards into their design, construction, and maintenance and operation plans. For example, a builder could construct solar-ready homes to facilitate installation of solar panels by the property owner. The city will encourage the use of national building performance standards, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Florida Green Building Coalition and Energy Star.

• Continue offering programs by Clearwater Gas System to increase the number of residents and businesses using natural gas to power appliances in place of alternatives that produce more emissions upon combustion.

Natural gas generally emits less CO2 during combustion than coal, gasoline, and propane. Lower CO2 emissions and widespread availability makes natural gas comparatively less environmentally harmful, and therefore, a preferable substitute where there isn’t sufficient infrastructure to support emission-free energy generation and distribution. Clearwater Gas System launched several programs to increase the number of residents and businesses that use natural gas to power appliances (e.g., water heaters and ranges). Clearwater Gas System will continue to offer these programs to provide natural gas as an alternative to standard electricity. It is worth noting that natural gas is itself a GHG and still produces CO2 upon combustion. Consequently, campaigns promoting the use of natural gas will be paired with educational materials promoting energy efficiency and conservation.

• Request proposals from private companies to design, build, install and operate small-scale energy generation facilities that can utilize available resources to generate electricity and/or heat.
• Set municipal renewable energy targets

On average, Clearwater receives 361 days of sunshine each year. That sunshine can be captured and used to generate energy through the installation of photovoltaic (solar) systems.

The city also has the potential to generate energy from a variety of local sources, including biogas from wastewater treatment facilities and biomass (i.e., yard and food waste). The city will request proposals from private companies to design, build, install, and operate small-scale energy technologies that can utilize available resources to generate electricity and/or heat energy. The most viable technologies will generate energy at a competitive rate for the city while also reducing other sources of GHG such as those from solid waste and biogas.

• Preparation of a marketing and outreach campaign challenging property owners to install renewable energy technologies.
• Support code changes that remove obstacles to installing renewable energy systems.
• Provide information to assist residents with purchasing renewable energy equipment.
• Include information about local, state, and federal incentives, economic and environmental benefits, contact information for local contractors, financing options.
• Create a website that allows the Clearwater community to submit property information and view addresses where renewable energy systems have been installed.

There is ample space for installing renewable energy systems (e.g., photovoltaic systems and geothermal) on already existing residential, commercial, industrial and city properties. The city will prepare a marketing and outreach campaign to challenge property owners to install renewable energy technologies. As part of the challenge, the city will strive to meet the goal by purchasing and installing renewable energy systems that are economically viable and that have the quickest return on investment.

To assist residential, commercial and industrial property owners in meeting the challenge, the city will support code changes that remove obstacles to installing renewable energy systems and provide information to assist the consumer in purchasing renewable energy equipment. Information may include local, state, and federal incentives, local contractors, economic and environmental benefits of the technology, potential ways to finance the systems and a website that allows the Clearwater community to view and post where installations have been made.

• Investigate financing mechanisms for expanding renewable energy generation.
• Launch a solar co-op program in which residents can coordinate bulk purchase of PV systems for reduced price.

Aside from energy finance programs (Green Energy & Buildings Strategy #1), there are other public and private financing tools that can be used to lower up-front costs of renewable energy systems for property owners. The city will investigate various financing mechanisms for expanding renewable energy generation and share its findings with the community at large. Some financing mechanisms include clean renewable energy bonds, power purchase agreements, net metering, and bulk purchasing of renewable energy.

The United States Internal Revenue Service administers the Clean Renewable Energy Bond program which provides funding to public organizations for renewable energy projects. Power Purchase Agreements are agreements between power producers and customers in this case, for the purchase of renewable energy. Net metering is a system in which solar panels or other renewable energy generators are connected to a public utility power grid and surplus power is transferred onto the grid allowing customers to offset the cost of power drawn from the utility.&

In 2020, the city enrolled in Duke Energy’s Clean Energy Connection program. The program will enable the city to receive 40% (11,284 kW) of its annual municipal electricity consumption from Duke’s solar systems starting in 2022.

The city also partnered with Solar United Neighbors (SUN), a non-profit that enables residential groups to purchase photovoltaic systems at lower prices. By participating in the SUN Greater St. Pete Solar Co-op program, interested Clearwater residents joined with other Pinellas County residents to organize and purchase photovoltaic systems in bulk. This enables each household to receive the system at a significant reduction in price. The city will continue partnering with SUN to enable future solar co-ops across Clearwater.

Another option that is available to residents is the Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF). SELF is a nonprofit organization that provides loans, project management, and contractor vetting for home improvement options that improve energy efficiency, water conservation, and storm preparedness. The organization prioritizes low- and moderate-income neighborhoods to achieve positive environmental impacts while reducing the costs of homeownership. The city will work to publicize the availability of SELF programs at events and in its publications.

• Request conversion of all Duke Energy-owned electric streetlights to LED.

Compared to conventional lighting, light emitting diode (LED) lighting can reduce energy use by 50% and requires less maintenance. Since 2015, the city has converted over 11 thousand streetlights to LED bulbs. All traffic signals, including pedestrian signals, now use LED lighting as well. With support from local governments such as Pinellas County and St. Petersburg, Clearwater will approach Duke to request conversion of the electric utility’s streetlights to LED lighting for lights that have yet to be converted.

• Partner with a third-party company to create an energy savings program including staff training and web-based energy consumption tracking, and benchmarking for municipal buildings.
• Develop a formal energy management policy for city buildings and operations.

Behavior change can go a long way when it comes to saving energy. The city will work with a third-party company to create an energy savings program for its facilities. This program will include staff training, web-based energy tracking of individual buildings, and energy benchmarking. From this program, the city will develop a formal energy management policy for city buildings and operations with the intent to reduce electricity intensity (kilowatt-hours per square foot) an additional 10% below our 2019 levels by 2025. The policy will set reduction targets and dates, standardize operation practices (e.g., thermostat set points), establish energy benchmarking protocol and specify acceptable and prohibited equipment use and purchases. Best practices and results will be shared with the business community to expand the energy efficiency practices city-wide.

• Establish a re-commissioning plan to inspect, test, and make proper adjustments at regularly scheduled intervals to optimize the performance of its buildings and equipment.
• Create an LED lightbulb conversion program for city buildings.
• Train key staff that do not have the appropriate skills to test the equipment.
• Identify any environmentally harmful refrigerants in its operations and phase them out as part of its re-commissioning process (see Green Energy and Buildings Strategy #11)

The city has made investments in energy efficiency upgrades of its buildings and has been able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy and operational costs. Through these upgrades, the city is expected to continue saving money, with an expectation that these upgrades could create millions of dollars in savings over the next six years. However, the full energy savings will not be achieved without ongoing maintenance of the equipment.

The city will establish a re-commissioning plan to inspect, test and make proper adjustments at regularly scheduled intervals to optimize the performance of its buildings and equipment. An LED light bulb conversion program will be created for city buildings in order to strategically change out energy-wasting light bulbs and quantify the resulting energy savings on a building-by-building basis. Where necessary, the city will provide training to key staff that currently do not have the appropriate skills to test the equipment.

In addition, certain chilling appliances have a high impact on the climate due to the refrigerants they use. These refrigerants are powerful GHGs called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are short-lived pollutants, but they have a heat-trapping impact on global warming that’s thousands of times more powerful than that of carbon dioxide. Appliances such as chillers, refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, dehumidifiers, and air conditioners likely contain HFCs. Unfortunately, as the world gets hotter, demand for air conditioning increases. In fact, by 2050, Florida is projected to experience some of the highest frequencies of extreme heat in the nation. Thankfully, HFC substitutes, like propane and ammonia, are available. The city will identify any environmentally harmful refrigerants in its operations and phase them out as part of its re-commissioning process (Green Energy and Buildings Strategy #11).

• Build all new municipal facilities to a nationally recognized high-level performance standard (e.g., Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Florida Green Building Coalition, and Energy Star).

The city will lead by example by building all new municipal facilities to a nationally recognized, high-level performance standard such as LEED, Florida Green Building Coalition or Energy Star. Within a chosen standard, the city will prioritize energy and water efficiency as well as waste reduction features.

• Existing and new infrastructure complies with comprehensive resilience guidelines and the recommendations provided by the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition.
• Prioritize resilience upgrades in capital and operational.
• Create educational materials and events for the public to improve the adaptive capacity of their own buildings, structures, and properties.
• Explore grant opportunities for municipal solar photovoltaic and energy storage for critical building infrastructure (e.g., emergency shelters, schools, cooling centers, and nursing or assisted-living homes) to protect vulnerable populations and reduce GHG emissions.

Existing city facilities and infrastructure may need to be retrofitted extensively in order to withstand local climate change impacts. The vulnerability assessment, outlined in item 5.7(c) of the Resilience Planning and Outreach Strategy, will provide a greater understanding of the projected climate change impacts and risks, as well as the city infrastructure that is most vulnerable. The city will aim to have both existing and new buildings and infrastructure comply with comprehensive resilience guidelines and the recommendations provided by the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition. The city will also routinely update its design criteria and community development code to further advance this shift towards resilience. The city will also prioritize resilience upgrades in its capital and operational budgets in order to reduce the long-term risk and negative economic impact of climate change.

Finally, the city will create educational materials and events for the public to improve the adaptive capacity of their own buildings, structures, and properties. Information such as FEMA flood zone identification, hurricane preparedness, living shoreline or sea wall installation, sea-level rise projections, and more will be provided in an understandable and reoccurring manner. To protect vulnerable populations while reducing GHG emissions, the city will also explore grant opportunities to add photovoltaic and energy storage for critical building infrastructure, including emergency shelters, schools, cooling centers, and nursing or assisted-living homes.