Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida
By Robert Farmer
WANTED: Problem-definition, recommendations, and wish-lists for the Energy Advisory Committee (EAC) of The Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida ...
As reported to the Board at our September 25th meeting, the EAC has held four meetings to date, with the fifth in Miami on October 7-8, as we are going to press. The next meeting is scheduled for December 5-6.
The Chapter was invited to attend the EAC’s second meeting in June and since then we’ve attended all the meetings, which have occurred during the Chapter’s summer hiatus, and have been party to the committee’s evolution.
The early meetings were devoted to energy presentations by notable speakers and committee members themselves on a wide range of energy technologies and scenarios. At the most recent meeting, on September 5th & 6th, the committee defined their role by the adoption of the following mission statement:
EAC MISSION STATEMENT: To recommend to The Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, in support of its mission statement: A vision, goals, strategies, actions, and measures of success to ensure a sustainable energy future for South Florida and its communities.
The Commission expects recommendations from the EAC in the Spring of 1997. These will be deliberated through the Commission then submitted to the Governor.
At the same meeting the committee organized themselves into two subcommittees: ENERGY SUPPLY, and ENERGY CONSUMPTION. As a guest of the EAC, I chose to participate in the Consumption Subcommittee on behalf of the Chapter, and contributed observations on commercial/industrial energy issues for consideration.
Although my own area of study is energy supply, I chose to focus on C/I energy consumption issues (vs. the residential, transportation or government/institutional sectors) because, from my knowledge of our members, that’s where the bulk of the Chapter’s experience, knowledge and practice lies. C/I is not the only energy sector where we have knowledge, but it is the majority sector and is therefore our starting point for making a significant contribution to the EAC. According to FPL, in 1995 C/I customers accounted for 43.4% of FPL’s energy sales. It is not only a major energy-consuming sector it is also one that presents many significant challenges on the road to energy sustainability.
As you all know, there is a definite need to educate people on the relationship between systemic energy engineering practices, and our unique tropical environment in order to produce healthy buildings. And what about the problems of absentee owners, or developers interested only in first cost at the expense of energy efficiency? Just two points, but major examples of the kind of problems which have to be overcome if we are to attain some level of environmental, economic and societal sustainability in the future.
So where do we go from here?
The problem-definition, recommendations and wish-lists I referred to at the start are in your heads AEE members. I’m suggesting that there’s no better time than NOW to get your voices heard on what concerns you most in your industry!
The next step is to get in touch with me personally — by phone, fax, e-mail, whatever you wish, to discuss how we can present your points of view to the EAC and get that knowledge on the record for consideration.
The next window of opportunity is the December 5th-6th meeting — let’s make sure we’re prepared. •
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