Orlando’s First Monday Magazine shared the Orange County Convention Center’s good green news with this article on Centerplate’s 100 percent biodegradable foodservice solution.

There’s good news for the green conscious coming out of Orange County Convention Center. Centerplate, a hospitality partner to many of North America’s premier convention centers and sports stadiums, has introduced a 100 percent biodegradable food service solution for Orlando.

Under the new program, all the convention center’s disposable food service items – from cups to flatware to napkins – will be fully biodegradable. The biodegradable products are being phased into the center’s operations, with a targeted completion date of next month.

The program underscores Centerplate’s expertise in implementing environmentally conscious food service solutions at major venues. For the Orange County Convention Center, the program amplifies the venue’s standing as one of the most environmentally sound convention centers in the nation and follows its achievement in 2007 of the elite ISO 14001:2004 certification, an international environmental standard that helps organizations limit the negative impact of their operations on the environment. In addition, at Orlando’s center, Centerplate recycled more than 270,000 gallons of grease solids and used cooking oil last year and recovered 33 percent of the facility’s food and beverage waste to be used for recycling.

Do you believe Darden Restaurants’ new building?

For starters, the $152 million cost of the building is a big number. Most impressively, though, the 469,000-square-foot facility was designed to achieve Gold certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction from the U.S. Green Building Council. Upon final certification from USGBC, it will become the largest “LEED Gold NC” building in Florida.

Darden’s commitment to sustainability is evident in numerous design and construction elements found in its new home. They include recycling more than 90 percent of the waste generated from construction; a high-effiency heating and air-conditioning system; and an automatic lighting systems that dims or brightens according to the amount of sunlight entering the building, helping to reduce energy consumption by 16 percent.

Daren calls the structure a Restaurant Support Center. I call it a testament to the company’s belief in sustainability as well as its commitment to the region.

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Staying on the subject of good green, OUC and clean energy company Petra Solar have teamed up to launch the first utility pole-mounted solar photovoltaic system in Florida.

Ten of Petra Solar’s SunWave intelligent photovoltaic solar systems are being installed on OUC utility poles along Curry Ford Road. The demonstration project is expected to help enhance the smart grid capabilities and reliability of the electric distribution grid. Essentially, the SunWave systems not only turn street light and utility poles into solar generators, but they also communicate with the electric grid and are able to offer smart grid capabilities. Petra Solar worked in collaboration with the University of Central Florida in developing the pole-mounted approach to clean energy generation.

Notably, last spring OUC and Orange County flipped the switch on the largest rooftop solar array in the Southeast, a I-megawatt installation atop the Orange County Convention Center. OUC also offers solar PV and thermal programs that help lower the upfront costs of solar for residential and commercial customers.
 

Article By: Michael Candelaria