Clearwater: Meeting the Clarion Call of Sustainability Through Renewables
The built environment is one of the largest consumers of energy. In 2021 and early 2022, the City of Clearwater and McKim & Creed conducted a full city-wide feasibility solar and sustainability study to help determine a plan for energy reduction and the integration of solar to keep Clearwater competitive, vibrant, and green. This analysis entailed the comprehensive portfolio of buildings, garages, parking lots, and the like. An exploration of Clearwater’s Greenprint 2.0 blueprint will help other cities and municipalities meet their sustainability goals. The techniques and tools used to make the assessment as well as key lessons learned will be shared.
Speaker Bio
Sol Haroon, technical director of renewables at McKim & Creed, has more than 20 years of experience with renewable energy, microgrids, energy storage, electric vehicles, electrical design, and sustainable buildings. He has served as a consultant, designer, and manager for several notable projects, including the first solar-powered airport in the Southeast, a microgrid that improves reliability for customers located in rural areas of the Great Smoky Mountains, a solar farm for President Jimmy Carter, and the regenerative Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design (KBISD) at Georgia Tech that ushered in an era of Living Buildings in the Southeast. Sol also serves as a consulting instructor at Georgia Institute of Technology. He creates and instructs professional outreach and college-level courses in microgrids and energy storage and has taught numerous industry professionals from engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies, utilities, commercial enterprises, and non-profit ventures.