Environmental Practices
The City of Tallahassee strives to protect the future of our city and our world.
Tallahassee Solar
Solar power has many environmental benefits. By powering your life with solar energy, you can reduce your carbon footprint, reduce air and water emissions and reduce your family's use of fossil fuels. Solar power is clean and renewable. Additionally, Tallahassee Solar allows customers to take advantage of solar energy without installing solar panels on their home or business. It also allows for the use of clean energy without the risk of direct ownership.
The City currently has a 20 megawatt solar farm in operation, with plans for an additional 40 megawatt farm in the works.
Given the volatility of the fuel markets, Tallahassee Solar customers, which will have a fixed fuel rate of 5 cents per kilowatt-hour for the next 20 years, will likely see their energy bill decrease over time as compared with non-participants.
Sign Up for Solar Waiting List
Tallahassee Named Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community
To mark the end of National Bike Month, the League of American Bicyclists (League) announced in May that Tallahassee has earned the coveted Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) designation. This award recognizes communities for actively supporting bicycling by providing safe accommodations and encouraging community members to bike for recreation and transportation. Tallahassee is one of only seven Florida communities to receive the Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community designation.
Read the entire press release here
City Sustainability through Biofuel
For nearly a decade, Fleet Management has been working on pollution prevention and waste reduction in its shop. Currently, it is continuing conservation efforts by turning to biodiesel fuel.
What is biodiesel?
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines that is receiving great attention worldwide. Although it attracts the most attention because it is renewable, it is also known for reduced exhaust pollutants. It is also attractive because it can be produced relatively easily from common feedstocks such as poultry (chicken) fat and virgin or restaurant waste vegetable oil.
Biodiesel is defined as the mono-alkyl esters of fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. In simple terms, biodiesel is the product obtained when a vegetable oil or animal fat is chemically reacted with an alcohol to produce fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel). Potassium or sodium hydroxide (lye) is also used in the process as a catalyst. Glycerin is produced as a co-product and can be converted to useable soap.
Learn more about Biofuel and our Fleet Sustainability programs.Greening Tallahassee
Greening Tallahassee is an annual Earth Day celebration. The 2018 event was hosted at the Thomas P. Smith Water Reclamation Facility, located on Springhill Road, with tours to the nearby Tallahassee Solar farm on the property of the Tallahassee International Airport. During the event, participants learned how to reduce, reuse and recycle and how City departments are working to protect our environment.
Sewer Over Septic
Wakulla Springs, the 4th largest spring in the world is experiencing too much algae growth, which affects the health of this unique and delicate ecosystem. The cause of the excess algae growth was determined to be from nitrates from wastewater reaching the groundwater and flowing to Wakulla Springs. Two main sources of wastewater are from the City's sprayfield in the southern part of Leon County (where all of the City's treated wastewater from central sewer is applied) and from septic systems throughout Leon and Wakulla Counties. With the completion of the City's $227M Advanced Wastewater Treatment project in 2014, the City has achieved significant reductions of nitrate to the groundwater and to Wakulla Springs. Scientists agree the next biggest nitrate source to address is from the cumulative affect of individual septic systems. Most of the septic systems that need to be addressed, either by upgrades to a performance-based system or by connecting to central sewer, are located outside the City limits, in both Leon and Wakulla Counties. There are approximately 50,000 septic systems in the two counties. There are relatively few septic systems left within the city limits of Tallahassee. But those that are a priority to address by connecting the properties to existing central sewer, lie in the southern portion of the City limits. In this area, septic systems have a greater negative impact on the health of Wakulla Springs due to the geology of the area. The City has estimated approximately 130 properties in this area of the City that already have central sewer available. Grant funding provided by the State of Florida to connect these properties to sewer will help to reduce the amount of nitrates reaching Wakulla Springs.
Tallahassee Greenprint
Tallahassee GreenPrint is the City of Tallahassee's strategic sustainability plan. The plan is a broad, inclusive, and community-responsive strategic sustainability plan that was developed to advance the City's goal of creating a more sustainable and livable community. The GreenPrint complements existing planning efforts and seeks to leverage and enhance current programs. It also seeks to lay out a framework to support and further the City's plans for economic resiliency, environmental protection and social equity.
The GreenPrint addresses sustainability across eight broad target areas: Leadership, Education and Community Outreach, Health, Economics, Natural Resources, Energy, Solid Waste and Land Development and Mobility.
The City of Tallahassee has a longstanding history of implementing innovative, cutting-edge initiatives and programs that foster the development of a more sustainable community. Over the years, these efforts have enhanced our residents' quality of life, saved money, protected our natural environments and garnered the City state, national and international recognition as a leader in the field of sustainability. Whether it's the Smart Metering System, the City's award-winning park system, the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, the Think About Personal Pollution (TAPP) program, the Community Human Services Partnership, or the Mayor's Local Business Saturday Campaign... all of these initiatives share a common core: sustainability.
Sustainability is a community's ability to thrive over the long term while meeting the needs of today without compromising its ability to meet the needs of the future through the proper stewardship of its environmental, economic, and social resources. The Tallahassee GreenPrint lays out a strategic pathway for the City to become more sustainable.
Tallahassee GreenPrint is a broad, inclusive, and community-responsive strategic sustainability plan that brings a coordinated and strategic focus to the City's efforts to create a sustainable and livable community. The GreenPrint complements existing plans and planning efforts such as the Tallahassee-Leon County Comprehensive Plan, the City's Mobility District, and the Placemaking Projects. The Plan also leverages and enhances existing programs and identifies new initiatives to achieve greater sustainability within City government operations and the Tallahassee-Leon community. The GreenPrint seeks to lay out a framework to support and further the City's plans for economic resiliency, environmental protection and social equity. The Plan covers a planning horizon of five years.
Citizen Leadership and Involvement
The Tallahassee GreenPrint was developed under the guidance of the City Manager-appointed citizen advisory board, the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB). Members of the EAB represented various community interests and stakeholder groups. Throughout the plan development process, various community stakeholder groups and individual citizens provided input and commented on the draft plan. The final plan reflects the collaborative efforts of our residents, City staff and our elected officials.
Framework
The EAB and City staff used the American Planning Association's (APA) Sustainability Framework to guide their work in developing the GreenPrint. This framework advocates four basic objectives.
Objectives:
- Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, extracted underground metals and minerals.
- Reduce dependence on chemicals / manufactured substances that can accumulate in nature.
- Reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining ecosystems.
- Meet the hierarchy of present and future human needs fairly and efficiently.
 EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH - Education sets the foundation for community engagement, sustainability awareness and environmental stewardship. The Education and Community Outreach target area furthers this by recommending strategies that foster awareness and expanded partnerships to promote environmental stewardship.
 HEALTH - The Health target area recommends strategies for improving the community's access to health, recreation, wellness infrastructure and programs, and locally sourced food.
 ECONOMICS - The Economics target area recommends policies and programs to help ensure that the City's investments further the principles of sustainability and support the expansion of the City's emerging green-sector economy.
 NATURAL RESOURCES - The Natural Resources target area proposes strategies that emphasize the conservation and protection of the natural resources that comprise our unique ecosystem.
 ENERGY - The Energy target area focuses on energy efficiency and conservation, alternative energy, and alternative-fuel vehicles, all aimed at reducing energy consumption and demand.
 SOLID WASTE - The Solid Waste target area focuses on reducing the City's solid waste footprint by emphasizing source reduction, reuse and recycling.
 LAND DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILITY - The Land Development and Mobility target area furthers the City's goals to ensure that community design, land development, and the City's transportation systems are carried out in a manner that supports a sustainable community.
View the GreenPrint here (PDF).
Stormwater Management
Stormwater Management's Mission is to assist the community with defining its priority stormwater management objectives, in the context of physical, environmental, and socio-economic concerns, and to develop and implement strategies to address the same, as expeditiously and to the fullest extent possible, within the resources the community chooses to allocate to these efforts.
Stormwater Forms
Drinking Water
Wastewater
TAPP: Environmental Crossroads for Wakulla Springs
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