Community Environment

EcoFest 2017 is your Earth Day celebration this Saturday, April 22, at Lowry Park!

Molly the Manatee, from Tampa Electric's Manatee Viewing Center, will be just one of countless things at EcoFest 2017 that you won't want to miss!
Molly the Manatee, from Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center, will be just one of countless things at EcoFest 2017 that you won’t want to miss!

EcoFest 2017 – it’s your incredible opportunity to do your part for the environment on Earth Day by coming to the park this Saturday, April 22 – Lowry Park in Tampa, that is.

Hosted by the city of Tampa, the University of South Florida’s Student Affairs & Student Success department and Learning Gate Community School – and powered by Renewable Energy from Tampa Electric – it’s an annual celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with tons of activities for the entire family and people of all ages. That includes live music, workshops, demonstrations, informational booths and green living products and services. Local artists will be there alongside environmental organizations, alternative health practitioners, renewable energy specialists and more. Find your center in a yoga zone, marvel at a parkour agility course and get fresh produce for your kitchen at booths representing local organic farms and gardens.

And that’s not all! Visit the TECO table at EcoFest and enter to win one of four solar power chargers ideal for your phone, tablet or other handheld electronic devices. (You must be present at the time of the drawing to win.)

Beyond EcoFest

TECO will be there too, and while we won’t be bringing the sun, exactly – Saturday’s forecast calls for that anyway – we’ll know it’s being put to great use next door at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, where one of our growing number of solar installations in the community brings renewable energy to an elephant shade structure, an adjacent maintenance building and a Renewable Energy Learning Center.

EcoFest is just one of the many ways TECO team members work to bring value to the community.
EcoFest is just one of the many ways TECO team members work to bring value to the community.

And TECO team members will be proud to tell you about all the ways we partner with the community for the good of the environment. Solar power is a big one – we just debuted the largest solar array in the Tampa Bay area, 23 megawatts on 106 acres in Apollo Beach – and we’re constantly looking for ways to add more photovoltaics to the system that serves you with safe, reliable power.

Complementing our large-scale solar installations, our Renewable Energy program enables our customers to partner with us in support of clean sources of power for the electric grid. With our growing fleet of alternative fuel vehicles, we’re helping more people get behind the wheels of electric-powered and natural gas-fueled cars and trucks.

We go the extra mile to help prevent birds like ospreys from being injured by the energized components on our power poles, and when we must trim trees to ensure electric reliability, we do so in ways that protect the trees’ health – earning Tree Line USA status for our tree-protecting efforts. (We also plant a lot of trees and help others do likewise.)

At the TECO table at EcoFest, register to win one of four incredible prizes like this, including a portable solar-powered charger, at left, that's ideal for your personal handheld electronic devices.
At the TECO table at EcoFest, register to win one of four incredible prizes like this, including a portable solar-powered charger, at left, that’s ideal for your personal handheld electronic devices.

Speaking of plants and birds, both are on prominent display at a local treasure of free family fun and environmental education – Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach, open every Nov. 1 through April 15, where we recently celebrated 30 years and 5 million visitors. Parking and admission at the center are free, just as they are at the Florida Conservation and Technology Center (FCTC), a partnership between Tampa Electric, The Florida Aquarium and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to bring a remarkable new approach to environmental research and recreation to the community. In and around FCTC, meanwhile, the Newman Branch Creek Habitat Restoration Project recently reached 100 acres restored to its natural-Florida form.

Working together with you for a healthier environment

That’s a little bit about what TECO is doing for the environment. We’d love it if you’d join us this Saturday, April 22, at Lowry Park in Tampa – and together we can find new ways to do more.

A great day awaits you at EcoFest 2017.
A great day awaits you at EcoFest 2017.

“TECO is proud to stand with the city of Tampa, USF, Learning Gate Community School and everyone involved in EcoFest who joins us in the belief that the unique and precious environment in Florida – and by extension, our planet – is among the most valuable aspects of our lives and that it must be protected at all costs,” said Gordon Gillette, president and CEO of Tampa Electric and president of Florida Operations.

“As part of the Emera family of companies, TECO has new opportunities to realize more and larger-scale efforts to benefit the environment we share with all the communities we serve – the same communities our company team members live in and the ones we’re committed to ensuring a healthy future for, for our children and for generations to come.”

 

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