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May 2007

FKEC Dedicated to Caring for the Keys Environment

Florida Keys Electric Cooperative was founded by Keys residents as a not-for-profit utility and it continues to be locally directed and managed by Upper and Middle Keys residents. These residents have embraced the company's mission to provide "high quality, environmentally sensitive, and safe electrical power."

Along these lines, the company is a founding supporter of the Green Living and Energy Education (GLEE) organization and has also worked with three local homeowners to safely interconnect their alternative energy homes to the local power grid. The company has also recently switched its diesel trucks to cleaner burning biodiesel. For more on these three topics, download the May issue of FKEC News.

GREEN LIVING EXPO
FKEC was recently a major sponsor of GLEE's second expo, held on March 31 in Marathon. Several FKEC employees dedicated their time to planning and promoting the event for over a year and to running the expo on the day of the event, which was free for the 3,000+ attendees. FKEC volunteers also taught a series of free workshops on energy conservation and manned a booth to distribute information and to give away free recycling bins after Monroe County stopped providing the bins this year. Although FKEC has no intentions of getting into the trash hauling business, the free bins were provided as a service to our local member-consumers.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
Over the past few years, FKEC has also been responsive to the needs of several homeowners wanting to connect their alternative energy homes to the local power grid. One of these homes even achieved a "net metering" day when the home produced more energy than it used. FKEC's interconnection agreement and interconnection application can now also be downloaded from the forms page.

SWITCHING TO BIODIESEL
Most recently, the co-op took the initiative to find a supplier willing to deliver clean burning biodiesel fuel to its Tavernier and Marathon yards. FKEC is now using 1,000 gallons a week of the alternative fuel in its bucket trucks and other diesel vehicles. The goal is to ultimately support American farmers while caring for the environment. Biodiesel is a renewable product with 80% less carbon dioxide emissions, and almost 100% less sulphur dioxide emissions.

Scott is an active member of the Upper Keys community and is a past president, current director and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Key Largo, is a director for the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce and is co-founder and president of the Upper Keys Golf Association.

In 1994, Scott completed the three-year national electrical course for apprentice linemen to further his education in cooperative operations. He is a graduate of Leadership Monroe County Class XI and completed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Management Internship Program in 2005.

Scott graduated from Arkansas State University with a degree in Agriculture Business and Economics in 1986. In 1988, he began his career in the electricity industry when he joined the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in Washington, D.C. With the REA, he worked first as a Commercial Loan Specialist and was later promoted to Power Requirements Officer before moving to the Florida Keys to join FKEC in 1990.