West Iredell High School will benefit from the energy efficiency project.
EnergyUnited, the Touchstone Energy cooperative headquartered in Statesville, is helping to provide local students a better learning environment by securing $1.3 million for the Iredell County school system. The package of a $1 million loan and a $300,000 grant came from the USDA Rural Economic Development (REDLG) program. When combined with $640,000 in matching county funds and a $60,000 zero-interest matching loan from EnergyUnited itself, the funding will provide $2 million to improve energy efficiency at West Iredell High School.
The school will replace current T12 lighting with more energy-efficient LED and compact fluorescent lighting. The school’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system will also be upgraded. The improvements are expected to save the school system $35,000 to $48,000 a year in energy costs, as well as provide a more comfortable learning and teaching environment for students and teachers.
Kenny Miller, assistant superintendent for facilities/planning at Iredell-Statesville Schools, said: “REDLG funding is one of many partnerships between Iredell-Statesville Schools and EnergyUnited. EnergyUnited continues to be a model partner with the community and schools through Bright Ideas grants, energy efficiency projects, innovative project financing and support through economic and consistent power generation.”
“EnergyUnited has had a long-standing relationship with the Iredell-Statesville school district,” said Tim Holder, EnergyUnited’s vice president of sales and economic development. “We saw this as a good opportunity to continue to work with and give back to the community by focusing on a number of important energy efficiency measures at this school.”
The funding EnergyUnited acquired from the USDA will continue to benefit the community. The $300,000 zero-interest grant also serves as a revolving fund for EnergyUnited. When repaid, the co-op can then loan these funds back into the community for other projects.
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