The State of SC has an Energy Office that has as part of its mission to help government entities improve energy consumption through support, advocacy and direct energy grant awards for new or retrofit projects. They also create required state wide energy reports on every government entity in the state so energy consumption can be monitored and hopefully made more efficient resulting in savings for tax money that pay for operations of these entities. Colleges, universities, public schools and all other state supported government buildings are monitored.
Each year many of these state agencies compete for limited grant funding that the state will pay for up to 30% of the infrastructure costs to retrofit lighting, HVAC and other equipment that use energy. Most of the projects involve installing more efficient lighting and HVAC systems that use less energy than older outdated systems. And these grants allow the state agency to lease purchase new equipment over 5-10 year period. The new equipment typically gives an average of a 7-10 year payback in savings of energy that pays for the newly installed equipment.
Each year the Association of SC Energy Managers recognizes the best projects from among the state entities that received a grant to improve energy efficiency. From that list the single best project is awarded the “Energy Project of the Year.” The Latta School District was recognized as the 2019 Energy Project of the Year besting out all other state entities including one of the other finalist, Richland School District One, one of the largest school districts in the state.
The Latta energy savings project was led by Technology Director Robert McIntyre with support from Operations Director Larry Legette. The Latta project included more efficient indoor and outdoor lighting, new energy savings HVAC systems and energy monitoring and control systems. The grant award was about $650,000 with the state paying for approximately $200,000 of the project. The energy savings resulted in the district saving enough costs to pay their share of $650,000 within an 8 year period. This grant award was the 4th such that the district has been awarded that has resulted in the district saving approximately $200,000 annually in its operational energy costs. This benefit has allowed the district to be more fiscally effective and efficient to make sure taxpayers are not over burdened with unnecessary tax increases needed to pay for inefficient and costly energy operations. The district is planning for a 5th and final grant submission to complete its long range plan to make every school, classroom and building in the district as energy efficient as possible.