Joy Peterson posted on March 26, 2010 11:20
ROME –Floyd County announced Friday that it has received a $300,000 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA). The money will be used for energy efficiency retrofits for courthouse and community buildings.
“With a smarter control system, we’ve got the potential of substantial savings for The Forum and Judicial Courthouse; potentially up to $100,000 a year,” said Blaine Williams, Assistant County Manager. “One exciting element to our plan is to roll some of that future energy savings into additional energy audits and improvements.”
Sixty-four communities in Georgia have earned grant funds for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects totaling $13.3 million. These funds were available to small-to-medium sized cities and counties through GEFA as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The state’s largest cities and counties received direct EECBG funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.
“Even with the attractive payback, given our budget situation, it would have been extremely difficult to fund this project without the stimulus money,” said Williams.