Barnwell County school districts will receive a total of $219,731 in federal stimulus funds from the South Carolina Budget and Control Board’s State Energy Office to make energy efficiency.

Barnwell County School District 19 was awarded $63,076 to replace lighting fixtures in the Blackville-Hilda Elementary and High Schools with more efficient models. This will help the district save more than $8,000 annually in energy costs.

Barnwell County School District 29 was awarded $67,283 to make lighting upgrades and install programmable thermostats in classrooms, saving the district more than $15,000 annually in energy costs.

Barnwell County School District 45 was awarded $89,372 to make lighting upgrades, saving the district more than $25,000 annually.

“Barnwell County schools will be able to see significant energy cost savings as they use this stimulus money to make energy efficiency improvements county-wide,” said John Clark, director of the South Carolina Energy Office. “The taxpayers of Barnwell County will save more than $48,000 annually in utility bills as a result of these improvements.”

The state’s 85 school districts are sharing $20.3 million in grants and loans for energy efficiency.  The state’s two- and four-year colleges are receiving a total of $12.2 million, and state agencies are getting $7.4 million for energy efficiency improvements.  Each entity’s allocation is based on the size of the organization’s energy bill.