The Beaufort County School District has been awarded $737,054 in stimulus funds by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board’s State Energy Office to make energy efficiency improvements.

The district will replace inefficient lighting fixtures with newer, energy efficient models, replace and repair doors, upgrade heating and air conditioning units, install occupancy sensors in hallways and bathrooms to control after-school lighting and place timers on all hot water heaters to reduce energy consumption.
 
The district also has plans to plant shade trees on south and west walls of selected schools to provide natural cooling and install timers on all electronic instructional boards.

“Beaufort County School District will use this grant to make wide reaching improvements district-wide,” said John Clark, director of the South Carolina Energy Office. “The district will save more than $680,000 annually.”

The state’s 85 school districts are sharing $20.3 million in grants and loans for energy efficiency.  The state’s public colleges and universities 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.