Florence area schools have received almost $665,000 in federal stimulus funds from the South Carolina Budget and Control Board’s State Energy Office to make energy efficiency improvements throughout the county.

Florence School District 1 was awarded $323,642 to replace heating and air conditioning equipment at Dewey L. Carter Elementary School, Theodore Lester Elementary School and Greenwood Elementary. These upgrades will help save the district more than $45,000 annually in utility bill costs. 
 
Florence School District 2 was awarded $70,219 to replace lighting fixtures at Hannah-Pamplico High School, the Career Center and several other buildings. These upgrades will help save the district a little over $14,000 annually in utility bill costs.

Florence School District 3 was awarded $130,615 to replace outdated heating and air conditioning systems at Lake City High School, district administrative offices, the Community Technology Center and Graham Road Adult Education Building. Replacing these inefficient systems with newer models will save the district more than $24,000 annually in utility bill costs.

Florence School District 4 was awarded $68,159 to install energy monitoring controls in the Educational Center and to replace heating and air conditioning systems  and lighting fixtures in the District Office Family Learning Center. These will help the district save more than $23,000 in energy costs annually.
   
Additionally, Florence School District 5 was previously awarded $72,000 through this program to install seven new heating and air conditioning systems in the district’s three schools.

“The entire Florence area will see the effects of this stimulus money as the districts use it to make much needed energy efficiency improvements county-wide,” said John Clark, director of the South Carolina Energy Office.

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.