Anderson County school districts will receive a total of $806,139 federal stimulus funds from the South Carolina Budget and Control Board’s State Energy Office to make energy efficiency improvements.

Anderson County School District 1 was awarded $175,837 to install tankless water heaters and upgraded energy management controls that will better regulate heating and air conditioning systems at Wren Middle School in Piedmont.

Anderson County School District 2 was awarded $113,709 to install energy management systems to monitor and control the amount of energy used at several schools in the Belton-Honea Path area. The district will also install occupancy sensors to control lighting when areas are not in use.  

Anderson County School District 3, serving the Iva-Starr area, was awarded $92,296 to add five schools to the district-wide energy management system, inspect and upgrade heating and air conditioning systems, install time controls on fan systems, install programmable thermostats and install occupancy sensors to control lighting use and parking lot lighting to eliminate unnecessary use.

Anderson County School District 4 was awarded $83,884 to replace inefficient heating and air conditioning units at Pendleton High School and Pendleton Elementary School.

Anderson County School District 5 was awarded $336,537 to replace heating and air conditioning equipment at Westside High School, Hanna Westside Extension Campus and Southwood Middle School and to also make upgrades to other systems throughout the district. Lighting upgrades will be made at T.L. Hanna and Westside High Schools. Occupancy sensors will be installed district-wide to monitor light use.

“Anderson County schools will be able to see significant annual 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 county will save more than $146,000 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.