NOPEC grants fund energy improvements

Painesville Township is prepared to begin multiple energy conservation improvements which will be funded through three separate grants issued from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council.

The grants are for approximately $50,000 each and have been scheduled yearly from 2018 to 2020.

The township’s fire stations will receive multiple improvements. Stations One and Two will have the ceilings in the bays insulated and their furnaces and air conditioners replaced with newer, more efficient models. Station Three will have the radiant heat pipes in its bay’s ceiling

replaced.

According to Township Administrator Michael Manary, these improvements were started in 2018 and will continue across 2019. The township has not yet determined the energy improvement that will occur in 2020.

Manary highlighted that the NOPEC grant was only eligible for government buildings and not

applicable for residential usage.

“We are making energy improvements to all five Township buildings,” he said.

The Township Hall will have indoor lighting replaced with LED bulbs in order to lower electricity usage. While Manary stated that the retrofitted LED bulbs will be limited to lights within the Township Hall, they may be able to consider changing their streetlights with future grants if possible.

Exact figures are not

yet available on just how much these improvements will conserve costs related to energy consumption, but Manary expects to know roughly a year after each project concludes.

“These are the type of cost saving improvements that you always wish you could do, but find it difficult to budget for,” he added. “Being customers of NOPEC has given the township access to these exclusive grants. NOPEC has been very easy to work with in applying for them.”