Athens Clarke County Library gets grant for solar panels

ATHENS, Ga. — The Athens Clarke County Library has won a $100,000 grant to install solar panels.

It was one of two awards this year by Ipswich, Mass.-based EBSCO Information Services, a large library resources provider for academic, public library, government and school customers. EBSCO Information Services is a subsidiary of Birmingham’s EBSCO Industries, one of Alabama’s largest privately held companies.

The Athens Banner-Herald reports the company announced Friday the Athens library and Indian Trails Public Library of Chicago suburb Wheeling, Ill., were the winners from among 90 applications from 15 countries.

Valerie Bell, director of the Athens Regional Library System, said they sought the grant to help find a way to reduce the library’s electric bills — $8,000 to $10,000 a month. But, she said it’s also going to be an educational tool, working with area schools.

What they’re calling a “Sunshine Garden,” a ground-installed array, could even be something like a work of art. It might look like a sunflower or tree, she hoped.

The tentative plan is to put the array in a grassy area out in front, but a decision on where exactly it goes will have to wait for a professional assessment.

This is not the library’s first sustainability initiative. Its 2013 renova- tion and expansion was LEED-certified and its parking lot contains a charging station for electric vehicles.