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Stimulus Project Saves Energy and Money in Greenville, SC

The Caroline First Center in Greenville, SC, boosted its energy efficiency thanks to a
stimulus-funded project. Image source: Carolina First Center website.

Congratulations to Greenville, SC, an ICLEI member that is among the first local governments to show the powerful impact of the federal stimulus dollars for energy-efficiency programs. Greenville, like thousands of other cities and counties, received funding through the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program.

Greenville spent most of its $743,400 EECBG award by October 2009, using $713,400 for energy efficiency upgrades to the Carolina First Center, an existing City-owned building that is the largest convention and meeting facility between Atlanta and Washington, DC. (Go here to learn more about sustainability efforts at the Center.) The City replaced 14 heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) rooftop units at the Center with six energy-efficient rooftop air handling units. The project created 14 new jobs and will save the City more than $11,000 per year, since the new units consume 20 percent less energy.

Greenville will spend the remaining $30,000 of its funds to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory by June 2010. The inventory will help the City identify new opportunities to save energy and taxpayer dollars, and to reduce emissions and do its part to mitigate climate change.