Presentation Title
Easier than you Think – Curbside Consult on the How-To of an Energy Audit and USDA Application
Keywords
Technology, Property maintenance, Grants
Description
In 2016, K-State Engineering Extension entered into a partnership with the Kansas Corporation Commission to provide energy assessments to Kansas small businesses at no cost. Subsequent to the energy assessment, Engineering Extension works with the business to submit a USDA Rural Energy for America Program grant to implement energy efficiency or renewable energy projects and reduce operating costs. Facilities approved for the grant can receive a reimbursement of up to 25% of the project’s eligible costs. This session provides information on these projects and will inform attendees how to request assistance from Engineering Extension.
Through this program, Engineering Extension has assisted 16 rural grocery stores with a free energy assessment; five of these submitted REAP grants. Four have received grant approval and one is still pending. The four applications that have been approved encompass eight projects for a cost of $173,000; USDA will reimburse $43,300. The annual energy savings for the eight projects amount to 279,000 kWh and $35,200. The USDA funding reduced the simple payback for these projects from 4.9 years to 3.7 years.
The Engineering Extension program not only meets the conference theme of sustainability through reduced consumption of natural resources required for energy generation, it also aids rural grocery stores in providing rural healthy food access. In addition to partnering with KCC and USDA, Engineering Extension has partnered with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas in its Pathways to a Healthy Kansas program. Three rural grocery stores in the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas program have requested an energy assessment through the KCC/K-State partnership.
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Easier than you Think – Curbside Consult on the How-To of an Energy Audit and USDA Application
In 2016, K-State Engineering Extension entered into a partnership with the Kansas Corporation Commission to provide energy assessments to Kansas small businesses at no cost. Subsequent to the energy assessment, Engineering Extension works with the business to submit a USDA Rural Energy for America Program grant to implement energy efficiency or renewable energy projects and reduce operating costs. Facilities approved for the grant can receive a reimbursement of up to 25% of the project’s eligible costs. This session provides information on these projects and will inform attendees how to request assistance from Engineering Extension.
Through this program, Engineering Extension has assisted 16 rural grocery stores with a free energy assessment; five of these submitted REAP grants. Four have received grant approval and one is still pending. The four applications that have been approved encompass eight projects for a cost of $173,000; USDA will reimburse $43,300. The annual energy savings for the eight projects amount to 279,000 kWh and $35,200. The USDA funding reduced the simple payback for these projects from 4.9 years to 3.7 years.
The Engineering Extension program not only meets the conference theme of sustainability through reduced consumption of natural resources required for energy generation, it also aids rural grocery stores in providing rural healthy food access. In addition to partnering with KCC and USDA, Engineering Extension has partnered with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas in its Pathways to a Healthy Kansas program. Three rural grocery stores in the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas program have requested an energy assessment through the KCC/K-State partnership.
