Unity College recently received a $39,520 grant from Grants to Green Maine to upgrade the energy system and controls at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts.

The UCCPA plays and important cultural and economic role in rural central Maine, and is an integral part of the campus identity. The grant will enable the college to replace outdated air conditioning units with air source heat pumps, replace incandescent and CFL lighting, insulate the attic to R-70, and update monitoring and control equipment to enable remote energy systems regulation from any web-linked computer. The project will cut energy use at the facility, institutional operating costs, and fossil fuel consumption to address climate change.

“This project is central to the mission of America’s Environmental College and to our core academic focus on sustainability,” Unity College President Dr. Stephen Mulkey said. “Moreover, our strategic plan calls for the college to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2019 as our part of combating climate change. This will help make that goal a reality, enhancing Unity College’s emerging national brand in sustainability science.”

Unity College was one of only two organizations to receive the inaugural implementation grant from Grants to Green Maine, a partnership between the Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center, Efficiency Maine and the Maine Community Foundation; funded by Kendeda Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. Fourteen smaller audit grants were awarded statewide for energy efficiency audits. Unity College is renowned as a leader in sustainability, and this implementation grant will be used as a model for future rounds.

“We are extremely pleased to be one of the first recipients of the Grants to Green Maine grant,” Executive Vice President and Liaison to the Board of Trustees Dr. Melik Peter Khoury said. “The successful completion of this project will greatly lower the cost of operations at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts, along with a host of other academic and social benefits.”

Wednesday, February 04, 2015