Energy-conservation work about to start at 11 V.I. public schools should save over a million dollars a year while making V.I. public facilities more environmentally friendly and energy efficient, according to Government House.
The work of making government and public institutions energy efficient is "an environmental and economic imperative for our territory," said Gov. John deJongh in a statement. "By taking advantage of stimulus funding, we will implement clean technologies and energy efficiency measures that will guide us into the next decade and beyond,” deJongh said.
A company called Energy Systems Group will do the work through a recently signed energy savings performance contract. The work in this phase will reduce buildings’ energy consumption through the installation of energy-efficient lighting and water-conservation measures.
According to deJongh, the savings captured from reduced consumption are guaranteed to save the government more than $11 million over a 10-year term, and will be used in part to offset operational costs for the Department of Education and for similar equipment upgrades in other public schools and agencies.
This work focusing on the Department of Education is funded by $6.9 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the V.I. Energy Office.
This action is one of several aimed at helping the government meet the goal set by deJongh to reduce the territory’s fossil fuel dependence by 60 percent by 2025.
