Energy efficiency translates into big bucks
BETHANY BLITZ/PressCoeur d’Alene School Board Trustee Dave Eubanks accepts a check on behalf of the school district from Sharmon Schmitt, an account executive at Avista, for $142,998 in energy efficiency rebates and incentives for 2016. Schmitt said that actually, the check should be for over $150,000 and that she’d get one for the correct amount to the district next week.
COEUR d’ALENE — Coeur d’Alene school officials’ prowess at power conservation has earned the school district a six-figure rebate.
Avista presented the school board Monday with $142,988 for rebates and incentives for 2016.
This check is the result of the latest project in a 20-year relationship between the school district and the power company. Bryan Martin, the district’s maintenance director, and Avista Account Executive Sharmon Schmitt started the partnership in 1997.
“Bryan Martin is probably one of the best facility managers around,” Schmitt said before Monday’s meeting. “Our schools are so efficient because of the things he does.”
The bulk of the latest check is a rebate earned because the district completed a major switch to LED bulbs.
“Avista has always been a great partner to our district and the greater community,” said Superintendent Matt Handelman.
“This initiative not only saves energy and dollars, but allows us to direct more resources to teaching and learning in the classroom.”
Over the past two decades, Avista has helped the Coeur d’Alene School District complete 225 different energy-efficiency projects ranging from installing high-efficiency appliances to upgrading rooftops. Those measures have earned the district $557,629.
School officials said to date, the district has saved enough electricity to power more than 300 homes for an entire year and enough natural gas to serve 88 homes for a year.
Schmitt said people often ask why Avista pays people, through rebates and incentives, to use less of their product. Schmitt explained that as the region’s population grows, power resources diminish.
“It’s cheaper to have people conserve than it is for us to go out into the market to buy the power we need,” Schmitt said.