LRCS awarded grant to fund energy-efficient lighting upgrade

Lakes Region Community Services (LRCS) has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Cogswell Benevolent Trust to fund an energy-efficient lighting upgrade of its main office building in Laconia.

According to LRCS’ Vice President of Operations, Dave Emond, a recently completed analysis of LRCS’ office building by Energy Management Consultants, Inc. showed a projected annual energy cost savings of just over $7,500 that would result from recommended upgrades.  Planned improvements mainly focused on upgrades of traditional lighting fixtures to LED lighting with motion-activated switches.

Said Emond, “With a total project cost of just under $40,000, and an incentive grant from EverSource for approximately half of that, LRCS will see a 100% return on investment in less than 18 months; every year thereafter represents new savings to LRCS.”

Becky Bryant, LRCS President and CEO, heralds the renovation project as something that’s obviously sensible from an environmental perspective, but also from a pure business perspective too.  Notes Bryant, “This is exactly the kind of smart, forward-thinking planning and financial management that enables LRCS to be in a strong and healthy financial position now, and as the current COVID-19 health crisis is making clear, it’s vital for nonprofits to have the financial wherewithal to weather unexpected circumstances.  Every dollar we save operationally is a dollar we can spend on deepening our mission impact.”