The USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) provides loan and grant funding to rural small businesses and agricultural producers for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. While loan applications are accepted on a continuous cycle, Unrestricted Grants or Loan/Unrestricted Grant Combo applications are due by March 31, 2021.
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Energy Efficient Lighting Slashes Costs for Deming Manufacturer
Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA Rural Development Agency
A new energy-efficient system installed at Compass Components Incorporated (CCI) is expected to save the Deming company more than 50 percent on its lighting bill. A $48,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America (REAP) made the upgrade possible in late 2011.
Lighting is critical at the company’s high-ceiling plant, where electrical components and wiring harness assemblies for buses are manufactured. CCI replaced the plant’s 630 fluorescent tube lights and fixtures with 48 T-8 Hi-Bay lights. In doing so, it removed and safely disposed of old ballasts containing liquid polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); these highly toxic materials haven’t been produced in the United States since 1979 due to their classification as persistent organic pollutants.