Island Institute Awarded Grant for Energy Efficiency Work

Maine Development Foundation’s Grants to Green program provides environmentally focused knowledge to nonprofits

Posted 2015-01-08

ROCKLAND, ME—The Island Institute today announced that it has received a grant of $90,285 from the Grants to Green Maine program for energy efficiency upgrades to its headquarters in Rockland. The grant will be used to make energy-saving retrofits to the historic building, including a new, high-efficiency wood pellet boiler. Work on the upgrades is expected to begin in January.

The building, which has been the Island Institute’s headquarters since 2000, had previously been a well-known Rockland department store, Senter Crane. The Institute has made several energy efficiency upgrades to the building in the past fourteen years, and completed an extensive energy audit of the building.

“This grant from the Maine Development Foundation will help us improve the efficiency of our building,” said Sally Perkins, the Island Institute’s facility manager. “We are constantly working to reduce our energy consumption, in keeping with our mission. By enabling us to heat with wood pellets, this grant will help us dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels.”

Grants to Green Maine provides environmentally focused knowledge and funding to strengthen nonprofits located in historic buildings in downtowns in Maine. Grants to Green Maine is a partnership between the Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center, Efficiency Maine and the Maine Community Foundation and is funded by Kendeda Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.