AIDB receives Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs State Energy Program Award

   For decades, Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind’s (AIDB) trademark colors have always been Pantone 187 Red and Pantone 287 Blue, yet the Institute is Going Green.

   With a $198,275.70 Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) State Energy Program 2010 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) Award, AIDB will implement Going Green, retrofitting select lighting within its Alabama School for the Blind (ASB), Alabama School for the Deaf (ASD) and Helen Keller School of Alabama (HKS) campuses. Alabama Governor Bob Riley awarded the grant from Recovery Act funding made available to the state through a program of the

U. S. Department of Energy and has designated ADECA to administer the grant.

   “AIDB has a strong history of providing superior educational services to students statewide while building an infrastructure that strengthens both the local and state economies, indicative of this Award,” states AIDB President Dr. Terry Graham. “Thanks to ADECA’s Energy Division, we will have the opportunity to procure American-made lighting locally and retrofit our K-12 campuses, lowering our utility costs and utilizing the savings to retain jobs in a strained economy.”

   Over a 12-month period, AIDB will replace 2,154 T8 and T12 fluorescent light fixtures with more efficient T5HO lights within 19 K-12 buildings such as classrooms, gymnasiums, dormitories and cafeterias.  Additionally, AIDB will match the Award with $63,974.75 to retrofit and replace an additional 695 lights.

   AIDB’s Maintenance Department will implement Going Green, replacing 1,340 fluorescent and incandescent lights within ASD, 615 within ASB and 199 within HKS.  Lighting will be bid following Alabama State Bid Law and internal AIDB Policies and Procedures with local vendors given priority and devices acquired, American-made.

   AIDB will compare its Alabama Power bills from the year prior to bills during which the Project was fully enacted to gauge energy and financial savings. Likewise, the Institute will pursue Energy Star designation regarding its K-12 facilities.

   “This Award will serve as an excellent teaching tool,” explains Graham. “AIDB will provide Award details and projected energy-savings information to staff, encouraging Award correlation to the Alabama Course of Study. The ‘pay-back’ at 8.86 years will represent more than simply dollars and cents, resulting in the education of a population of school children, staff and visitors while reducing the amount of energy consumed on campus. As Helen Keller once said, ‘No one has the right to consume happiness without producing it.’ The same can be said of energy.”

Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (www.aidb.org)  

Now 150 years strong, AIDB’s mission is to provide superior comprehensive education and service programs for individuals who are deaf, blind and multidisabled and their families. This commitment to excellence is carried out through three schools, serving children, three to 21 (Alabama School for the Deaf, Alabama School for the Blind, Helen Keller School of Alabama); an education/rehabilitation adult program (E.H. Gentry Facility); and a manufacturing complex (Alabama Industries for the Blind). In Fiscal Year 2008-09, AIDB served almost 20,000 individuals through five Talladega campuses and statewide Regional Centers located in Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Talladega, Tuscumbia and Tuscaloosa.

Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Energy Division (www.adeca.alabama.gov/Energy/default.aspx)

The mission of the Energy Division is to provide assistance and services to the citizens of our state through the management and development of energy programs, the advancement of telecommunications, and to foster the advancement of technology to strengthen the Alabama economy.