Is your business lacking in energy efficiency? There are state grants for that

Energy efficiency is good for the environment and the budget, but it’s easy to backburner things like efficient lighting and HVAC when you have a business to run.

Upgrading can be expensive, but did you know that the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) will, in some cases, give you grant money to help make your business more energy efficient?

Delaware’s Energy Efficiency Investment Fund, administered by DNREC’s Division of Climate, Coastal & Energy, offers grants to offset the cost of energy efficiency improvements, from LED light fixtures to large custom projects. This year, the Energy Efficiency Investment Fund is also creating its first incentives for reducing emissions, such as carbon dioxide.

The fund is available to all non-residential, commercial, industrial, local government, governmental and nonprofit entities in the State of Delaware, excluding new development projects. Grant amounts are capped at 30% of the project’s total cost.

There are several types of grants:

• Energy Assessment Grants — Targeted energy audits and technical evaluations that suggest the best ways to increase energy efficiency in your specific building or space
• Prescriptive Improvement Grants — Funding for prescriptive lighting, vending misers, and natural gas heating and water heating equipment
• Custom Improvements — More complex or custom measures that go beyond the equipment funded by Prescriptive Improvement Grants
• Combined Heat and Power Grants — For microturbines, reciprocating engines, gas turbines, steam turbines and fuel cells

Where does the money come from? Energy Efficiency Investment Fund is funded through the Public Utility Tax, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and one-time funding from the Exelon-Pepco merger settlement through which Delmarva Power became an Exelon company in 2016.

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.