Contact: Karl Walquist, (775) 834-3891 

Four Carson-Douglas area nonprofit agencies will receive energy efficiency grants from Sierra Pacific Power for a combined total of nearly $20,000. The grant checks will be presented on Thursday, May 19, at 2:30 p.m. at the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada, 813 West Carson St.

Along with the Children's Museum, grants will be awarded to the Central Lyon Youth Connections organization in Dayton, the Douglas County Historical Society, and the Nevada Health Centers, an agency based in Carson City that administers rural health programs.

The Children's Museum, which features interactive museum exhibits designed for children, plans to use its $4,842 grant to install energy efficient double pane windows on the second floor of the museum building.  The new windows should reduce the museum's annual energy bill by approximately $900, according to Larry Rackley, project manager for energy efficiency programs at Sierra Pacific.

Rackley said the Douglas County Historical Society will use its $4,800 grant to install energy efficient lights at the Cason Valley Museum and Cultural Center located at 1447 Highway 395 in Gardnerville. In addition, the Historical Society will install programmable thermostats, motion sensors that automatically switch lights on or off, and energy efficient, exit signs that use LED (light emitting diode) lights. 

The improvements at the museum are expected to save the Historical Society up to $1,650 per year on its energy bills, Rackley said.

With its $5,000 grant, the Nevada Health Centers, Inc., will make energy efficiency improvements at rural health clinics in Gerlach and Austin, according to the agency. The Austin Medical Clinic, 121 Main St., will get a programmable thermostat, double pane windows, an energy efficient glass door for its entryway, and replace its current electric space heaters with a more energy efficient heating/air conditioning unit.

Energy efficiency upgrades planned for the Gerlach Medical Clinic, 350 Short St., include programmable thermostats, weather stripping, motion sensors, and compact fluorescent lights.

Rackley said the combined energy savings for the clinics should be approximately $1,000 per year.

Central Lyon Youth Connections, which provides youth programs in the Dayton-Moundhouse-Silver Springs area, plans to use its $5,000 grant to install ceiling insulation, fluorescent lights and double pane wood windows at its thrift shop, the Community Threads and Things Thrift Store, at 80 Shady Lane in Dayton.

The goal of the grant program is to help nonprofit groups better manage their utility costs and to help reduce the total amount of energy that Sierra Pacific needs to produce at its power plants or purchase from other energy suppliers, Rackley said.

In 2004, Sierra Pacific Power awarded more than $75,000 in grants to 16 nonprofit organizations in northern Nevada to fund energy efficiency improvements at the agencies' facilities. Approximately $100,000 in grant funding is expected to be awarded in northern Nevada in 2005.