CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A solar panel to be installed at
one of Wyoming's bigger microbreweries helped Agriculture
Secretary
Tom Vilsack on Wednesday promote a nationwide program to
encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Vilsack planned to visit Jackson's Snake River Brewing
Company later in the day to announce 544 grants totaling
$6.7 million nationwide through the
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Energy for America
Program. Three grants in this round of funding went to
Wyoming, including one for $13,810 to help the brewery
offset the cost of installing the solar panel.
"These grants will help farmers, ranchers and small business
owners use more renewable energy, which cuts carbon
pollution, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, saves
businesses money on their energy bills and creates American
jobs," Vilsack said in a release.
The other two grants awarded in Wyoming went to Campbell
County rancher Byron Oedekoven. A $5,825 grant will defray
the cost of replacing fluorescent and incandescent light
bulbs inside and outdoors at Oedekoven's ranch with more
efficient LED light bulbs.
"It will reduce my electric bill by 54 percent, right off
the bat. So return on investment is pretty quick," said
Oedekoven, a former Campbell County sheriff who is executive
director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs
of Police.
A $17,681 grant will defray the cost of a new geothermal
heat system at a 40-by-80-foot shop at Oedekoven's cattle
ranch 17 miles north of Gillette, according to Oedekoven.
Oedekoven said he found out about the grants through a
livestock publication. The grants will cover 25 percent of
the projects' cost, he said, and the USDA will award the
money after he submits receipts for work completed.
Nationwide, individual grants in this round of funding
ranged from a couple thousand dollars up to $20,000.
The program has awarded $545 million for more than 8,800
projects since 2009. Projects funded to date potentially
could save enough electricity to power more than 660,000
homes for a year, according to the USDA.
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