UNITY — Unity College recently received a $39,520 grant from Grants to Green Maine to upgrade the energy system and controls at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts.

The grant will enable the college to replace outdated air conditioning units with air source heat pumps, replace incandescent and CFL lighting, insulate the attic to R-70, and update monitoring and control equipment to enable remote energy systems regulation from any web-linked computer, according to a news release from the college. The project also will cut energy use at the facility, institutional operating costs, and fossil fuel consumption to address climate change.

Unity College was one of only two organizations to receive the inaugural implementation grant from Grants to Green Maine, a partnership between the Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center, Efficiency Maine and the Maine Community Foundation; funded by Kendeda Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. Fourteen smaller audit grants were awarded statewide for energy efficiency audits. Unity College is renowned as a leader in sustainability, and this implementation grant will be used as a model for future rounds.