Energy Revolving Fund
(Low-Interest Loans for Energy Efficiency Improvements)

The Sedalia School District recently faced a challenge similar to that faced by many school districts, higher education institutions, and city and county governments. How can you continue to make needed capital improvements to your facilities? The school district approached the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Energy Center for assistance. After several meetings with the Energy Center, the district was able to develop a comprehensive package of energy improvements for eight of its school buildings and maintenance shop. These improvements included such energy conservation measures as installing new windows, upgrading the lighting, installing a new geothermal heating/cooling system and cooling tower improvements. These energy improvements are expected to lower the utility costs of the district by approximately $213,000 per year.

The Sedalia School District is just one of many school districts, universities, cities and counties to take advantage of the Energy Revolving Fund for low-interest loans to assist with energy-efficiency improvements to their buildings, street lights and traffic lights. These loans are offered at fixed interest rates and are paid back by the recipient from the energy savings generated from the project. Because the recipient repays the loan from energy savings, the loans are not considered a general debt obligation for the recipient.

Any public school, university, college, city or county government, public hospital or water treatment plant is eligible to apply for a loan. The Energy Revolving Fund may finance a variety of energy-saving investments, including upgrading insulation, lighting, windows, heating and cooling equipment and other items that affect the facility's energy use. Recipients can save taxpayer money on energy expenditures and, after the loan has been repaid, redirect the savings to fund other essential services.

Since the program's inception in 1989, the Energy Center has made more than 480 loans, accounting for nearly $82 million in energy-efficiency projects being completed and more than $117 million in estimated cumulative energy savings.

For more information on recent loan awards made by the department, the Energy Center maintains
a map PDF that lists all the awards made over the past three fiscal years. Below are examples of typical projects that have been financed by the Energy Revolving Fund.

The City of Kansas City retrofitted 2518 traffic signals that were using incandescent lights to energy efficient LED lights at a cost of $554,000. This simple project is saving the city over $95,000 a year in electricity cost and as an added bonus the LED lights have a life expectancy about seven times longer than the incandescent lights.

Grundy County replaced the windows in its courthouse with new energy efficient windows for an estimated savings of $3,400 annually in heating and cooling cost.

Twin Rivers R-X School District has replaced an older, inefficient heating system with a new energy-efficient system that is expected to save $9,600 annually in heating costs.

Hartville R-II School District expects to save more than $24,000 in annual operating costs by installing energy-efficient lighting and setback thermostats.

Mineral Area College has installed energy-efficient lighting, replaced aging HVAC equipment with new high-efficiency equipment and updated the building control system. These improvements will save the college more than $96,000 annually in operational costs.

Application Procedures

To be considered for funding, eligible entities must submit a completed application form to the department during an open application cycle. We strongly recommend that potential applicants contact one of our Energy Center loan managers prior to starting the application process.

Energy Revolving Fund Forms

Additional Information

For more information regarding the Energy Revolving Fund PDF, contact the Energy Center at one of the following locations and ask to speak to an energy loan manager:

The Energy Center can also be contacted through the department's e-mail.