Eversource teamed up with Springfield Public Schools to make energy efficiency upgrades to kitchens at close to 30 elementary, middle and high schools across the district. The state-of-the art improvements make it easier and more affordable for the City of Springfield to serve 40,000 meals a day to students across the city, as well as serving 25,000 dinners a week to send home with children. Through a combination of innovative energy efficiency solutions at schools across the district, the improvements are expected to save the district nearly $2 million and three million kilowatt-hours of energy over the next 12 years.
Mayor Sarno states, "Superintedent Warwick and I want to thank Eversource for partnering with SPS to make our school kitchens more energy efficient. As we have learned from this COVID-19 pandemic, having a state-of-the-art kitchen facility to prepare and serve meals for our students is vital and important. Throughout the pandemic, working with Sodexo, we never stopped preparing meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks were packaged and given to our students. We distributed over 8 million school meals to students at over 18 meal sites throughout our city. As we transitioned to return to in-person learning our kitchens were once again an important component to feed our students with health meals."
“My administration’s continued efforts towards energy efficiency and ‘going green’ continue to pay dividends, not only for our environment, but also, the bottom line of our budget too,” Mayor Sarno added. “I am very appreciative to my point man on these green initiatives Patrick Sullivan and to our continued partnership with Eversource. These types of initiatives allow my administration to do more for our students/families, residents and business community.”
“Healthy nutrition plays an important role in learning, and the district is committed to providing healthy meals for students,” said Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Daniel Warwick. “We are grateful for the partnership with Eversource because of the positive impact it has on the environment and the valuable impact it has on the budget, due to the improved efficiency in so many of our school kitchens.”
The energy efficient upgrades to kitchens at close to 30 Springfield schools – including elementary, middle, and high schools – make it more affordable to serve 40,000 meals a day to students across the city, as well as serving 25,000 dinners a week to send home with children. In addition, the new upgrades and greater ability to provide more meals cost-effectively will also allow the updated school kitchens to be used as sites for public safety and emergency management officials to provide food to the community in emergency situations.
“Springfield Public Schools serve as a prime example of what we can accomplish through our energy efficiency programs to help customers save money and energy, which is more crucial than ever in these continued tough times,” said Eversource Vice President for Energy Efficiency and Electric Mobility Tilak Subrahmanian. “With upgrades to energy-efficient equipment such as new ovens, dishwashers, refrigerators, steamers, and hot-food holding cabinets, the school district is not just experiencing significant savings – they are also making a positive difference in how they meet this essential need in providing nutritious meals to their students and families.”
For more information on saving money and energy with Eversource’s nationally recognized energy efficiency solutions, visit Eversource.com.
