Bide Awhile Animal Shelter is a long-standing nonprofit organisation dedicated to animal care and adoption. The shelter staff knew they needed to add air conditioning to keep animals cool in the summer, but lacked the expertise and funding to make these upgrades a reality.

The priority was cooling the space, opting for high efficiency heat pumps that could also eliminate fossil fuel heating in the spring and fall. Once the cooling was in place, our Navigators assisted staff and board members through the evaluation of holistic upgrades for the shelter. A year later, the shelter has added attic insulation, converted to LED lighting, and replaced broken windows and doors to keep the shelter safe, comfortable, and affordable to operate. These upgrades save the shelter $5,200 annually, eliminate 33 tonnes of CO2, and represent a 63% reduction in total energy use.