BELLINGHAM, Wash. — James Place Child Development Center is one of four winners of Evening's Small Business Energy Efficiency Makeover Contest, sponsored by Puget Sound Energy.
A building rooted in Bellingham’s past is now a place helping raise its future.
"This is James Place Child Development Center. It's a child care center that I started," said founder and owner Kathy Westover.
"We have a whole curriculum that covers from infant to 5 years old with monthly themes and development milestones."
Many of the kids Kathy and her staff care for are children of front-line workers.
"Doctors and nurses. We got people who work in municipalities, first responders and we've been able to stay open throughout the Coronavirus."
The building that houses the center has been renovated many times since it was built as a comfort station in the late 1920s. But it's seen better days.
"It is a drafty building. It is a stone building," said Kathy. "In the winter it's really drafty. It takes a lot of energy to keep the children warm."
To help keep the kids cozy, Puget Sound Energy first sends in their small business energy efficiency team to perform a thorough inspection.
"It's an old building and it's been around for a long time so it could use some work," said Sarah Cann with PSE. "We're going to look at the lighting for this space. It's your standard commercial fluorescent lighting but we think we can make it better with LED. The windows are very old. We're also looking at the heating system to see if there's any adjustment that needs to be made there to improve the efficiency and make it more comfortable in the space for the kids."
After consulting with Kathy and the building's owner, PSE’s team of contractors get to work installing the latest in energy-efficient upgrades.
"If we're going to put our name behind a contractor, we make sure that they do right by our customers," said Sarah.
The crews work mostly off ours so as not to disturb the kids. After months of work, the makeover is finally finished.
"The biggest thing would be the HVAC system,” explained Sarah. "We've got a mini ductless system that has different parts of the equipment in different spaces so you can control different areas. They have heat and air conditioning in areas they never had before. We've got a brand new programmable thermostat that you can set at a comfortable temperature. We redid the lighting. It was fluorescent now it's LED. In addition to that, we did a dimming system."
And those cold drafts are a thing of the past thanks to new windows.
"They're double pane windows, they're vinyl, they're not going to have condensation and all the gaps were sealed up."
Kathy couldn’t be happier with the results. "It is so exciting! It is just a complete transformation. It's like a whole new place. I anticipate a huge savings in the cost of my energy."
The kids are too young to know what energy-efficient means. But Kathy knows these little ones will reap the rewards.
"My focus was getting it warmer for the kids. And it's so much richer than that."
You can find out more about Puget Sound Energy's Small Business Energy Efficiency program on their website.
The Small Business Energy Efficiency Makeover Contest is sponsored by Puget Sound Energy. KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.