Refrigeration, Dishwashers, and Ice Machines

Food businesses like restaurants and grocery stores use a lot of energy, which makes day‑to‑day operations expensive. These businesses use more than twice the electricity per square foot than typical commercial buildings. High energy use and tight budgets can make it hard to replace equipment. Our advisors have found machines from the 1950s still in use!

New equipment can lower energy bills, reduce maintenance, improve comfort, and support food safety. It also cuts energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

PACE advisors can help you find old equipment and plan upgrades. They can also help you save water, reduce waste, and make other smart upgrades.

PACE Kitchen Efficiency Grant

PACE offers a grant to help businesses replace old equipment. The grant lowers common barriers, like high upfront costs and complex steps. This means your business can get efficient equipment and support Boulder County’s sustainability goals.

PACE works with local vender Artzer Restaurant Equipment. Artzer provides eligible businesses ENERGY STAR‑certified refrigeration and restaurant equipment. The grant pays 70% of the cost of new equipment before tax and covers all delivery and installation costs, up to $10,000.

Participating businesses pay 30% of the equipment cost and all sales tax on the purchase.

Grant Requirements

The Kitchen Efficiency Grant is available to Boulder County business owners who meet all of the following requirements:

• Owner lives in Colorado
• Business is located in Boulder County
• Business has been in operation for a minimum of two years
• Owner manages and/or works day-to-day operations and makes long-term decisions
• Business pays utility bill
• Total operating square footage is 2,500 square feet or less
• Existing equipment was manufactured in 2009 or earlier
• Minority-owned businesses are highly encouraged to apply

Please fill out the interest form below even if you don’t meet all the requirements. Our advisors will talk with you to see if your business’s needs and situation qualify for an exception.

The Boulder County Sustainability Tax and the City of Boulder’s Climate Tax fund PACE grants. We give grants in the order we receive applications, as long as funding continues to be available.

Eligible Equipment

The following equipment types are included in the grant:

• Refrigerator units with doors
• Freezer units with doors
• Merchandiser refrigerators and freezers
• Food preparation tables
• Dishwashers
• Ice machines
• Other ENERGY STAR-certified refrigeration and cooking equipment

Costs for electrical work are not covered by this grant, but businesses can apply for PACE’s Electric Infrastructure Upgrade rebate.

Businesses cannot use this grant to purchase equipment that runs on natural gas. If you want to replace gas‑powered equipment with clean, electric models, check out our Kitchen Electrification Grant.

If you have equipment that doesn’t fit into the categories above and you want us to consider your project, please fill out the interest form. An advisor will talk with you to see if your project qualifies for an exception.

As part of the grant, your business and others cannot use or keep the old equipment. The program’s distributor will remove it and dispose of it properly.

Application Process

1. Fill out our interest form: Begin the process by filling out our interest form. Click the button below to get started!
2. Eligibility: A PACE advisor will contact you to confirm that your current equipment meets the eligibility requirements.
3. Assessment: Your PACE advisor will meet you onsite to look at equipment and discuss replacement options.
4. Quote: Your PACE advisor will provide an equipment quote detailing the amount covered by the grant and the cost you are responsible for.
5. Agreement: If you decide to replace the equipment, your PACE advisor will help you complete the funding agreement.
6. Equipment Ordered: After reviewing your submitted agreement, PACE will reserve funding for the project. Artzer, the distributor for this program, will order the equipment.
7. Delivery, Installation, and Payment: Artzer will contact you to schedule the delivery and installation of your new equipment. They will also coordinate the removal and proper disposal of your old equipment. You will pay your portion of the new equipment to Artzer upon delivery, and PACE will pay Artzer directly for the grant portion.
8. Ownership and Maintenance: Once the equipment has been installed, you own the new equipment and are responsible for ongoing maintenance.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at 303-786-7223 or info@PACEpartners.com.

Community Highlight

When Julie Sargent took over Henry’s, a bar in Louisville, she inherited not just a historic local bar, but a pair of aging under-the-bar coolers. “They were dinosaurs…very ancient,” Sargent says with a laugh. “We’re pretty sure they were put in during 40s or 50s!”

Sargent (pictured with her kids, who are co-owners) had to invest a lot up-front to get the kitchen running and couldn’t afford to replace the old coolers right away. She had a repairman who kept them running, but eventually they quit for good. At that point, Sargent remembered hearing about PACE rebates, “I heard PACE could help cover the cost of replacing the old coolers,” she recalls. “When the coolers finally died, I figured I had nothing to lose.”

Sargent reached out to PACE and was happy to learn that PACE’s equipment partner could move quickly to replace her new coolers. Sargent was also able to upgrade her old upright refrigerators to sleek new merchandisers that beautifully display their beverages. “There was no catch, no strings attached,” Sargent says. “They paid 80%, and we only paid 20%. It really was that simple!”