FRAMINGHAM, Mass. & CHARLO, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 16, 2026--
Ameresco, Inc., (NYSE: AMRC), a leading energy infrastructure solutions provider, today announced it has completed a comprehensive Energy Performance Contract (EPC) for Charlo School District in Charlo, Montana. Designed to create a more optimized learning environment, the project targeted modernizing aging infrastructure, improving indoor comfort, and reducing long-term energy and maintenance costs.
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Conducted in two phases, the project delivered district-wide upgrades to mechanical systems, lighting, and building envelopes to enhance weatherization. The first phase replaced outdated equipment at the elementary and high schools with high-efficiency heat pumps, modernized HVAC in classrooms and offices, upgraded LED lighting, improved gymnasium air circulation, and added air sealing and insulation to reduce energy use and optimize indoor conditions.
Phase 2 focused on the junior high and additional learning spaces, replacing aging fuel-oil and propane systems with efficient heat pumps and upgraded temperature controls. Programmable thermostats, demand-controlled ventilation, and economizer functions were also implemented to improve energy efficiency and indoor air quality, as well as supplemental electric heating to ensure consistent conditions throughout the buildings.
The comprehensive improvements are projected to generate over $93,000 in annual contracted energy savings, strengthening operational performance and long-term reliability.
“This project reflects Charlo School District’s commitment to providing safe, comfortable, and efficient learning environments for our students and staff,” said Jim Baldwin, Superintendent at Charlo School District. “By modernizing critical energy infrastructure across our schools and eliminating fossil fuel burning equipment, we’re advancing our sustainability goals, improving day-to-day comfort, and enabling resources to be directed where they matter most: in the classroom.”
The project builds on Ameresco’s ongoing work across Montana and its commitment to enhancing energy efficiency for K-12 districts nationwide. Phase 2 received partial support from a Renew America’s Schools grant, enabling the district to expand upgrades and accelerate the replacement of aging systems.
“We are proud to partner with Charlo School District to modernize energy infrastructure and deliver measurable cost-savings,” said Lou Maltezos, President, Central & Western USA and Canada Regions at Ameresco. “Through this collaboration, the district is improving energy efficiency, strengthening facility performance in ways that will benefit students and staff for years to come.”
To learn more about Ameresco’s EPC services, visit https://www.ameresco.com/espc-energy-savings-performance-contract/.
About Ameresco, Inc.
Founded in 2000, Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading energy infrastructure solutions provider dedicated to helping customers reduce costs, enhance resilience, and decarbonize to net zero in the global energy transition. Our comprehensive portfolio includes implementing smart energy efficiency solutions, upgrading aging infrastructure, and developing, constructing, and operating distributed energy resources. As a trusted full-service partner, Ameresco shows the way by reducing energy use and delivering energy infrastructure solutions to Federal, state and local governments, utilities, data centers, educational and healthcare institutions, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers. Headquartered in Framingham, MA, Ameresco has more than 1,500 employees providing local expertise in North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.ameresco.com.
The announcement of completion of a customer’s project contract is not necessarily indicative of the timing or amount of revenue from such contract, of Ameresco’s overall revenue for any particular period or of trends in Ameresco’s overall total project backlog. This project was included in Ameresco’s previously reported contracted backlog as of December 31, 2025.
Ameresco completes district-wide energy upgrades for Montana’s Charlo School District, advancing energy efficiency and long-term cost savings across facilities.
PARIS (AP) — Activists worldwide held May Day rallies and street protests Friday, calling for peace, higher wages and better working conditions as many workers grapple with rising energy costs and shrinking purchasing power tied to the Iran war.
May 1 is a public holiday in many countries to mark International Workers’ Day, or Labor Day, when workers’ unions traditionally rally around wages, pensions, inequality and broader political issues. Demonstrations were held from Seoul, Sydney and Jakarta to many European capitals. In the U.S., activists opposing President Donald Trump’s policies also were holding marches and boycotts.
“Working people refuse to pay the price for Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East,” the European Trade Union Confederation, which represents 93 trade union organizations in 41 European countries, said. “Today’s rallies show working people will not stand by and see their jobs and living standards destroyed.”
What to know about May Day:
Rising living costs linked to the conflict in the Middle East emerged as a key theme in Friday’s rallies.
In the Philippine capital, Manila, large crowds denounced the U.S. role in the Iran war. Protesters clashed with police blocking the way near the U.S. Embassy.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto joined a rally in Jakarta where workers called for stronger government protection from rising prices and difficulties in finding raw materials for key industries.
On a main avenue in Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, taxi drivers honked their horns and bus drivers parked their vehicles to protest rising fuel costs.
“All my expenses have gone up, but my wages haven’t budged,” Akherraz Lhachimi of the Moroccan Labor Union said.
Turkish authorities in Istanbul detained hundreds of demonstrators for attempting to march in areas declared off-limits on security grounds, most notably central Taksim Square, the epicenter of 2013 protests. May Day rallies in Turkey are frequently marred by clashes with authorities.
Tens of thousands of people crowded into a public square across from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, celebrating Cuba's workers and decrying U.S. sanctions. Many held banners that read, “Down with Imperialism” and “U.S. hands off Cuba.” President Miguel Díaz-Canel and former President Raúl Castro attended the event.
Several rallies were staged in South Africa, where the head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Zingiswa Losi, said workers were “suffocating” under rising costs of food, electricity, transport and healthcare.
May Day carries special meaning this year in France, after a heated debate about whether employees should be allowed to work on the country’s most protected public holiday — the only day when most employees have a mandatory paid day off.
Almost all businesses, shops and malls are closed, and only essential sectors such as hospitals, transport and hotels are exempt. A recent parliamentary proposal to expand work on the day prompted major outcry from unions and left-leaning politicians.
“Don’t touch May Day,” unions said in a joint statement.
Tens of thousands of people joined marches across the country, including in Paris, where brief scuffles with police broke out.
“May 1 is not just any day,” Small and Medium-sized Businesses Minister Serge Papin said. “It symbolizes social gains stemming from a century of building social rules that have led to the labor code we know in France. It is indeed a special day.”
In the United States, where May Day is not a federal holiday, May Day Strong, a coalition of activist groups and labor unions, called on people to protest under the banner of “workers over billionaires.”
Voicing strong opposition to Trump's policies, organizers listed thousands of May Day actions across the country and called for an economic blackout through “no school, no work, no shopping.”
Demands include taxing the rich and putting an end to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
While labor and immigrant rights are historically intertwined, the focus of May Day rallies in the U.S. shifted to immigration in 2006. That’s when roughly 1 million people, including nearly half a million in Chicago alone, took to the streets to protest federal legislation that would have made living in the U.S. without legal permission a felony.
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, traces back more than a century to a pivotal period in U.S. labor history.
In the 1880s, unions pushed for an eight-hour workday. A Chicago rally in May 1886 turned deadly when a bomb exploded and police responded with gunfire. Several labor activists — most of them immigrants — were convicted of conspiracy and other charges; four were executed.
Unions later designated May 1 to honor workers. A monument in Chicago’s Haymarket Square commemorates them with the inscription: “Dedicated to all workers of the world.”
Associated Press journalists Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Giada Zampano in Rome, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Cinar Kiper in Istanbul, Turkey, Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, and Dánica Coto in Havana contributed to this report.
Turkish, right, and Greek Cypriots gathering s they marking May Day inside the U.N. buffer zone at Ledra Palace hotel in the divided capital of Nicosia, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
People gather before a May Day rally in Chicago, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
An effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump burns during an International Workers' Day march marking May Day in Panama City, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Members of trade unions take part in a May Day rally in Tsakane, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Protesters march during the May Day demonstration in Rennes, western France, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo)
A man holds a picture or former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wearing a prison uniform during a May Day rally demanding greater labor rights in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Protesters march during the May Day demonstration in Paris, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
An union member is detained by a Turkish police officer as people try to march towards Taksim square in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 1, 2026, during Labor Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions stage a rally on May Day in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions stage a rally on May Day in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Union members scuffle with Turkish police officers as they try to march towards Taksim square in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 1, 2026, during Labor Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Union members carefully step through rain-formed puddles to participate in a May Day rally in the rain Friday, May 1, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People march to mark International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, in Sydney, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
People march to mark International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, in Sydney, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
FILE - Activist and workers raise their clenched fists during a May Day rally in Manila, Philippines, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)
Laborers protest during a May Day demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Laborers hold flares during a May Day demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026. The banner in center reading as 'red salute to the martyrs of Chicago and the struggle will continue until economic exploitation is ended' (AP Photo/Ali Raza)
Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ali Raza)
