PHILIPSBURG, CENTRE COUNTY - Kristine Lang McDonald only needed to see one thing to know.

“I was shocked when my natural gas bill was $500 for the first month,” the small business owner said.

Lang McDonald’s Philipsburg bookshop and cafe, 1 North Front Street, needed an energy audit. One of the big energy problems with 1 North Front Street is that the first and second floors were built in 1876 and the third floor was added later in early 1900's. They all use different heating and cooling systems.

“We are very busy, this is a very popular thing right now, energy is huge and everybody wants to save money through their energy costs,” Densie Bechdel, of the Small Business Development Center and Penn State Outreach said.

The audits are being offered to business owners for no cost, and on Thursday Penn State students spent the morning learning how to conduct an audit and use the special technology.

“We have an infrared camera that we take out and we look at the equipment and show them ways they can save money,” Bechdel said.

While the audit is free, Lang McDonald will invest her own money in the recommended changes - and she is alright with that helping the environment and saving cash in the long run.

“The way that I look at it as a business owner as a consumer that it isn't a mutually exclusive, it's a matter of choice and you just make those right choices for the environment .”

For more information, click here: http://www.sbdc.psu.edu/