Greening the Bottom Line, 2012

With buildings consuming almost half (49 percent) of all energy used in the United States, and three quarters of all electricity, there is a compelling need for investment in energy efficiency upgrades. These energy saving improvements "represent a significant opportunity to save money, reduce climate impact and generate jobs," according to "United States Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits," a recent report by Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors and the Rockefeller Foundation. The analysis supported by these two prominent institutions shows that investing $279 billion in building retrofits nationwide could "yield more than $1 trillion of energy savings over 10 years." This would be the equivalent to savings of approximately 30 percent of the annual electricity spending in the entire country. Recognizing such bottom-line and sustainability benefits, leading corporations such as Dow Chemical, General Electric and News Corporation have invested in improving the energy efficiency of their own buildings, operations and products. One cost-saving and carbon-reducing method with a successful track record is the green revolving fund (GRF). GRFs invest in energy efficiency projects, thereby reducing operating expenses and greenhouse gas emissions. The cost savings boost the bottom line and replenish the fund for investment in the next round of green retrofits, thus establishing a sustainable funding cycle. The Sustainable Endowments Summary Institute (SEI) surveyed colleges and universities to learn how they are implementing self-managed green revolving funds. As reported in "Greening the Bottom Line 2012," the survey provides insights into the various approaches to green revolving fund creation, structure and management as well as environmental and financial performance. Based on data from 79 active green revolving funds at the 76 institutions in the survey, the following findings emerged: (1) 31 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces have higher education institutions with established GRFs; (2) $111 million in capital has been collectively committed among established GRFs; (3) 900 energy efficiency projects have been initiated using GRF funding; (4) 36 green revolving funds were created on university campuses between 2011 and 2012; (4) 15-fold increase in the number of GRFs on campus over the past decade; and (5) A wide variety of colleges and universities with varying sizes, diverse geographic locations, and spanning the spectrum of endowment wealth have adopted GRFs. Appended are: (1) GRFs Operating in the United States and Canada; (2) Methodology; (3) Calculating Return on Investment; (4) National Sustainability Initiatives; and (5) Key Statistics about Green Revolving Funds. (Contains 1 figure and 18 footnotes.) [Contributing authors include Mark Orlowski and Dano Weisbord. Additional funding for this paper was provided by the David Rockefeller Fund, John Merck Fund, Merck Family Fund, and Wallace Global Fund.]