84 universities now have revolving loans that fund sustainability projects, mostly focused on energy efficiency upgrades. Right now those funds have $119 million available.
All of these are profiled in the Campus Sustainability Revolving Loan Funds database, produced by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
39 institutions are participating in the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, which challenges universities and other nonprofits to invest a billion dollars combined into a revolving fund that finances energy efficiency upgrades on campuses.
Despite the fact that energy efficiency upgrades result in significant long term savings, the high initial costs of implementation still deter campuses from doing them. Revolving loan funds provide zero or low interest loans that fund projects, and then a portion of the savings they generate is reinvested in the fund.
The 10 largest funds have more than $76 million invested for on-campus efficiency improvements.
The database lists each school that has a revolving loan fund, how much is in it, when it was started, the number of projects it’s funded and their return on investment.
The group also maintains a database that tracks solar installations on campuses:
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