U to invest $4M for green fund

The University of Minnesota, joining 33 other colleges and universities in the “Billion Dollar Green Challenge,” will invest $4 million to energy-saving projects over the next four years.

The challenge, coordinated by the nonprofit Sustainable Endowments Institute, calls for schools to invest a total of $1 billion to reduce energy consumption on campuses across the country.

“The projects range from installing more efficient lighting in a parking garage to upgrading the insulation in a dorm,” said Mark Orlowski, executive director of the Institute.

The $1 billion will come from self-managed revolving funds that schools will put together to invest in green projects. So far, the challenge’s “Founding Circle,” which includes Harvard, Stanford and Arizona State universities, has committed $65 million to the initiative.

“Universities are so big and complex and there’s not enough money to invest in green projects,” Orlowski said.

“These revolving funds solve these problems by having a separate, dedicated fund that looks at these projects as investment opportunities rather than as expenses,” he said.

The idea for the project came from many universities wanting to make their campuses greener but not having the funds to do so. The Institute has been developing this challenge for more than a year.

Though Orlowski said he has seen a lot of progress in sustainability efforts on campuses, financial resources are a limiting factor.

The University of Minnesota is the only Big Ten school in the challenge and coordinators hope this will inspire other Big Ten schools to participate.

The University received an A- on the College Sustainability Report Card in 2010. Amy Short, sustainability director for the University’s facilities, said she hopes to continue this trend by participating in the challenge.

“Our Board of Regents adopted a sustainability and energy efficiency policy years ago so this is nothing really new for us,” she said.

The University will be contributing $4 million over four years and expects to see a return on its investment by way of savings from increased energy conservation. The money will come from the University’s internal loan pool, Short said.

She said the school has not decided which specific green projects to tackle first.

Kerrick Robinson, a University student and an environmental task force leader for the student-directed Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, said he’s excited that the University is participating in the challenge.

“I’m all for the idea because in the long run it’s going to save us money and make our campus a lot more environmentally friendly, which is always a good thing,” he said.

The challenge launches Oct. 11 at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference in Pittsburgh, the largest such conference to date with more than 2,500 participants.

Many schools still look at energy efficiency as an expense, Orlowski said.

“Our ultimate goal is to prove to everyone that energy efficiency is a savvy and exciting and, most importantly, high-return investment opportunity,” he said.