WMU takes the $1 billion green challenge

Western Michigan University and 32 other schools across the county have accepted a challenge to be part of a unique way to fund energy upgrades on campus.

It’s called the Billion Dollar Green Challenge and the goal is for participating schools between them to invest $1 billion in green revolving funds — funds that loan money to specific projects, which then repay the loan through an internal account transfer from savings achieved in the institution’s utilities budget.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute is coordinating the challenge along with 13 partner organizations.

The challenge is inspired by the high performance of existing green revolving funds, which have a median annual return on investment of 32 percent, as documented by the report Greening the Bottom Line and published earlier this year by the institute.

The investments are helping create green jobs in campus communities, while lowering operating costs on college and university campuses, reports the institute.

“Reinvesting energy savings in our campus infrastructure is a tradition that dates back more than 30 years at Western Michigan University,” says Jan Van Der Kley, WMU vice president for business and finance.

The university is proud to have done some pioneering work in this area and excited to be part of a national initiative, he adds. It allows WMU to showcase what its accomplished, says Van Der Kley, and achieve even more savings and continue its path to sustainability.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University