The Green Campus Loan Fund(GCLF) provides interest-free capital for high performance campus design, operations, maintenance and occupant behavior projects. The GCLF has financed a new energy-efficiency program in Harvard-managed buildings that has University real estate managers smiling at savings of more than $700,000 annually. As the Harvard Gazette reports, "Larry McNeil, senior facilities engineer with Harvard Real Estate Services’ University and Commercial Operations Management, said the efficiency program is in its fourth year and has amassed savings that are hard to ignore."
The model of the fund is as follows: GCLF provides the up-front capital interest-free. Applicant departments agree to repay the fund via savings achieved by project-related reductions in utility consumption, waste removal or operating costs. This formula allows departments to upgrade the efficiency, comfort, and functionality of their facilities without incurring any capital costs. In order to be eligible projects must:
- Generate infrastructure or behavioral improvements that directly decrease Harvard University’s current environmental impact. These projects must demonstrate an innovative design and implementation approach. Projects that are part of scheduled or routine maintenance will not be eligible for consideration unless they demonstrate environmentally beneficial design innovation.
- Projects must have a payback period of five years or less.
Projects are evaluated on their ability to contribute to one or more of the following areas of consideration:
- Hazardous waste
- Solid waste
- Liquid waste
- Gaseous emissions
Click here to learn more about the Harvard’s Green Campus Loan Fund and inspire your school or institution to adopt similar policies to start saving energy and money.
Harvard Green Campus Initiative- Saving Money and Energy
The Green Campus Loan Fund(GCLF) provides interest-free capital for high performance campus design, operations, maintenance and occupant behavior projects.
Harvard Green Campus Initiative- Saving Money and Energy
The Green Campus Loan Fund(GCLF) provides interest-free capital for high performance campus design, operations, maintenance and occupant behavior projects.
Great advise!
I would like to add that aside from our focus on efficiency we need to ensure resilience of these social/economic/environmental systems. Efficiency driven systems will merely increase their vulnerability to sudden external changes. What we also need is new concepts that completely eliminate the dependency on non-renewable resources in all aspects of societal activity.
I am thinking Renewable Energy, Cradle to Cradle, Ecological Economics, just to name a few concepts.
Cheers, Rick
GreenDegreeDirectory.com
Great advise!
I would like to add that aside from our focus on efficiency we need to ensure resilience of these social/economic/environmental systems. Efficiency driven systems will merely increase their vulnerability to sudden external changes. What we also need is new concepts that completely eliminate the dependency on non-renewable resources in all aspects of societal activity.
I am thinking Renewable Energy, Cradle to Cradle, Ecological Economics, just to name a few concepts.
Cheers, Rick
GreenDegreeDirectory.com