Financing

There are several ways to finance the implementation of a renewable energy initiative for your school or department. Models include fundraising from students and alumni, from outside organizations, or through creative reinvestment of monetary savings from energy conservation efforts. 

Use financial savings from a successful energy conservation campaign

Case Studypledge logo

HGCI runs an annual pledge campaign to get Harvard students, staff, and faculty to commit to changing their behavior to save energy. Wind energy credits are bought for buildings who have over 50% of their occupants take the pledge.


 

Fundraise

Seek student and alumni support for your particular renewable energy project.

Case Studyfootcreek windmills

Quincy House students donated funds and received matching grants from the Undergraduate Student Council and the Quincy House Masters to purchase wind energy to offset one week of their electricity use.

 

Build it into the campus operations budget

You may wish to budget for renewable energy certificates as an operational expense.

Case Study

In response to public support by students and administration for renewable energy purchases on campus, the Kennedy School of Government buys Renewable Energy Certificates to satisfy 100% of its electricity needs through clean energy.

For more information, see the related article in the Crimson.

 

Seek outside sources of funding

You may wish to go outside the university for funding for your particular project. 

Case Study

Part of the funding for the PV panels on Harvard Business School's Shad pv at shad hallHall came from a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and an interest-free loan from the Harvard University Green Campus Loan Fund.

For more information on MTC grants, download our MTC Renewable Energy Grants Guide for Harvard

 

 

Purchase renewable energy to fulfill LEED certification requirements

Case Studyphotograph of One Western Avenue

Harvard Real Estate Services purchased a two year contract to provide 3,990,000 kilowatt-hours of Renewable Energy Certificates annually in order to offset the Western Avenue graduate student housing electricity usage. The addition of clean energy to the building’s list of green features earned this project key points as it achieved LEED Silver Certification.

 

Enter into a power purchase agreement

A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is also called third party financing. It is an agreement with a third party who funds and owns the renewable energy project (usually photovoltaics or solar thermal) and sells the electricity back to the host. The third party assumes all risks, maintenance, and costs associated with the project, and pays all up front capital costs. The contract lasts for 10-25 years, and the electricity prices are set in advance. When the contract expires, the system either becomes the property of the building owner, the contract gets extended, the system is purchased by the building owner, or the system is removed.

Investors benefit because they can defer capital gains taxes. Building owners, such as universities, benefit because the third party can take advantage of tax benefits that universities or non-profit cannot. These tax benefits, coupled with state rebates, the selling of renewable energy credits (RECs), and net metering, shorten the payback of systems that are not usually financially feasible. Contracts can be written to one’s own specifications. For example, a university can keep its RECs if it is trying to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Additional resources

There are two major databases that list colleges and universities that purchase renewable energy. Visit these sites for further information and ideas on innovative renewable energy purchasing strategies.

The DSIRE database lists all federal and state incentives for renewables

Other resources...