The Billion Dollar Green Challenge is helping university campuses across the nation to become more energy and resource-efficient. The program works with universities to set aside money for a Green Revolving Fund. Student leaders from the university will then submit project proposals to help improve the campus in a green way. The main idea of the program is that the projects will create savings for the university that will then be put back into the fund for more projects in the future.
In a webinar hosted by The Billion Dollar Green Challenge and Focus the Nation, Emily Flynn, Manager of Special Projects at Sustainable Endowment Institute displayed the below image to demonstrate the concept: 
Flynn went on to explain the benefits of revolving funds in terms of the student body, campus, finances, and overall perception:
Benefits for the student body:
- Reduce environmental impact of school
- Creates new opportunities for learning inside (and outside) of classroom
- Students can take on leadership roles in project proposal and implementation, lasting impact on campus
Campus benefits:
- Provides safeguarded funding (even with rising or unstable energy prices)
- Helps update campus buildings and technology
- Supports collaboration across departments and organizations
- Connect with school mission- target environmental goals and reduces GHG emissions on campus, like PCC
Financial benefits: Helps to alleviate pressure from tight budgets or increased operating costs. Schools are then able to use that money towards other, more budget-starved areas of campus.
Changing perception: From “energy expenses” to “energy investments”
The goal of The Billion Dollar Green Challenge is to get universities across the nation to invest one billion dollars in Green Revolving Funds. As of Jan., 2012, the program was at $76 million invested and was active in 31 states. Of the 79 total funds that were active, 42 were stationed at private universities and 37 were at public. Since the program began, 900 energy-efficiency projects have been completed. The minimum payback time for a project completed was 1.6 years, whereas the maximum was 7.8 years. On average, the payback period is 4.4 years. Flynn listed common projects as:
- Lighting upgrades
- Water reduction (toilets, showers)
- Campus gardens
- Building efficiency, like HVAC
- Compost equipment
Of all the participants in The Billion Dollar Green Challenge, the University of Minnesota is the only one in MN. The U of M’s Green Revolving Fund size is $4,000,000 and was established in 1998. Within the past two years, the fund, paired with the university’s It All Adds Up energy conservation program, has yielded $4.6 million in annual avoided utility costs and reduced CO2 emissions by 50,000 tons.
