When it comes to energy efficiency upgrades, the old “You’ve got to spend to save” adage holds true. That’s the principle behind UNH’s Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF). Launched in 2009 with a $650,000 grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the fund has invested in more than half a dozen projects that save the university’s energy dollars -- $250,000 in this fiscal year alone --  and greenhouse gas emissions.  

The EEF is what’s known as a green revolving fund: It funds efficiency projects then returns the savings realized by those projects back into the fund for future projects. For its first project, for instance, the EEF spent $550,000 of the initial ARRA funding to upgrade lighting in older buildings on campus to current efficiency standards. So far, those upgrades have saved the university $175,000 per year in energy costs, so that $175,000 returns to the EEF to fund the next project.  

“Everything that is saved is reinvested,” says Matt O’Keefe, campus energy manager, noting that his office targets an average five-year payback on EEF projects. So far, in addition to upgrading lighting in buildings, the EEF has invested in insulating steam pipes and in digital lighting controls and occupancy sensors in Dimond Library. “Because that building is on pretty much 24/7, it can have a big impact,” O’Keefe says. Lab ventilation in Kingsbury got a $120,000 efficiency makeover that has already saved nearly $180,000. 

Total savings so far are $500,000 and the Energy Task Force – a committee of students, faculty and staff who guide the university’s energy policies and approve EEF project selections – estimates that in a decade, the university will realize more than $4 million in energy savings. Projects funded by the EEF are critical to WildCAP, the university’s climate action plan that commits UNH to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2020. 

Kingsbury will see the fund’s next investment: a passive solar system that will pre-heat air before it’s circulated through the building. Estimated to save $210,000 over its lifetime, the project is funded in part with $60,000 from the Public Utilities Commission’s Renewable Energy Fund, a grant leveraged using the EEF as seed money.  “It’s a lot easier to ask for money when you have your own funds to draw from,” O’Keefe says. 

As with so many sustainability initiatives, UNH is a leader with its EEF. According to a recent report published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, UNH is among just 76 universities in the U.S. and Canada with such funds. O’Keefe says other institutions look to UNH for guidance on launching a green revolving fund with limited start-up money. 

Essential to the EEF is UNH’s extensive data-tracking on building efficiency. Each building on campus is metered to measure electricity, water and gas use daily, so O’Keefe and his colleagues can watch and measure changes in energy consumption after an upgrade has been made. A website -- http://energy.sr.unh.edu/graph/ -- allows anyone track their building’s real-time energy use and compare it to other buildings on campus. 

“It’s completely transparent,” O’Keefe says. “Having this metering in place allows us to be more accurate in tracking and calculating our savings.” 

To learn more about green revolving funds at universities, read Greening the Bottom Line 2012 from the Sustainable Endowments Institute: http://greenbillion.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Greening-the-Bottom-Line-2012.pdf .