The University of Vermont became the thirty-fourth college in the nation this week to commit to the Sustainable Endowment Institute’s Billion Dollar Green Challenge, agreeing to establish a revolving fund to finance on-campus energy efficiency improvements.

And what a commitment it was.

Thanks to a resolution by the university’s Board of Trustees that passed Saturday, UVM will earmark $13 million for the fund, making it the largest challenge to date. Harvard’s $12 million green energy revolving fund had been the largest.

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge was launched in Oct. 2011 by the Sustainable Endowments Institute and 15 partners. The program invites colleges to invest a total of one billion dollars in energy efficiency upgrades delivered through self-managed revolving funds. To date, colleges have committed nearly $80 million in total.

http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=13175&category=ucommtop