Iowa State University: Live Green Revolving Loan Fund

Author: Christina Billingsley
Published: October 2011

Description: The $3 million Live Green Revolving Loan Fund (LGRLF) at Iowa State University (ISU) was launched in 2008. The LGRLF is unique in its decentralized implementation structure, which allows each department and building to reap the benefits of their own efficiency measures and gives individual departments the incentive to propose resource-saving projects.

After modifying budgeting processes to allow for this decentralized structure, ISU administrators created the fund under the leadership of the university president. Since then, ISU’s fund has provided capital for more than 11 unique projects throughout campus, focusing on areas such as waste diversion, energy conservation, and efficiency.