Financing Energy Efficiency Projects for Nonprofits

The guide outlines how nonprofits can overcome the barrier of upfront costs for energy efficiency projects by utilizing a combination of utility rebates, state and federal incentives, internal funds, and third-party financing. It highlights specific tools for calculating savings and identifying incentives, such as the DOE's Asset Score and the DSIRE database, and suggests innovative financing models like PACE and on-bill financing for larger-scale building improvements.

• Nonprofits can use the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Energy Asset Scoring Tool (Asset Score) to simulate building performance and visualize potential energy savings and upgrade costs, which is necessary for securing rebates and financing.
• Funding for energy efficiency can be sourced from utility rebates for whole-building or specific measure retrofits, often requiring the use of EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager for benchmarking.
• The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) serves as a comprehensive resource for finding federal, state, local, and utility-level grants and rebates.
• Internal financing can be blended with rebates, and the resulting energy savings can be used to create a revolving fund to finance subsequent projects.
• For larger projects involving building envelopes or HVAC systems where rebates are insufficient, nonprofits can utilize third-party options such as on-bill financing, Property Access Clean Energy (PACE), and green bank loans.

APA

Yañez-Barnuevo, M. (2022). Financing Energy Efficiency Projects for Nonprofits. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/financing-energy-efficiency-projects-for-nonprofits

Chicago

Yañez-Barnuevo, Miguel. Financing Energy Efficiency Projects for Nonprofits. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2022. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/financing-energy-efficiency-projects-for-nonprofits.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Yañez-Barnuevo |first1=Miguel |title=Financing Energy Efficiency Projects for Nonprofits |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=18 July 2022 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/financing-energy-efficiency-projects-for-nonprofits |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaezbarnuevo2022financing, author = {Yañez-Barnuevo, Miguel}, title = {{Financing Energy Efficiency Projects for Nonprofits}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/financing-energy-efficiency-projects-for-nonprofits}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }