Revolving Funds for Sustainability Projects at Airports
Airports continually balance demands to improve infrastructure within the realities of
available budgets. Green revolving funds (GRFs) offer an alternative approach for investing
in projects that generate operational savings. These funds work by tracking verified cost
reductions from implemented actions, and then transferring those savings to a reserve that
provides capital for future qualified projects such as energy system upgrades.
A number of universities have managed GRFs for over a decade. Municipalities are starting
to adopt them as well.
ACRP Research Report 205: Revolving Funds for Sustainability Projects at Airports includes several non-airport-related case examples
that have managed GRFs and two airport-related case examples. Airports require a modified GRF approach because of financial structures,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulatory requirements, airline agreements,
and the wide range of tenant roles.
This ACRP report provides guidance to determine whether this innovative funding
approach is suitable for a particular airport and instructions on how to deploy it. Airports
that have the ability and determination to launch a GRF will gain a robust method for
advancing their sustainability goals.
This Summary Last Modified On: 9/12/2019