Powering Impact: Clean Energy Essentials for NC Nonprofits
Timeline
Spring 2024
Description
Affiliated course: ENV245/SUSTAIN245, Sustainability in Theory and Practice
Summary: A team of seven students worked with the North Carolina Clean Energy Fund (NCCEF) as a client to identify challenges and propose solutions for nonprofits to implement clean energy solutions. Jennifer Weiss, Co-director for NCCEF had an established long-term working relationship with the professor for this course, making for a seamless and trusted partnership with the student team. NCCEF is a nonprofit following the "Green Bank" model, aiming to increase investment in clean energy and climate resilience in North Carolina, especially for underserved communities. They partner with various investors and organizations to provide sustainable financing for lasting environmental, economic, and social benefits. The student team was assigned with developing a toolkit for nonprofits to pursue clean energy projects with fewer roadblocks.
Goals: 1) Understand what challenges nonprofit organizations face when implementing sustainability and clean energy projects. 2) Identify and recommend tools to overcome these challenges.
Experience and Learning Outcomes: Students worked on the project for one semester. They collected secondary data sources and interviewed relevant experts and representatives from three partnering nonprofits identified by NCCEF. The nonprofits (including a church, food bank, and supplemental education outreach organization) varied in mission and size. At the end of the project, the students created a Clean Energy Finance toolkit for NCCEF's nonprofit partners. The toolkit included information about the types of energy improvements nonprofits can choose to implement, related benefits, how to calculate the cost and consequent savings in energy bills, and how to finance the improvements. The student team also developed a video for the client to serve as a brief overview of how to implement and fund clean energy projects for nonprofits.
Recommendations: To pursue targeted solutions for different types of nonprofit organizations, the student team recommends that the client should continue to interview a broader audience of nonprofits to identify further trends in barriers they face in implementing green energy projects. They also suggested consulting other clean energy funds to gather more information on available financial products to finance clean energy projects.
Students: Serafina Carlucci, Noelle Fuchs, Nick Nease, Lauren Steele, Hudson Stolz, Eesha Yaqub, Alessandra Trompeo
Instructors: Charlotte Clark, course instructor (Nicholas School of the Environment); Lindsay Batchelor and Emily Bilcik, co-instructors (Sustainable Duke); Dima Zlenko, teaching assistant
Client: Jennifer Weiss, Co-director of North Carolina Clean Energy Fund
Other stakeholders: Three nonprofits that were consulted throughout the project: St. Francis of Assisi Church, Second Harvest Food Bank, and Damascus Outreach.
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