Division of the State Architect, California, 2009
Business Case for Grid Neutral Going grid neutral isn’t a challenge— it is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to lock in electricity costs providing financial predictability for your district and lower energy bills. It is an opportunity for cost avoidance for your district. And, if structured properly, it can all be done with no capital costs to your district.
Electricity costs represent the key element of the business case for schools and colleges going grid neutral. Imagine reducing payments to the utility company by 20 to 30 percent and sometimes more. Then imagine what you can do with money not spent on electricity. If a school district pays $6.2 million to its utility company per year, this might be used to hire more new teachers or purchase more than 104,000 textbooks, or buy 6,200 computers. Any one of these expenditures contributes directly to the district’s mission of educating our children.
