The Center for a Sustainable Environment (CSE), formerly the Office of Sustainability (OS), serves as a campus designee on the Illinois Green Government's Coordinating Council. Serving on the council involves monthly meetings of the Green College and Universities subcommittee (GUCS) and the policy and legislation workgroup. Areas of discussion include the state plumbing code in regard to the use of grey water and waterless urinals, and the Governor's Executive Order No. 11 regarding the environmental impact of government operations, and reporting requirements for waste management.

The University of Illinois campus hosted the "Workshop on Healthy Partnerships for a Thriving Champaign-Urbana: A University-Community Dialogue for Green Jobs and Entrepreneurship" in Spring 2012. Renowned eco-entrepreneur Majora Carter visited the campus for the workshop. An open constructive university-community dialogue was constructed through the workshop. This dialogue was meant to brainstorm creative approaches to improving the health and well-being of the community, including the environment and ecosystems that support us.

The Center for a Sustainable Environment, formerly the Office of Sustainability, sponsors the Scholarship of Sustainability Series. The Scholarship of Sustainability Series: The Human Place in Nature is a ten-week long educational series than offers an in-depth investigation of the seminal literature surrounding sustainability. The series is open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. Students may also receive credit for participation in the series by enrolling on one of the five courses connected to the series. Hundreds of people attended each section of the series.

Temple Hoyne Buell Hall (TBH), built in 1996, was constructed to allow natural light into most classroom, studio, and office spaces in the building.  The building has no automatic lighting controls, however. In order to reduce energy use associated with lighting and cooling within the building, occupancy sensors, daylight sensors, and lighting timers will be installed. LED fixtures will be installed in a small part of the building and LED exit signs will replace the incandescent and fluorescent exit signs.

TakeTheBike.com is a mobile website created by Professor Ming Kuo’s Fall 2012 environmental psychology class. The website is meant to help cyclists in Champaign-Urbana get around more safely and efficiently, and to encourage more people to bike.

Features of the site includes resources for repairing your bike, resources about safety, information and tips from cyclists in Champaign-Urbana, and an interactive Google map that shows resources for cyclists.

The Illinois Student Senate Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee has a vested interest in promoting environmentally responsible campus policies and projects in an effort to encourage responsible and sustainable practices at the University of Illinois. One of the projects which our committee has been discussing since the beginning of the semester has been encouraging the student body to wean off of disposable water bottles and promoting reusable water bottles, with the greater goal of curbing litter and wasteful discarding of recyclable bottling materials.

The University of Illinois Medicine Take-Back Program is a part of the larger Champaign-Urbana Area Medicine Take-Back Program. The program provides a legal and sustainable way to dispose of medicine, which helps to prevent accidental poisoning of children, the elderly, and pets; reduce drug abuse, misuse, and diversion; and limit the amount of pharmaceutical chemicals entering the environment.

EnviroPure is a food waste elimination system that is a self-contained unit that can be continually fed food waste and dispose the waste. The system is designed to solve the environmental, operations, and economic issues associated with the disposal of food waste. The unit keeps optimal temperatures and oxygen levels for aerobic decomposition to take place more quickly. This results in a complete elimination of food waste without odors, sludge build-up, and system clean out requirements.

Several other LED replacement projects also took place in 2012. In the Krannert Art Museum Gallery (LINK Gallery) renovation, 62 LED fixtures were installed. Track lighting in the Henry Administration was replaced with LEDs. LEDs were also installed in the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center conference room.

Exterior lighting was installed at multiple locations in 2012, with more locations planned for the future. LED fixtures to increase illumination around doorways are installed at Talbot Lab, the Computer Applications Building, Roger Adams Lab, and the Vivarium. Entry canopy lighting at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) and Allen Hall are also upgraded to LED fixtures.