Sustainability is a living-learning community that welcomes students to live and learn about diverse aspects of sustainability in a variety of ways: academically, organically, and experientially. Located on two floors in the Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls, students with similar interests and intents from a range of different backgrounds are invited to experience this new community, where opportunities abound to learn not only from professionals, but from each other and from shared experiences.

For many years, the UI has grown significant quantities of biomass plant products at the Energy Farm on South Farms. There have been a few preliminary attempts to identify a post-research use for this material, including the cancelled Vet Med Combined Heat and Power (CHP) project and a study of the compatibility with existing boilers at Abbott Power Plant.  Meanwhile the biomass material continues to be stockpiled at the Energy Farm. This project is looking to convert the existing (and future) biomass from the Energy Farm into power for the on-site Energy Farm facility.

Bousfield Hall LEED® Certified: Bousfield Hall, which opened in Fall 2013, became the third university facility to achieve LEED Platinum status, the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest certification level, joining the Business Instructional Facility and Lincoln Hall.

When built, the University of Illinois Campus Instructional Facility (CIF) will be a four-story building dedicated to academic and classroom use. CIF will serve 31,000 students daily and will leverage sustainable design to decrease its carbon emissions. The ground source heat exchange system will consist of approximately 60 wells arrayed under the John Bardeen Quad.

The ECE Building acheived LEED platinum certification in November 2019, and it is striving for a net-zero energy certification. From a vast array of photovoltaic cells, to a chilled beam system to cool and heat the classroom tower, ECE wil accomplish a major campus addition with maximum space and minimal carbon footprint.

Excerpt from the ECE building website:

For many departments on campus, energy and utility costs do not impact research, teaching, or departmental budgets.  The  academic departments are supplied with utilities through the campus administrative budget.  For these departments, an incentive program has been implemented to encourage these units to conserve energy. 

As the iCAP 2020 says, "Using information gathered from capital projects, faculty members and researchers can collaborate with F&S to develop a reference database of calibrated energy models for campus buildings. This might be the product of student classroom projects. The campus could then use these models to prioritize building retrofits and determine the preferred level of improvements (i.e., envelope versus mechanicals) for each building." (Page 41).

Allerton Park was able to install a geothermal energy system at the Evergreen Lodge, with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  There are opportunities for future installations of geothermal energy, when funding allows.

Campus is exploring options for retrofitting Energy Farm with Deep Direct Use (DDU) geothermal energy.

This project will involve the design, construction, and installation of a geothermal system to heat one greenhouse at the UIUC Woody Perennial Polyculture (WPP) Research Site, located near the southwest corner of Race Street and Windsor Avenue.

The main objective is to provide comprehensive scientific data and analysis to help our community on evaluating the potential of using ground source heat pump system in a large scale as part of campus green energy policy. 

Geothermal energy foundations will be installed this summer as part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s (CEE) Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory addition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Substantial completion of the renovation is expected in Summer 2020.

The Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) achieved LEED Silver certification on August 8th, 2012. IFSI has long been a resource for training fire fighting personnel in Illinois and the United States. IFSI is currently operating at near capacity and often must limit/restrict course opportunities due to lack of classroom space. Henneman Engineering was responsible for complete mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering design.

The aim of this project is to investigate the possibility of installing an open-loop geothermal system at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC). Open-loop geothermal systems takes ground water pumped through a large diameter pipe and introduces or extracts heat depending on the season. Installing such a system would give the building an opportunity to reduce total building energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 50 percent.

The Lincoln Hall Renovation was originally awarded the LEED Gold Certification on July 9, 2010.

Nugent Hall (the Champaign Housing Residence Halls Phase A) was awarded the LEED Silver Certification on January 20, 2011. Nugent received 34 of the 69 possible points on the LEED Scorecard. The construction was especially strong in the Indoor Environmental Quality, receiving 13 of the 15 possible points in that area. Nagle Hartray was selected as the Architect of Record in order to ease the transition in the unusual project delivery approach.

Retrocommissioning (RCx) is an analysis of a building's Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems as well as their maintenance program. The purpose of this group is to restore the most favorable operating conditions while optimizing energy conservation, sustainability, and client comfort satisfaction. This group is important on our campus because deferred maintenance is becoming very detrimental to campus buildings.

Construction of a new 54-acre, 12.32 megawatt (MWdc) Solar Farm has been approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees as the sole member of Prairieland Energy, Inc. Referred to as "Solar Farm 2.0," the new utility-scale array will be located north of Curtis Road, between First Street and Dunlap Avenue near Savoy. Solar Farm 2.0 will produce approximately 20,000 megawatt-hours per year (MWh/year), nearly tripling the university’s existing on-site renewable energy generation.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign built a Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank for the Campus Chilled Water System
(CCWS). The tank is located on South Oak Street in Champaign, adjacent to the NCSA Petascale Computing Facility.

The 6.5 million gallon tank will help meet ~7,000 tons of additional cooling requirements for building projects being completed in 2010.
Anticipated loads include:

“University Housing is pleased and proud to have been awarded LEED Gold certification for Wassaja Hall,” said University Housing Director Alma R. Sealine. “This is just one more example of our commitment to sustainability and resident-centered design, and this recognition is an honor.”

To achieve its Gold-level certification, Wassaja Hall was judged on several factors, including water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation.

Among the Wassaja Hall LEED highlights:

The Campus Bicycle Center — a collaboration between the University of Illinois and The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign — is dedicated to empowering individuals with knowledge about how to repair and maintain bicycles and encouraging mode-shift away from single-occupancy vehicles.  This educational center offers hands-on experiential learning that students can’t get in a classroom.  By empowering people with the ability to fix a bicycle and providing a connection between the campus and the community, the Bicycle Center promotes bicycling, collaboration, and community spirit.

Bicycle lanes, paths, parking and repair stations all help to make the campus more bicycle-friendly, and encourages campus users to travel and commute by bike. The University is working to improve existing features, and aims to create a network of high quality infrastructure that supports, encourages, and enables safe bicycling behavior. 

In this region of the electric grid, an electric vehicle typically emits fewer GHG emissions than a conventional gas-fueled vehicle of similar size. The Parking Department is supporting sustainability through implementation of public use electric vehicle charging spaces, with 20 “Level 1” charging spaces now on campus, and began installing “Level 2” stations in 2015. The campus could support additional electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a focus of the University’s continuing efforts in reducing fossil fuel emissions. Petroleum-based vehicles are powered exclusively by fossil fuels, while electric vehicles are powered by a range of energy sources including fossil fuels, nuclear power, solar power, and wind power. Golf carts are one type of electric vehicle the University has been using on campus.

This project is meant to map the sustainability related programs, facilities and organizations in the Champaign-Urbana Area. The purpose of this project is to inform the community of the sustainability programs the University is undertaking. There is also an educational component to the project, since a Univeristy of Illinois class will be involved. Visit the map at http://www.opengreenmap.org/greenmap/champaign-urbana-green-map.

Bee Campus USA is a nation-wide movement to support pollinators on university campuses. A university that is Bee Campus USA-certified proves that they are progressing in awareness, native plant landscapes, and safe pest management. The Bee Campus committee developed an official web page in spring 2018 and worked with Facilitites & Services to develop a University Habitat Plan. In addition, with funding from the SSC, we will be installing pollinator signage on campus in fall 2018.

The Boneyard Creek is a wonderful water resource for education, research, and stormwater management for campus.

This project documented individual trees on campus, using a GPS device and collecting tree details into the ArcGIS data layer.  The previous Tree Inventory was last updated in 2006, and it included trees that had subsequently been removed and it was missing new trees that have been planted. Through this project, the Tree Inventory was updated to include all and only existing trees on campus. The environmental benefits included in the tree inventory are directly derived from iTree, with the help of Davey Research Group who completed the survey on campus. 

Campus projects for green infrastructure include the construction of green roofs.  The Business Instructional Facility contains a green roof that involves plantings on part of the roof area to reduce rain run-off and the impact of heat on the building heating, ventilation and cooling systems. These plantings were specifically chosen because of their regional use and ability to thrive without irrigation or fertilizer. The Mt. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center also features a green roof.

The Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall Living and Learning Community (LLC) is aware of the interest in increasing the number of campus locations with native plants.  They would like to join the effort to plant Native Plant Species in selected areas around Campus. The goal of this project is to locate plants in places like the unused space between Allen Hall and Lincoln Ave. Residence.

The University of Illinois Arboretum contains gardens, collections, and habitats that transform 160 acres of the south campus. Not only does the Arboretum serve as a beautiful area for the public to enjoy, but as a “living laboratory” for University students studying plants sciences and fine and applied arts.

Unlike traditional pavement, porous asphalt allows some of the stormwater to flow through the pavement and into the soil below which offers benefits in flood control, water quality treatment, and extends pavement life since the base is well drained. Traditional pavements cause increased volumes of stormwater runoff. Effective porous asphalt removes the pollutants from stormwater. Although porous asphalt is more expensive, the total project cost is similar to traditional asphalt pavement since stormwater infrastructure (i.e. curbs, gutters, and storm drains) is not required.

The Red Oak Rain Garden is a public rain garden that soaks up rainwater, enhances the campus and community aesthetic and educational experience, and promotes well-being for everyone who visits.

As the first rain garden on campus, this garden is beautiful and smart. It addresses flooding in an innovative way – by planting an attractive landscape feature that captures and filters stormwater.

The Natual Resources Building is the site of another native species planting project, both in front of the building and behind it on Pennsylvania Avenue. This project is funded by the Student Sustaianability Project.

Illinois Path is a vision to transform the Military Axis from its current use into a landscape that incorporates prairie, savanna, a wet prairie swale, and woodland.  With implementation of the Illinois Path, the University has an opportunity to explicitly link the prairie ecosystem and the richness of its soils to the early agricultural legacy of this Land-Grant University represented by the Mumford House and the Morrow Plots.

A tall grass prarie garden that mimics the natural Illinois prairie landscape of Illinois was planted on the Vet Med Campus. The garden consists of 40 to 50 different plants and around 7,000 seedlings. The Student Sustainability funded the project for $20,000 to cover all costs excluding labor, which will be done by volunteers.

Sustainability isn’t just happening “out there;” it’s a consideration every day right here on our campus. By using our own facilities and community as a miniature model of the world at large, we can learn things that will make this campus better, but also make the world better.

Launched in February 2018, iSEE’s Living Lab program is designed to link campus sustainability targets to national and global sustainability, energy, and environment challenges.

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is responsible for leading campus sustainability efforts. To set an example for students, faculty, and staff, iSEE is proposing a markable — and visible — program that will reduce waste and beautify campus.  
 

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.

F&S has requested a proposal from the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) to get waste stream audits for select buildings across campus.  The program will repeat the efforts completed by ISTC at their building, on a larger scale.  This project could eventually extend to cover all campus facilities, or it could be done at select locations on a recurring basis to measure progress.

The Resilience Commitment is focused on climate adaptation and community capacity-building to deal with a changing climate and resulting extremes.

The Resilience Team, formed in 2019, was charged because of a joint climate resilience proclamation from the University of Illinois and the cities of Urbana and Champaign. Its charge is to liaise with SWATeams to develop recommendations that may be sent to the iCAP Working Group, the cities, or both.

The UIUC Biodiesel Initiative (or Illinois Biodiesel Initiative) is a project that evolved from Engineers Without Borders and has collected Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) from dining halls on campus in order to convert it to biodiesel fuel. This fuel has been used by campus vehicles at the Facilities & Services (F&S) Garage and Car Pool since spring of 2006.  

The 2015 iCAP, chapter 12, objective 1 is, "Create a hub for the sustainability community: to develop a comprehensive online gateway for faculty, staff, students, potential donors, and all interested parties to find information about sustainability research, education, outreach, initiatives, and operations." In the quest to become a pre-eminent research university with a land-grant mission and global impact, integrating sustainable practices in our research, classes, and buildings – ev

A brief introduction to Water Environment Federation - American Water Works Association (WEF-AWWA) Student Chapter UIUC

We have been involved in organizing events and meetings that orient students towards the water industry. 

Listed below are some of our past activities:

Global demand for food, energy, and water is increasing, which poses the challenge of how to meet these demands in an environmentally and economically sustainable way. At present, energy production is dominated by carbon-intensive fossil fuels; however, renewable energies are being integrated into the energy sector at an increasing rate. Bioenergy crops reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but the efficiency of crops converting sunlight to stored energy is low — and the water requirements from agronomic and industrial perspectives is high.

A large body of research exists on robots and autonomous technology, but still little understanding of how to integrate them into everyday life. While people seem relatively comfortable with a Roomba vaccum, a subservient robot, they might be less willing to let technology assist in other areas of their living space. However, adapting technology into the home could have significantly positive benefits for the occupant. 

This project, funded in late Fall 2019, targets reducing single-occupancy vehicle usage via a Crowdsourced Commuting (CC) Program, a ridesharing system that provides user-oriented service to travelers — especially commuters — by aggregating similar travel demands through online platforms such as smartphone apps.

Funded in Spring 2020, this project aims to enhance water and energy security and resilience in urban systems, agricultural applications, and military bases by using groundwater resources and geothermal energy as an integrated system. Potential applications will improve military readiness and urban resilience to climate change by providing reliable indoor climate control and uninterrupted access to water.

As different generations of individuals change and evolve, so may their transportation habits. However, it’s still an open question as to why younger individuals are shifting to driving less and owning fewer cars. On a college campus, students learn how to depend less on cars and more on public transit, bicycles, and walking.

In everyday life, we think of heat as a measure of temperature. To engineers, however, heat is actually a signal of energy transfer — the “heat” you feel is energy being transferred from a warmer thing to a cooler one.