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.

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center a division of the Prairie Research Institute is part of a pilot project on the University of Illinois campus that will explore methods to capture carbon dioxide from the gas- and coal-fired Abbott Power Plant. The ultimate goal is to reduce CO2 emissions and developing industrial markets that would reuse the recovered CO2. The Department of Energy is funding the $1.3 million engineering and planning phase, representing the DOE’s first sponsorship of a large-scale research and development project for the capture of CO2 emissions.

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. 

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.

This project will be a guaranteed energy savings contract to be completed in conformance with the provisions of the public university energy conservation act. An energy services company (esco) will be selected through a request for proposal process to serve as a qualified provider. The esco will provide an investment grade audit and recommend energy conservation measures based on merit. This is approximately a $4,300,000 performance contract guaranteed to produce an annual energy savings of $850,000.

The 2015 iCAP, chapter 3, objective 2 is "Expand on-campus solar energy production.  By FY20, produce at least 12,500 MWh/year, and by FY25 at least 25,000 MWh/year, from solar installations on campus property."  Commonly used solar technologies are solar photovoltaics for electricity, solar thermal water heating, and passive solar design for space heating and cooling.

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:

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.

The Illinois Cross-Campus Bicycles (ICCB) program is a bike sharing program within the departments of Kinesiology and Community Health, and is available for the faculty, staff, and paid graduate students of each department. This program was founded by Professor Wojciech Chodzko-Zajko in 2008 and has been running successfully since then.  

The Wellness Center on campus is dedicated to promoting wellness in many dimensions.  Encouraging walking for wellness is one of the key programs the center offers.  The iWalk Toolkit provides tips, programs, attire advice, motivation and more.

Y-Cycles is a bike sharing program led by the university YMCA. Currently the program is waiting on the shipment of two bikes for use in the summer of 2013. The program is also in the process of purchasing two more bikes, in order to make four available for use in the Fall 2013 semester.

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.

The Business Instructional Facility was awarded the LEED Platinum Certification on December 2, 2009, having achieved 52 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. This building is the first business facility at a public university anywhere in the world to earn platinum certification through LEED.  Cesar Pelli,  a U. of I.

The Committee on Natural Areas is responsible for maintaining and managing University of Illinois owned properties which have been acquired to enhance environmental/ ecological research and education. The role of CNA is to provide and facilitate long-term research and teaching opportunities on University-owned properties. Sites are managed to protect both the integrity of the ecological systems and the bological research that takes place on them.

Ten University properties are currently under the direct supervision of the Committee on Natural Areas:

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 Ikenberry Commons Dining Hall was awarded the LEED Silver Certification on August 17, 2011. The dining hall received 34 of the 69 possible points on the LEED Scorecard. Energy saving features of the facility include recycled content in 20 percent of the materials used to construct the building; water-efficient plumbing fixtures; energy-efficient lighting, heating, and cooling; low-VOC paints, coatings, and sealants; and a white reflective roof that reduces the need for cooling.

The Illinois Natural History Survey was awarded the LEED Silver Certification on August 1, 2012. The building received 36 of the 69 possible points. With a staff of over 200 scientists and technicians, the Illinois Natural History Survey is recognized as the premier natural history survey in the nation. The resources needed to effectively support the Survey have changed considerably since their current headquarters building was completed in 1942.  

The Lincoln Hall Renovation was originally awarded the LEED Gold Certification on July 9, 2010. As of November 2013 the project has achieved LEED Platinum Certification having achieved 52 of the 69 possible points on the LEED Scorecard and becoming the second LEED Platinum Building on the U of I campus. The construction was especially strong in the Energy & Atmostphere, having achieved 14 of out 17  possible points in that area with ten of those for optimizing energy performance. 

The NCSA Petascale Computing Facility was awarded the LEED Gold Certification on November 4, 2011.The building received 40 of the 69 possible points on the LEED Scorecard. Energy saving features of the building include a power distribution system that is based on 480 V power for the computational equipment, water-cooled computational and storage equipment (which is twice as efficient as air cooling), external cooling towers that allow for natural chilling of water for a large part of the year, law-impact landscaping with native prairie plants, and use of best practice construction methods.

Community gardens built on the farmlands at Orchard Downs are available to use for growing their own food. They are managed by volunteers who assign and take payment for plots for the Family Housing Council. Housing pays for the water via funds that are collected, and they manage the plowing, clean-up, and maintenance of the garden area. Gardeners range from University administrators and students to community members. This program has been active since at least the 1990s.

The Sustainable Student Farm is a small-scale vegetable farm operated within the Crop Sciences department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign located on 10 acres of land at Lincoln Avenue and Windsor Road.  The farm serves as a production farm to supply our residence halls with locally grown, low-input sustainable food. In addition, the farm acts as a living laboratory to connect students, community members, and the state at large with regional, small-scale food systems.

Campus is recognized as a Tree Campus USA, as of 2015.  This program recognizes college and university campuses that effectively manage their campus trees, develop connectivity with the community beyond campus borders, and strive to engage their student population utilizing service learning opportunities centered on campus and comunity, forestry efforts.  At Illinois we recognize that trees are an important asset for our campus and the community.

“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 M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Civil Engineering was awarded LEED Silver ceritfication on August 7, 2012. The Yeh Center achieved LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies, such as a green roof and the generous use of natural light. Chicago-area design firm Teng & Associates Inc. was involved with the project for over a decade and oversaw the design process from start to finish. 

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

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 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.

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.

You have the power to reduce the environmental impact of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is proud to present the latest edition of the Certified Green Office Program, its initiative to engage the University community in a campuswide commitment to sustainability.

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.

The Solar Decathlon is a bi-annual international competition hosted by the Department of Energy and the US Green Building Council (USGBC). Competitors design, build, and present a completely solar-powered house on the National Mall in Washington D.C. The University's team consisted of efforts from several colleges; ACES, FAA, CoE, Communications, and Buisiness all made efforts in the design and building of the house.

The Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC) is iSEE’s finger on the pulse of student-led initiatives in sustainability. SSLC — made up of the leaders from numerous campus student organizations focused on sustainability and environment — is a place for student leaders to interact and collaborate. It is also the bridge between iSEE and the student body, serving as a two-way conduit of information and concerns about campus sustainability issues.