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Physical Plant Service Building

1501 S. Oak Street
61820 Champaign , IL
United States
Illinois

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Projects at this location

Project Description
Geothermal Urbana-Champaign

Geothermal or ground source heat pumps tap the stored energy of the Earth below our feet. These systems use the ground’s relatively constant temperature to provide heating, cooling, and hot water for homes and commercial buildings.

Indoor Bin Update

This project will improve the recycling process in buildings around campus by encouraging sustainable actions and improving the layout of waste and recycling bins within these buildings. Facilities & Services collaborated with ISTC to make an “Indoor Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Assessment”. This assessment determined that the type and layout of collection containers in buildings across campus should be standardized. An update would enable them to be co-located and allow for greater infrastructure consistency.

Harnessing Autonomy for Countering Cyberadversary Systems (HACCS)

DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of automated techniques and software tools for neutralizing cyberadversary infrastructure. 

Batteries and Electrification to Enable Extreme Fast Charging

This program seeks projects to encourage the development of plug-in electric vehicle systems that can demonstrate the ability to recharge rapidly at high power levels

Solar Desalination

The Solar Desalination funding program will develop novel technologies or concepts using solar thermal energy to assist in creating freshwater from otherwise unusable waters. Thermal desalination is a potential solution to increase water supplies for municipal water and agriculture, and is an important technology to purify water produced from various industrial processes, including oil and gas production.

Innovative Development in Energy-Related Applied Science (IDEAS)

The IDEAS program - short for Innovative Development in Energy-Related Applied Science - provides a continuing opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore pioneering new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology.

Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of Sunlight (FOCUS)

FOCUS projects aim to enable cost-effective solar energy systems that offer the best of today's existing technologies: high-efficiency conversion of sunlight to electricity and stored, dispatchable energy from heat.

Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (ADEPT)

The projects that make up ARPA-E's ADEPT program, short for "Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology," are paving the way for more energy efficient power conversion and advancing the basic building blocks of power conversion: circuits, transistors, inductors, transformers, and capacitors.

Air Research Grants

EPA supports air pollution research through research grants in three broad areas:

  • Measuring air pollution exposure and effects in humans and ecosystems.
  • Delivering innovative tools and technologies to reduce and prevent harmful emissions.
  • Delivering modeling, monitoring, measurement metrics and critical science information to make decisions regarding air quality to protect public health and the environment.
Information Innovation Office (I2O)

The I2O develops game-changing information science and technology to ensure information advantage for the U.S. and its allies. To accomplish this, I2O sponsors basic and applied research in three thrust areas: cyber, analytics, symbiosis

Pollution Prevention (P2)

This program funds grants/cooperative agreements that implement pollution prevention technical assistance services and/or training for businesses and support projects that utilize pollution prevention techniques to reduce and/or eliminate pollution from air, water and/or land.

Energy, Power, Control and Networks (EPCN)

Recent advances in communications, computation, and sensing technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for the design of cyber-physical systems with increased responsiveness, interconnectivity and automation. To meet new challenges and societal needs, the Energy, Power, Control and Networks (EPCN) Program invests in systems and control methods for analysis and design of cyber-physical systems to ensure stability, performance, robustness, and security.

Advanced Grid and Research Development

This program accelerates discovery and innovation in electric transmission and distribution technologies and create "next generation" devices, software, tools, and techniques to help modernize the electric grid. 

Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration (ISER)

This program applyies the Department of Energy's technical expertise to help ensure the security, resiliency and survivability of key energy assets and critical energy infrastructure.

Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration (ISER)

This program applyies the Department of Energy's technical expertise to help ensure the security, resiliency and survivability of key energy assets and critical energy infrastructure.

Technology Development

Through its Research, Development, and Deployment work, the Office of Energy is pursuing technologies to improve grid reliability, efficiency, flexibility, functionality, and security; and making investments and sponsoring demonstrations aimed at bringing new and innovative technologies to maturity and helping them transition to market.

 

Energy Assurance

Protecting and improving the resiliency of the Energy Sector in the face of both manmade and natural disasters is an ongoing effort that requires continued vigilance, contingency, planning and training. The department has several programs that fall within four main categories - information sharing and communication, physical and cyber security, coordination and planning and public confidence. 

Vehicle Technologies Office

The Vehicle Technologies Office supports research, development (R&D), and deployment of efficient and sustainable transportation technologies that will improve energy efficiency, fuel economy, and enable America to use less petroleum. 

Some relevant programs under this office include

Building Technologies Office

The Building Technologies office leads a network of research and industry partners to continually develop innovative, cost-effective energy saving solutions in building design. Some of the relevant programs under the Building Technologies office include 

  1. Emerging Technologies
  2. Residential Building
Building Technologies Office

The Building Technologies office leads a network of research and industry partners to continually develop innovative, cost-effective energy saving solutions in building design. Some of the relevant programs under the Building Technologies office include 

  1. Emerging Technologies
  2. Residential Building
SUNSHOT Initiative

The SUNSHOT initiative is a national effort to support solar energy adoption by making solar energy affordable for all Americans through research and development efforts in collaboration with public and private partners.

Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)

The mission of the ASCR program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy.

Structural and Architectural Engineering and Materials (SAEM)

SAEM aims to enable sustainable buildings and other structures that can be continuously occupied and/or operated during the structure’s useful life. The SAEM program supports fundamental research for advancing knowledge and innovation in structural and architectural engineering and materials that promotes a holistic approach to analysis and design, construction, operation, maintenance, retrofit, and repair of structures.

Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS)

CIS supports fundamental and innovative research necessary for designing, constructing, managing, maintaining, operating and protecting efficient, resilient and sustainable civil infrastructure systems. Research that recognizes the role that these systems play in societal functioning and accounts for how human behavior and social organizations contribute to and affect the performance of these systems is encouraged. 

Energy for Sustainability

The program supports fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and for energy storage. These processes must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and use renewable resources.

Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC)

The goal of this Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) solicitation is to support strongly interdisciplinary, integrative research and research capacity-building activities that will improve understanding of smart and connected communities and lead to discoveries that enable sustainable change to enhance community functioning

Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems (CRISP)

The CRISP solicitation seeks to fund projects likely to produce new knowledge that can contribute to making Interdependent Critical Infrastructure (ICI) services more effective, efficient, dependable, adaptable, resilient, safe, and secure, taking into account the human systems in which they are embedded.

 

Campus Cyberinfrastructure

The Campus Cyberinfrastructure program invests in coordinated campus-level cyberinfrastructure (CI) components of data, networking, and computing infrastructure, capabilities, and integrated services leading to higher levels of performance, reliability and predictability for science applications and distributed research projects.

Cyber SEES

The Cyber-Innovation for Sustainability Sciences and Engineering (CyberSEES) program aims to advance interdisciplinary research in which the science and engineering of sustainability are enabled by new advances in computing in areas such as optimization, large scale data management and analytics, advanced sensing techniques, etc. 

FY11 RCx

In FY11, the Retrocommissioning teams completed eight buildings. The Facilities & Services Retrocommissioning Team at the University of Illinois received the 2011 Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award at a ceremony on Thursday, October 27, 2011. Established in 1987, this award has been presented to both public and private organizations that have achieved significant progress on projects designed to protect the environment and improve sustainability within the State of Illinois.

Illinois Green Office Challenge Leaderboard

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign received an honorable mention in the 2015 Illinois Green Office Challenge, for efforts at the Physical Plant Service Building. F&S earned points by completing specific activities to reduce waste and save energy and water, which help make resources and cost reductions the norm in workplaces. Some of the activities completed at PPSB included tracking energy use, utilizing duplex printing, encouraging staff to commute by bike, and improving the building’s recycling program.  A list of the completed activites is available below.

EPA SmartWay Affiliate

The University of Illinois became an Affiliate of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay® Transportation Partnership in June 2020, after University Housing’s Dining Services joined SmartWay in 2013. The SmartWay program aims to reduce global freight emissions by providing strategies for shippers and carriers to adopt more sustainable practices, and Affiliates help spread the word about sustainable supply chain transportation efforts and grow the SmartWay Program. 

® SmartWay is a registered service mark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

This project  involves encouraging more bicycle uses for employees. Packages can be sent out and delivered through the use of a bicycle. Bicycles can also be used for hauling objects to specific locations with the help of special equipment built by the Campus Bike Center.  Student and Staff employees will be involved in the process. 

 

 

 

Mill Shop Sawdust Recycling

As part of the campus “zero waste” policy we have diverted the sawdust from the Mill shop to the Horse Farm.

ICECF 2009 Lighting Retrofit

The ICECF 2009 Lighting Retrofit was the second round of the T-12 to T-8 Lighting Retrofit Project. A total of 33,192 T-12 fixtures were replaced with thinner, more energy effiecient T-8 fixtures. This will incur a total Annual KWh  Savings of 5,335,909 hours. Thirty university buildings were involved in this round of the project. The total Simple Payback is estimated to be 1.17.

F&S Indoor Bike Parking

The Facility Standards for campus do not permit bicycles to be brought into buildings.  This is due to the impact on maintenance required for interior spaces when bicycles are brought into hallways, stairwells, and individual rooms.  However, there is a need for sheltered bicycle parking during winter months.  Therefore, F&S has worked to design a prototype indoor bike parking system.  The preliminary design shows that some interior spaces can be retrofitted to include indoor bike parking.  These spaces must be approved by the Architecture Review Committee, and they must follow all safe

Rooftop Wind Vertical Turbines on PPSB

The Physical Plant Service Building (PPSB) is uniquely positioned parallel to the Stadium, with a long, flat roof. As a highly visible rooftop, this building may be an opportunity to test out verticals rooftop wind turbines. The turbines could be painted to represent the Big Ten school colors. These turbines could be designed and built in cooperation with faculty and students on campus. 

Rooftop Solar Potential

One potential method for acheiving the 2015 iCAP goal for on-campus solar is to retrofit existing campus buildings with rooftop solar.  The amount of sun shine on each roof, the viability of the building itself, and the funding mechanisms all need to be reviewed and resolved for this idea to be implemented.  The viability for each building includes approval from the Architectural Review Committee, agreement of the building occupant facility leaders, and structural and electrical viability for the building.  As of 2016, the financial payback for solar photovoltaics is not strong enough to ea

Departmental Bike Sharing

Departmental Bike Sharing is a concept where University Departments would purchase a small number of bicycles to be made available to staff, faculty and graduate students for on-campus use during working hours.

Want to discuss options or interest in departmental bike share? Email bike@illinois.edu to get information and talk to a staff member that can give you more information.

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF)

The Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) was established in 2011 as a financing source for utility conservation projects requested by departments with a less than 10-year payback period. The savings from steam, electricity, and chilled or potable water costs are paid back annually, based on initially calculated savings. The RLF can grow through a direct allocation from the Chancellor, President, or Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) or through grant funding (e.g. Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity or Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation). 

 

Project Updates

  • 10/2/2024

    Members of the Zero Waste Team analyzed the main buildings in each of the three central quads. Locations of current 3-bins were noted as well as areas where more were needed.

  • 9/4/2024

    Using the #EPASmartWay logo helps differentiate your company from the competition. Be sure to let your customers and stakeholders know that you’re leading the way on clean, sustainable supply chain management. Learn more: epa.gov/smartway