This year’s University of Illinois Homecoming game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers is about more than Orange and Blue – it is also about Green.  For the first time, various campus and community partners are working together to raise awareness and have a positive lasting impact at the inaugural Zero-Waste Football Game.  Hundreds of volunteers from all over the Urbana-Champaign community will assist the thousands of spectators in reducing waste – from the money spent sending materials to landfill to the volume of materials that impact our water, air, and soil.

The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) and its host agency, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), are coordinating meetings of individuals interested in fostering research, education, and policy related to sustainable electronics on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The foundational meeting was held at ISTC headquarters in Champaign, IL on October 2, 2013. Meetings are arranged around the broad topics of research, education, and operations; some meetings may represent an overlap of one or more of these themes.

Krannert Art Museum is upgrading their existing incandescent lamps to LED lamps in two of the main gallery spaces that are reinstalled several times a semester. In addition to participating in the campus's goal of becoming an all LED campus, this project will improve on sustainability by lowering the energy costs and waste for the museum. The project will be located in the Gelvin Noel and East Galleries within the museum.

The Illinois Green Business Association (IGBA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that assists businesses in reducing their ecological foot-print through green certification.  IGBA looks at a business’ current environmental performance in nine areas of certification and works with the business owner to discover what applies to them and what fits in with their business' culture, providing educational resources and support along the way.

RecycleMania was a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign participated in RecycleMania in 2014 with a Game Day Event on February 26 and an e-Waste Collection on March 18.

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.

Mission:  Serve as a state-wide resource to promote sustainability at both the individual building and campus level for colleges and universities throughout the USGBC Illinois Chapter’s geography.

Vision: Sustainable and responsible buildings and campuses that enhance the quality of life for Illinois’ students and employees of higher education institutions, current citizens and future generations.

Goals :

The Climate Action Plan includes a commitment to adopt a Zero Waste Policy campus. Campus is working toward Zero Waste with the report done by Marcus Ricci last year, waste characterization audits through the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, and hiring a Zero Waste Coordinator under the Waste Management Coordinator, Tracy Osby.  However, ultimately the only way to really achieve Zero Waste is by getting behavior change in individuals.

The Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) has started a green team.  This team is looking at options for improving sustainability practices within DIA and opportunities to incorporate sustainability into major DIA events.

The Urbana-Champaign Energy Star Challenge invites commercial building owners and managers to benchmark their 2013 energy use, then track and improve energy use throughout 2014, all with US EPA’s free online tool, Energy Star Portfolio Manager. Participants can access free in-person assistance using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager program to manage their building’s energy use.  Additionally, participants will be connected with financial incentives to move their projects forward and technical support to help pinpoint building energy savings. Energy savings are cost savings!