Bicycle Shelter is an enclosed structure where bicycles may be stored. This Bike Shelter is 14' x 63' utilizing Side Stage (vertical) bike racks, and it can accommodate up to 73 bicycles in two tiers. The bike shelter was installed in June 2021 and is ready for use. This project will help the University to improve its Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) status.
As a great public university system, we are accountable to many different individuals and communities – on our campuses, throughout Illinois and around the world. This accountability includes making clear where we stand on issues that affect our academic enterprise, our students, our faculty and staff, and our campus culture.
The CU Youth Sustainability Committee, which is made up of local high school students, hosted their first CU Youth Sustainability Summit on Saturday, October 13th, 2018. This summit focused on Climate Change and the importance of Local Sustainability.
The University of Illinois ECE Building achieved LEED Platinum status on November 4, 2019. The project was awarded 81 of 110 total points on the LEED v2009 New Construction scorecard. The building earned a significant number of points in the Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, and Energy and Atmosphere categories.
Representatives from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation broke ground Wednesday, October 23 on a new, state-of-the-art greenhouse in the Research Park.
Illinois Street Residence Hall is receiving a renovation, including a new food hall space. The roof of this food hall will have a green roof installed on top. This green roof was added as part of their plan to improve building efficiency and sustainability, and showcase a vibrant residential experience to students, parents, and guests who visit camps, as well install climate control additions.
Atop the Undergraduate Library is a rooftop terrace that features the building entrances, seating, and look down into the lower courtyard. This rooftop also has tree pockets built into the roof, that are supported by building infrastructure featured in the orginal plans for the building. The trees in these pockets make the terrace into a green roof for the UNdergraduate Library. They provide protection from direct sunlight and the evaporation of moisure off of plant material that can cool the buidling's rooftops and lowering energy costs from cooling while increasing the roofs lifespan.
The roofing material on Bousfield is designed to reduce solar heat absorption, keeping the environment cooler and using less energy for air conditioning. In addition to other materials used to accomplish this, small patches of green roof located on the north and southwest sides of the building were also added. The landscape, including these patches of green roof, is designed with native and drought-tolerant plants to reduce dependency on potable water, as well as reduce the amount of maintenance that needs to be done to support the green roof plants.
On April 11, 2019, Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory (IBRL) was awarded the LEED Silver certification. The Water Efficiency category was IBRL's highest scoring category, gaining 4 out of 5 possible points. These points were prioritized in water efficient landscaping and both the 20% and 30% water use reduction.
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.
