The Student Sustainability Committee funded an effort to decrease the use of single use plastic bags at the Illini Union Bookstore.

Parking Lot E37 (near the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and Natural History Survey) currently lacks sufficient lighting to meet minimum light requirements, but unfortunately is located in a low-priority area located away from current electrical access. The use of standalone solar-powered lights for parking is an innovative solution that allows the system to remain off-grid while improving illumination for the lots – which in turn improves campus safety.

Scheduled to open in fall 2016, Wassaja Hall was named after the University's first Native American graduate and a pioneer in advocating for Native American rights.  A 30 kW solar PV array was installed on December 14, 2015 on the east side of the roof.

Retrocommissioning (RCx) was formed in August 2007, under F&S management.  The program was formed to help alleviate existing utility deficits, anticipated increases in fuel costs for natural gas and coal, and major maintenance issues.  F&S decided to create this special team called RCx to go through these buildings to do as much maintenance as possible within the resources available and improve the air quality as much as possible.  This year, they used the motto "saving the planet one building at a time."

 The primary deliverable of this proposed project is to provide a detailed waste characterization assessment for three facilities located throughout the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls (LAR), Business Instructional Facility (BIF), Roger Adams Laboratory(RAL) are facilities that will be characterized.

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is hosting a Community Conversation on Energy Conservation on October 20, 2015.  The purpose of this event is to discuss the incentives and opportunities for energy conservation and the barriers that constrain participation by local businesses in energy efficiency projects.

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.

The University of Illinois Laboratory High School (Uni) received grant funding from Illinois Clean Energy Fund  (ICECF) through its

A project is planned for March to evaluate a new outdoor recycling station in comparison to existing bins with revised signage.  Housing has the station located inside the entrance of Ikenberry Commons.  For the project, that station will be placed outside along the North entrance, directly across from the existing bins.  After one week, waste audits will be conducted on both stations, the stations will then reversed, and the experiment will run for another week.  The project looks to compare the recycling and contamination rates of the two station types.

Japan House and the University of Illinois Arboretum request funding to provide bike racks on their grounds. There are currently no available bike racks in the 57-acre Arboretum and Japan House grounds. Japan House is the site of University classes and the Arboretum is frequently used as a resource for classes from units such as Landscape Architecture, and Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. In addition, the Arboretum and the Japan House Gardens are a major recreational resource for students, faculty and staff and the general public.