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.

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.

This project will involve the design, construction, and installation of a geothermal system to heat one greenhouse at the UIUC Woody Perennial Polyculture (WPP) Research Site, located near the southwest corner of Race Street and Windsor Avenue.

The goal of this student-led project is to create a zero-waste woodshop. A significant amount of material flows through the shop at the School of Architecture and most students waste more than they use. By acquiring a few tools to separate synthetic (plastics, EPS, polyurethane foam, etc.) from natural (wood & wood products) materials, the woodshop can drastically minimize waste to the university landfill and use the recaptured material for a multitude of other uses.

Before 2016, the area near the College of Veterinary Medicine was often a victim of flooding. Beginning in May of that year and reaching completion in August, construction of the rain garden reduced the concern of flooding. Prairie Restoration, Inc. provided planting and initial watering. Although not as many of the seeds established themselves as expected due to heavy rain, the garden has been successful in preventing flooding. A surface incline leads to the garden, whose soil allows for the infiltration of rainwater.

This project upgrades general assignment classroom lighting campus-wide. The existing lamps in these fixtures are typically incandescent, which burnout quickly and are energy inefficient. When completed, this project provides new fixture-compatible LED lamps in all general assignment classrooms across campus, reducing electricity costs, improving board visibility, and improving student learning environments.

In April 2017 three faculty members received $14,522 from the University Research Board to conduct preliminary investigations surrounding crop residue as a building material at both small and large scale. The results of those initial investigations proved very positive. This project primarily strives to turn corn stalks into a building project. Students have assisted Associate Professor Mark Taylor, from the School of Architecture throughout the project, giving students research and professional development opportunities.

"The International Laboratory Freezer Challenge promotes sample accessibility, sample integrity, reduced costs, and energy efficiency by harnessing a spirit of competition within and between laboratories. Challenge participants use well-evidenced criteria and best practices that support science quality and resilience while minimizing total costs and environmental impacts of sample storage."
click the link for more information and to REGISTER: https://www.freezerchallenge.org/register.html

A student research team, under Dr. Yuanhui Zhang, will expand the Environment-Enhancing Energy (E2E) research program to campus application by augmenting wet food waste produced through the dining halls. They will first survey dining services food waste and make their findings available to campus affiliates. Next, they will take dining waste and convert it into biofuel and asphalt. This process will reduce UIUC’s food waste, advancing the Illinois Climate Action Plan efforts. Likewise, the project will bring awareness to food waste at a local level.

Illinois Enactus’s mission is to contribute to the UN sustainable development goals by developing collaborative business ventures that work towards social, economic, and environmental equality in all communities. Illinois Enactus is an official chapter of the worldwide non-profit organization, Enactus. Enactus exists in more than 39 countries and has more than 1,600 teams across the globe, and Illinois Enactus ranks in the Top 4 of US teams. Being a member of Enactus means that you are a part of the largest and most prestigious business network on the planet.