The 2015 iCAP, chapter 6, objective 3, is "Utilize landfills with methane capture." Methane is one of the worst greenhouse gases, and this university has a number of methane producers on South Farms. There are beef cows, dairy cows, sheep, pigs, horses, and chickens. One of the strategies listed in the iCAP to reduce agricultural emissions is to install a methane capture process for additional energy generation by 2020, with a pilot project by 2015.
A renewable portfolio standard, passed in 2007, has supported wind power in Illinois, which required 10% renewable energy from electric companies in 2010 and 25% by 2025. At the end of 2011, Illinois had 2743 megawatts (MW) of wind power installed. Illinois has the potential for installing up to 10,000 MW of wind generation capacity; in 2009, it ranked sixth among states for installed wind turbine capacity.
In order to connect commuters with other commuters traveling from the same origin to campus, or from campus to the same destination, the University should provide a ride-matching program. Before this internet, there was a car-pool board on a wall in the Illini Union. Now, there are simple electronic tools for finding ride sharing partners. However, there is a need to be careful about who you select as a ride sharing contact. There are numerous programs that utilize social media to help review potential ridesharing partners before contacting them to share a ride. The campus needs to ide
Ride-sharing for business trips is a common solution for limited travel budgets. There is a natural implementation of ride-sharing when there are multiple staff traveling to the same destination at the same time. However, the University needs to encourage ride-sharing for employees from different origin locations and it needs to offer a solution for finding the rides available for car pooling.
Ride sharing is a form of transportation that uses a motor vehicle with more than one single occupant. Many transportation emissions are due to the high frequency of Single-Occupancy-Vehicle (SOV) trips. By sharing a ride with even one more person, via carpool or vanpool, the emissions from your trips are cut in half (one vehicle going 15 miles, compared with two vehicles going 15 miles each). This system is very cost effective, but it is less convenient to the typical campus commuter than driving a personal SOV. Therefore, campus should encourage ride sharing.
The University is exploring options to provide indoor storage for bicycles, both for regular daily use by cyclists, and for long-term storage options for students leaving on break. Currently University policies restrict campus buildings from allowing bicycles indoors, so these efforts will require policy changes as well as physical changes to create a safe and protected space indoors for bicycles.
As the University is committed to reducing automobile traffic in the campus core to reduce emissions and increase pedestrian safety, incentives and benefits for bicycling will assist with this goal. To encourage more people to ride a bike to campus, programs could be implemented.
The Turner Hall greenhouses can use a new and improved system for cooling that reduces the water usage. Such a system was installated previously in one of the greenhouse rooms and the Student Sustainability Committee is is considering funding additional installations.
The capture of rainwater to use as irrigation or other purposes would reduce stormwater volume and usage of potable water on campus.
One of the water strategies outlined in the 2010 Illinois Climate Action Plan was to include “true cost of water” charges with the energy billing program. The idea behind this strategy was to add an economic benefit in reducing the amount of water used by the University.
The University’s decision about whether or not they will implement this strategy is still being discussed.
