The Bevier Café is a learning laboratory where FSHN students to get hands on experience running a food service establishment. The funding requested in this application will serve to purchase startup equipment for growing fresh herbs for use in their operation. The goals of this project are two-fold. The first is to produce “hyper-locally” grown fresh herbs to use in food production. Reducing our carbon foot print and aligning with iCAP sustainability goals. The second goal is education for students and the general public. Students will get to experience of a small scale farm to table operation. Students will be heavily involved in developing planting schedules to meet demand, plant care maintenance, and incorporating products into the menu. The public which we serve will not only be able to enjoy the fresh herbs incorporated into our recipes, but will have access to tours and educational information about the project. This proposal directly funds: 1) Indoor grow equipment for herbs 2) Installation costs from Facilities and Services.

A strategic goal of both the UIUC and the College of Business is to attract and attain the best faculty. In order to do that, it is essential to provide faculty with office space that allows them maximum productivity. The fourth floor of BIF has proven to be excellent space where faculty can work on research. The fourth floor faculty offices are highly sought after by research faculty due to quality of space, location, convenience, and security. As the College expands the fourth floor to include sixteen new offices, there is an opportunity to include a PV solar panel system. The Student Sustainability Committee has agreed to fund $60,000 toward the total initial cost of $157,340 to fully fund all $48,000 of direct construction and equipment cost for a 12.5 kW array as well as $12,000 in general conditions and contingency. Any other costs will be funded through the College of Business. This proposal directly funds: 1) Solar panels and inverters 2) Limited installation costs 3) Some contingency and general conditions.

INNER VOICES Social Issues Theatre is raising awareness and address issues of Environmental Justice through the creation and production of an original play with accompanying educational materials and holding an inaugural National Call for Scripts focused on the theme Environmental Justice Is Social Justice. Through SSC funding, two theatrical pieces will be produced. The first is a newly-penned work from University of Illinois students and staff, and will be performed on campus throughout Fall 2017. The second will be a series of vignettes submitted through a national call for scripts. Both pieces will be performed dozens of times on campus, and each performance will be followed by reflection and discussion. This proposal directly funds: 1) Honoraria for national script submissions 2) Printing and publicity costs 3) Equipment rentals 4) A small amount of wages for student interns.

Subsurface (tile) drainage has helped to sustain the productivity of our farm lands by draining excess water from the field. Excess nutrient losses from our tile-drained agricultural fields have contributed to several water quality issues in the region including the formation of hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been well-documented that tile drain age is responsible for highly soluble nitrate loss but recent studies have demonstrated that it also contributes to dissolved phosphorus loss from the agricultural fields. This project aims to develop ceramic pellets using fly ash and other additives with minimum or no heavy metal leaching. The specific objectives of this proposed research project are to: a) optimize the proportion of fly ash and other additives for high phosphorous removal and limit heavy metal leaching, b) conduct laboratory experiments to analyze the performance of pellet for dissolved phosphorous reduction. This proposal directly funds: 1) Equipment rental and use charges 2) Supplies and Chemicals 3) Student Hourly Labor.

This project funds the Illini EcoConcept team for their efforts to design and manufacture a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Urban Concept Vehicle to compete in the Shell EcoMarathon Competition in 2017. While the competition has always been centered on energy efficiency, it also promotes and rewards innovation that leads to a more sustainable energy system to support communities around the globe. Specifically, in the Urban-Concept Vehicle division, teams compete to have the most efficient vehicle that incorporates many features of real-world cars, such as wet-weather driving ability, headlights, turn indicators, and so on. The Illini EcoConcept has chosen to power their vehicle using hydrogen fuel cell, which has been gaining popularity lately, and is seeking to break the competition efficiency record in the coming school year. The team would like to build on the 2nd place finish in the Americas region last year and be able to compete in the world championship. Specifically, the team strives to (i) promote the use of hydrogen fuel cell as a clean alternative to combustion engines, (ii) build a whole new drivetrain system that would eliminate the causes of inefficiencies found in the previous years, (iii) design and fabricate a lighter chassis and body, and (iv) develop an air-cooling system that would prevent overheating of the system. This proposal directly funds: 1) Parts and Supplies 2) Manufacturing Costs for Custom Modules.

At the heart of iSEE’s mission is training students to become the next generation of sustainability leaders. To help fulfill this mission, iSEE will develop a “collaboratory” — a new classroom, conference, collaboration, and communications space next to our offices in the National Soybean Research Center (NSRC). This new complex will include space for experiential learning, a collaboration incubator, and a communications laboratory. Two major facets to iSEE’s instructional mission include a new undergraduate minor in sustainability and a new undergraduate environmental writing certificate. Together, these activities will involve up to ~500 students annually. To serve these students, as well as to provide space for student sustainability groups and other RSOs, we will develop, for the first time, a central Collaboratory designed to facilitate group activities, with state-of-the-art communications capabilities for research, collaboration, and conferencing. By providing advanced teleconferencing capabilities, the collaboratory will also provide access to virtual conferences and webinars for professional development, thus reducing campus carbon emissions derived from travel to offsite conference. This proposal directly funds remaining costs needed to begin the design and renovation process.

The Business Instructional Facility (BIF) was constructed with a separate raw water system that conveys non-potable water for the purpose of flushing toilets. While the system is in place, it was never connected to an outside source of non potable water largely due to current non-progressive plumbing codes. Metering the raw water system at BIF would provide data about the temporal total and non-potable water demand in a typical class/office building. F&S installed a temporary meter to measure flow to the raw water system and operated this meter for approximately one month between April and May 2016, which yielded promising results. In particular, for the month that the meter was in place, results indicated about 2/3 of the water used in BIF was for the non-potable lines. Because building usage can vary dramatically during the year, it is recommended to install a meter permanently. Once the meter is installed, the data is intended to be used to support changes to plumbing codes, allowing raw water to be used more easily, as well as changes to the campus construction codes, requiring that separate raw water systems be installed in new buildings and during major renovations of existing ones. This proposal directly funds: 1) An additional meter for the BIF Raw Water line 2) Installation costs.

The Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall Living and Learning Community (LLC) is aware of the interest in increasing the number of campus locations with native plants. They would like to join the effort to plant Native Plant Species in selected areas around Campus. The goal of this project is to locate plants in places like the unused space between Allen Hall and Lincoln Ave. Residence. There are several other locations around these residences that are suitable for planting near the buildings and in areas where mowing is difficult because of corners and the placing of equipment like large compressors. By selecting a variety of plants that bloom over the growing season, this project provides habitat and food resources for a wide range of butterflies, bees, and other pollinators as well as birds. This proposal directly funds: 1) One Student Internship 2) Site Preparation Costs 3) Soil Supplies and Plants.