The following is an email conversation between Morgan White, Ahmed Hassan, and Johnathan Hasselbring.

On Jul 6, 2023 Morgan sent the following:

Hi Ahmed,

Thanks for sending another email!  I meant to get back to you earlier, so thanks for the additional note.

Jon, can you provide information to Ahmed about the current status of the geothermal system at CIF, or connect him with the appropriate people?

Ahmed, please use this info to request the energy data access:

The Energy Billing System (EBS) is a web-based software application that offers utility cost and consumption by month, building, and meter. It allows users to view current and historic information, compare buildings, and see trends over time. It requires Blue-Stem authorization and users must request access from F&S.

Thanks!

Morgan

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Dear Morgan, 

Thank you very much for the prompt response. Your contribution is highly appreciated. 

Best Regards 

Ahmed 

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Hi Ahmed,

The geothermal system is in operation and coupled with a heat recovery chiller and radiant heating panels.

Geothermal provides about 75% of the heating and cooling needs for the building, with the heat recovery chiller and radiant panels supplementing the remaining 25%.

Please let me know what questions you might have, and I will gladly connect you with more members of the team.

Thanks,

Jon

Hi Geri and Anita,

At the Sustainability Council, you said there are University-owned lands that could potentially support our Solar Farm 3.0 goals.  I think you said there is one possibility near UIS.  Is there another location, as well?

I’d appreciate a description of the potential sites and locations, so we can talk with the energy consultant about those sites.

Thanks,

Morgan

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The UIS farmland adjacent to that campus could be considered for a solar project.  Decisions pertaining to the development of a solar project at UIS would be done through that campus.  Our UIS contact is Chuck Coderko, Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities and Services. There are approximately 256 total acres of which 235 are tillable acres (in crop production) managed by Ag Property Services   UIF has approximately 75 acres near the UIS campus as well.  UIF farmland is managed by Heartland Bank. 

From my email exchange with Chuck, “several discussions with Springfield’s City Water Light & Power (CWLP), the sole provider of UIS’s electricity, who owns the lines/power grid. They are investing in solar in other areas of Illinois, and after several meetings, proposed ideas, etc., it appears they are not interested in what UIS would offer, and we would be on our own. But the city’s leadership changed a couple of months ago, and future opportunities may exist. Without CWLP or another partner, we would be generating electricity for the campus. We would also like to include other potential entities we could provide power to (Lincoln Land Community College, etc.), but we haven’t gotten that far.  We are looking for opportunities. As we currently stand, working through a P3 or Energy Service Company would be our most likely scenario, but much feasibility research will need to be done. UIS can’t bank a solar farm alone, and I am leery of levying a multi-million dollar debt on the university.”

Ag Property Services manages farmland for the College of Engineering:

Reifsteck Farm is located in Champaign County.  There are approximately 247 total acres of which 210 are tillable.  There are research projects on a portion the non-tillable areas. 

VRO Farm is located in Vermilion County.  There are approximately 320 total acres of which 95 are tillable.  The farmland borders timber/woodland on two sides.  The Illinois Natural History Survey may be conducting research in the timber/woodland. 

If you have additional questions, please let us know.

Thank you,

Anita Million

Hi Thurman,

A recurring topic that’s come up in our zero waste conversations has been the desire to track and display more metrics under the zero waste theme on the iCAP Portal. Grind2Energy data was one metric that was brainstormed, as it relates closely to our Zero Waste Objective 5.5, “Plan for organic waste.” Since Dining already tracks that data, it would be easy for us to get it up on the portal. Would this be something that you’d be in favor of us doing? If so, any input on how the data is displayed (by month, or annually)?

Thank you,
Daphne

Hi Daphne,

Fate has it that I will be seeing the Grind2Energy people tomorrow at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago. I would like to see if this is something that can by automatically updated from our system. They may have some functionality for this and if not, it may be some thing they could create and would be a selling point for them. I will find out the possibilities. I would rather that this be auotmatic so that the data is always current and nobody can "drop the ball" along the way.    

THURMAN ETCHISON
Assistant Director of Dining - Facilities and Equipment
 

This morning, I met with Ben Isabel, the Chief of Staff for State Senator Laura Fine.  Ben is moving forward looking for grant money to fund our project at UIUC.  He is talking to the Department of Transportation which we both think should be interested given the interest of President Biden with more EVs.

Ben hopes to hear something positive within a week or so.

Regards,

George

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Good Morning,

I am forwarding the message I received over the weekend from George.  Cheri, as you have had discussions with George on moving forward with this, who does he consider to be his campus partner when he refers to “our project at UIUC”  Is this research park?   The original turbine on campus was accepted as a donation through isee, but we (Paul Foote and Frank Colacicco) discussed the condition of the unit, challenges and costs as excessive.   Initially, a SSC application was also submitted and not funded in our efforts.

As George is working earnestly in securing funding I am concerned if he is accurately communicating a University commitment / partnership.

Best,
Tim

UIUC's Yu-Feng Lin was featured on a "wired" article. Andrew Stumpf explains, "The authors did a simulation for a residential district in Chicago. They don’t provide much detail about the geology and hydrogeology that is the basis for the geotechnical model. In Chicago, aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) has yet to be used because groundwater is pretty scarce in the shallow subsurface and one would need to tap aquifers deeper in the bedrock. In the northern and western suburbs, the subsurface conditions in the glacial deposits is much better and I believe Kane County is looking into using the aquifers for a geothermal resource."

The article can be found at: https://www.wired.com/story/the-massive-batteries-hidden-beneath-your-fe...

UIUC newsletter: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/32/64507332.html 

The referenced article is attached.