Hello Paul,

Congratulations on your 2023 Freezer Challenge award! My name is Rachel, I'm a writer for Lab Manager, and I am working with My Green Lab on an article featuring this year's winners. (You can view last year's article here.)

You previously indicated you would like to participate in an interview for the article. If that is still the case, I invite you to reply to this email with answers to the questions listed below by Monday, October 23rd. If you think you will need more time for review or would prefer to respond to the questions in a call, please let me know. 

For this year's article, we are focusing content around the themes of leadership, empowerment, cultural change, and community engagement. In particular, we're exploring how organizational strategies for the first two can drive and be driven by shifts in the latter two as they pertain to sustainability goals and from the perspective of the Freezer Challenge. The questions below are a starting point, please feel free to skip over questions you would prefer not to answer or add additional comments you believe are relevant. 

1. In an environment where resources are usually limited, how did you motivate and lead your labs/teams to prioritize and achieve sustainability goals in the lab?
2. How have the successes from the freezer challenge spilled over into other areas of your university, creating a broader sense of community around sustainability?
3. Do you think your participation in and winning of the Freezer Challenge has prompted leadership at your university to set more ambitious resource-reduction targets or strengthened investment in laboratory sustainability efforts?
4. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us about how your university approached the Freezer Challenge this year or its overall impact?

Once the article is drafted, you will have an opportunity to review the relevant content for accuracy. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you very much,

Rachel

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Hello Madhu,

The interview questions in the thread below ask for leadership perspectives, and I am wondering if you would be willing to say a few words for this article to be published in Lab Manager Journal?

Specifically:

#2- Our campus has a widespread sense of community around sustainability and the freezer challenge uniquely demonstrates how efficient sample-management reduces green-house gas emissions, optimizes cold storage space      utilization, and increases equipment longevity while providing significant energy savings across campus. These successful impacts place potential opportunities under the microscope for researchers to take a closer look at other environmentally friendly changes are available in their labs.

#3- The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s ability to continually place among the top performing academic institutions reflects support from a large number of researchers and commitment to sustainable sample management. 

You could mention the green research committee and the charge you, Dr. Martinis and Ehab have put in place and what sustainable labs may look like in the near future?

#4 – Do you have a perspective on the overall impact of the success we have had with the freezer Challenge?

OR

Please feel free to respond to the questions below and forward them to me at your convenience before Oct 23rd.

Thank you 

Paul Foote

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Hello Madhu,

I am just sending this as a reminder, if you would like to respond?

Best

Paul Foote

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Hi Paul

Yes I would be happy to send you a quote by the 23rd.

Best

Madhu

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Terrific, thank you!

Best

Paul Foote

Dear Morgan

I hope that you are doing well!

I also hope that my request below are not presumptuous, but … 😊

1. From August I will be directing the College of Engineering Master’s program in Energy Systems. A you know, this is an interdepartmental program attracting students from across the board (electrical, civil, chemical, nuclear, mechanical, agricultural, computer, …). Part of the program expects students to work on real industry problems, either via an internship or by solving a client’s energy-related problems and communicating designs/solutions with clients. In Fall we have around 25 master’s students but that number will soon double.
   It will be a privilege if our students could perhaps work on F&S energy-related projects. I know that Rizwan Uddin and John Abelson previously had some students work on project for F&S, and for which our students managed to secure some SSC funds. I was hoping that would again be possible. Please can you indicate if you might have any immediate needs for our master’s students to assist F&S with any energy-related design/redesign work? It would be a privilege if they could benefit from such a “real-world” experience.
2. Andre Nel will again visit UIUC and he would love to again meet with you, please! He arrives here around noon on August 16 and leaves around 4 p.m. of the 17th. Is there perhaps any chance that he could again exchange ideas with you? Andre has brought about some interesting changes at the University of Johannesburg, including a 2-MW PV canopy located on parking areas. South Africa has immense electricity supply problems and you can imagine that running a campus with up to 11 hours of blackouts every day is exceedingly challenging. He has also purchased who-knows-how-many massive diesel generators to cope with blackouts. Totally unsustainable but it does the job for the time being.
   Please can you indicate if you might perhaps be able to meet for lunch at Houlihan’s on August 16th (around 1 p.m.)? Or, if you prefer, Andre could meet you at F&S or at iSEE. (I have also written to Madhu as Andre would like to also meet her.)   

Thank you in advance for your attention to my requests.
I look forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards
Leon

--------------------------

Hi Leon,

Thanks for reaching out and congrats on becoming the point person for the Masters of Energy Systems!

I'm adding Rob Roman here, so he can help connect your students with energy focused projects in Utilities and Energy Services (UES). Rob is the director of UES, and he is highly engaged with and supportive of the iCAP efforts.  Can you extend the lunch invite to him as well?

I will also pull together a few project ideas for your students. Can you remind me what the timeframe is for their projects?

For lunch, I'll need to reschedule something to be able to join you, so let me confirm next week.  It would be great to hear of the changes Andres has implemented and share some of our new projects as well. 

Thanks!

Morgan 

---------------------

Good afternoon Morgan, Rob

Thank you for your lightning-quick and positive response, and for introducing me to Rob! Rob, I look forward to collaborating with you.

• The “professional development” part of the M.Eng. (Energy Systems) degree comprises a 4-credit-hour project that can be taken in the Fall or Spring semester. (I believe that some students have also done this in summer, although UIUC faculty have to be available to act as advisors if that were to happen.) Students usually work alone on topics but they could also be given teamwork if the task demands that.

Where required, our students will also apply for SSC funding for your projects. But, as you know, our students are only here for a year (or perhaps 18 months) so there is only a slight chance that they might be able to participate in the projects for which they will be seeking SSC funding.

• I appreciate your positive response regarding potentially meeting with Andre! Apologies for the schlep regarding rescheduling your other appointment. Many thanks though for all your efforts. If you cannot reschedule that meeting, I think that Andre will have some time available on the 17th before his meeting with Karl Gnadt at the MTD --- Karl however must still confirm meeting times, etc. I therefore hope that you will indeed be able to accommodate Andre on the 16th, together with Madhu.

Looking forward to your further communication and wishing you the best
Leon

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Hi Leon,

I hope you are well!  I’m looking at older emails, and I am worried I dropped the ball on this.  Are you still looking for something from me?

Thanks!

Morgan

-----------------------

Good morning Morgan

Great to hear from you 😊.

Thanks for your follow-up.
I attended one of Rob Roman’s meetings with his Assoc. Directors --- and they enthusiastically responded with some excellent project recommendations. I summarize the main suggestions below this email.

If you have any (additional) energy projects that you’d like to recommend for 2024, that would be super. Thank you in advance! I greatly appreciate your support and advice.

Best wishes,

Leon

SUMMARY OF SUGGESTION FROM ROB ROMAN’S TEAM:

1. Protection of our campus energy systems infrastructure from physical and cyber threats. Potential targets across campus include: Abbott Power Plant; electrical sub-stations, distribution center, and load centers; steam tunnels; high-pressure gas piping; domestic water piping system; chiller plants; storm sewer system; etc. We have had an increased frequency of malicious events across the country in recent times and this topic has been trending.
2. Promoting, marketing, and selling a campus approach to investing in retro-commissioning and control system modernization/optimization. The University of Illinois F&S teams in UES have saved millions of dollars over many years by dedicating staff and financial resources in these areas. This type of project could give students the opportunity to learn the value of a career path in technical sales and the types of companies that utilize these type of staff members. A focus on developing high-level communication skills and strategic sales skills in conjunction with engineering education can be a lucrative path for some students.     
3. Cost and Environmental Comparison of Fossil Fuels Cogen Plant with Renewable Energy Plant: This project would involve a comprehensive study of providing 100 MW of FIRM (24-7-365) from a plant fired by a fossil fuel fired co-gen plant as compared to a plant that is 100% renewable. I would recommend that for the cogen plant the project focus on a Gas Turbine/HRSG combination that is natural gas fired, and that for the renewable energy plant the project focus on solar/wind as the generation source with the storage required to provide the 24-7-365 reliability from 100 MW. The storage will likely need to be provided by batteries. Incentives/rebates can be considered and used to develop a “current cost” comparison, but I would recommend that a fully loaded cost be included so that there is an apples to apples comparison. Would recommend that the total carbon footprint of each project also be considered.
4. Chiller Plant Optimization: The University is in the process of developing an optimization model/system for the chilled water system. This model will monitor the system demand as well as the performance of the major pieces of equipment at each of the plants, and optimize the operation of the major pieces of equipment to increase the efficiency (lower the energy usage) of the overall system. This project would involve working with the contractor and controls engineer at UES to understand what does into developing the model, what are the keys aspects of optimizing the system/plants, and perhaps assisting with certain facets of the project. We would need to discuss this project with the company performing the optimization to insure they are agreeable to working with the students.
5. Solar Farm 2.0 Operator Project: The operator of Solar Farm 2.0 committed to partnering with the university on education as it relates to solar power. If a student were particularly interested in a solar power project, we could setup a conversation with Sol Systems to inquire if there was something in particular they would work with a master student on. They are helping with an undergraduate sustainability class, so I am assuming they would be interested in working with a masters student, but I don’t have a specific project in mind at this time.
6. Grid Reliability based on Increase Integration of Renewables into the Grid: Grid stability and reliability has been and will continue to be impacted significantly by the integration of more and more intermittent generation sources into the grid. This project would largely be research based to understand the nature of the issues that are being created, perhaps identifying the tipping point at which the % of intermittent resources will result in problems, and most importantly identify the steps that need to be taken to alleviate these issues.
7. Power Plant Projects: Mike Larson did not have anything specific in mind but would be willing to generate a suitable topic based on student interest in this area.
8. Study on Geothermal Use in Large Institutional Buildings at UIUC: We have investigated the use of geothermal on both large and smaller buildings on campus, and have not yet found compelling evidence the geothermal is a great option on our campus. This project would research the technology, it’s uses and applications, and the practicality of using it on our campus. The project could investigate large institutional projects that have included geothermal (Ball State and EPIC in Madison Wisconsin are two that come to mind), and assessing their viability on the UIUC campus.    
9. Protection of our campus energy systems infrastructure from physical and cyber threats. Potential targets across campus include: Abbott Power Plant; electrical sub-stations, distribution center, and load centers; steam tunnels; high-pressure gas piping; domestic water piping system; chiller plants; storm sewer system; etc. We have had an increased frequency of malicious events across the country in recent times and this topic has been trending.
10. Promoting, marketing, and selling a campus approach to investing in retro-commissioning and control system modernization/optimization. The University of Illinois F&S teams in UES have saved millions of dollars over many years by dedicating staff and financial resources in these areas. This type of project could give students the opportunity to learn the value of a career path in technical sales and the types of companies that utilize these type of staff members. A focus on developing high-level communication skills and strategic sales skills in conjunction with engineering education can be a lucrative path for some students.

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the September 2023 Buyer's Share amounts by the hour, totaling 954.6 Megawatt hours.

The September 2023 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

Hi Mark,

I am going to assign an SSC project to you as the PM to take it through design and construction.  The construction can be done through Contractor Services, so this would normally go to a Planner.  However, it will be in an existing Steam Tunnel, so it is very much a UES project, and will need to have coordination with Frank C. and Mike L.  Some older emails about this project are attached here, and I’ll get it set up in FCPweb today.

Thanks,

Morgan

---------------------

Hi Morgan.  I have a few questions.  So The Dept. of Mechanical Engineering (Aman Mehta) requested funds from SSC for these panels?  And the only reason Utilities is involved is because these will be their steam tunnels?  I’m not familiar with SSC projects.

Also, I’m not optimistic about hiring a PSC for $10,000 (the amount listed in their info)..  Especially if the participation goals are to be met.  I assume this will be a RWO or do you know if Enerdrape provides those services for their panels?

Will our office’s role be similar to some of the smaller natural gas projects I’ve done?  Will there PM Fees?  C&I Fees?

Thanks.

Hi.

Have we been looking at this as an option for storing solar energy?

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/17/1063391/super-hot-salt-battery/

https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/blog/top-molten-salt-thermal-energy-storage-companies/

https://www.maltainc.com/challenge/

Cheryl Bicknell

Note - The Foreign Language Building (FLB) has been renamed to Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics Building (LCLB).

Green roof trees are scheduled to be installed in the spring of 2024.

Hi Morgan and Lisa,

This fall I have submitted two SSC step-1 applications:

1. Shipping containers for bicycle storage - $85,000
2. Purchase and Installation of bike shelter - $250,000

See attached the application. Thank you,
Sarthak