In December of 2022 Aaryaman Patel, a Mechanical Engineering student, published a video for a competition through the International District Energy Association. The purpose of the video is to highlight energy systems within a University campus.
Below is the link to his video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLrt4X0EOGA
The energy iCAP team met on Friday, October 7th 2022 to review the team's presentation for the campus sustainability celebration, review the team's priorities for the year, and discuss options for advancing the proposed clean energy plan and increasing procurement of renewable energy through power purchasing agreements.
Link to meeting recording: https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_5bh3gs4r
The attached document is entitled Energy Source Options Final Design Report. Which is a report done for ME 470 Senior Design.
The report details research on the use of compressed CO2 as a refrigerant. The goal of the report was to determine if this system would be viable option for providing green energy on campus.
The Energy iCAP team met at 9:00 A.M. on Wednesday, January 26th and discussed updates on recommendation ideas as well as agreed to move forward with the submission of two recommendations to the iCAP Working Group. Progress is currently being made on a feasibility study of CO2 District Heating and Cooling which will be undertaken by a group of engineering students during the Spring Semester, and progress on a new recommendation for Building Envelope Commissioning will take place.
The Team also agreed to move forward with a recommendation that the Office of the Chancellor commission a report on the Safety and Security of a proposed MMR Nuclear Reactor on campus property as well as another recommendation that would seek to charge Facilities & Services with developing a comprehensive energy plan that will bring the University to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Further Details on the meeting can be found in the attached agenda which also contains meeting minutes.
Attached are the presentations prepared by the students in ENVS 301. The course syllabus is also attached.
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam a meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held their first meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on December 6, 2016, to discuss the SWATeam recommendation, eGen004 Electrification Study. The iWG agreed to return the recommendation to the eGen SWATeam for further discussion with F&S, iSEE, and other stakeholders.
See SWATeam recommendation eGen004 Electrification Study here.
The EGEN SWATeam held their final meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:
A contract is in place to perform a heat recovery chiller (HRC) study to identify potential location(s) for HRCs on campus, and to assess opportunities for one system to serve multiple buildings. Preliminary review and assessment is expected to begin October 2016.
Construction is underway in Fall 2016 to install a 200 kW biomass boiler at the Energy Farm. This system will initially satisfy all heating needs for the greenhouse onsite, and will replace the current propane heating system. In the future, more buildings may be added to the boiler system.
Beginning Fall 2016, a team at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS, a division of the prairie Research Institute) led by Illinois Professor Yu-Feng Forrest Lin is conducting a series of detailed observations of the geothermal profile on campus - including high-resolution temperature profiling and thermal analysis. The team will drill to 330 ft and install a geothermal loop and fiberoptic cables. Results will help determine the feasibility of implementing geothermal systems on campus by identifying costs and possible challenges.
Professor Lin has coordinated with faculty from the University of Wisconsin to incorporate lessons learned from their implementation of a geothermal exchange system at the nearby EPIC health care systems campus in Verona, WI.
Professor Lin's team began drilling on 9/19/16. Daily drilling progress is logged and can be found by clicking this link.
Professor Scott Willenbrock shared this link with photos from the installation of solar on his home. http://www.newprairieconstruction.com/solar-panel-installation.
A group of faculty, students, and staff are looking into the options for an Electrification Study for campus. This would be a study that goes through the formal "Feasibility Study" process at F&S, starting with a "Qualifications Based Selection" or QBS.
Ben McCall, Morgan Johnston, Scott Willenbrock, and Mike Larson met with Ted Christy and Jim Sims to discuss the process for an Electrification Study. Ted provided the attached document that needs to be completed in order to move forward. Additionally, Ted indicated that attachment a is the most pertinent. He said, "This statement would tell us what, from your perspective you hope to receive at the end of this study for it to be considered successful. It doesn’t need to get into detail. A paragraph or two in your own words to provide general description is very helpful. On the other hand, don’t feel like you need to limit this item, many departments submit a several page document. This information is used by the Planner to develop a scope statement that you will need to sign off on before we seek project approval."
The eGen SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG stating, "Hire a consultant to undertake a study of electrifying most space and water heating on campus."
See attached the SWATeam recommendation EGen004 Electrification Study complete with comments from all the eGen SWATeam members.
Food waste is the second largest category of municipal solid waste (MSW) sent to landfills in the United States, accounting for approximately 18% of the waste stream. Agricultural and garden wastes comprising of wood and yard trimmings come next in the list, accounting for approximately 15% of the waste stream. At the U of I campus as well, about 100-120 gallons of food waste is generated from one dining hall unit per week. That is roughly 0.5 cubic yards/week currently.
Anaerobic digestion occurs naturally, in the absence of oxygen, as bacteria break down organic materials and produce biogas. The process reduces the amount of material and produces biogas, which can be used as an energy source. This technology is commonly used throughout the United States to break down sewage sludge at wastewater treatment facilities. In the past few years, there has been a movement to start adding food waste to anaerobic digesters already in place at wastewater treatment facilities.
This proposal provides setup costs for a pilot test of an anaerobic digestion process to determine if a full-scale digester prototype is feasible.
Objective 3.1 is for the SWATeam to lead an exploration of options for 100% clean energy and submit recommendations. F&S staff workload is too high to handle the exploration of options, so F&S will provide data and provide comments. Ben McCall and Scott Willenbrock will develop a plan for how to achieve carbon neutrality. They will make a document with potential options, pros, cons, and costs.
