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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  1. archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 

    From the 2010 iCAP:

    The projected carbon emissions for a business-as-usual scenario show significant increases in emissions due to additional square footage. The University will pursue strategies that slow the amount of increased square footage by judiciously examin- ing existing space. The business-as-usual projection also presumes energy efficien- cy at historic levels. The University has implemented green building requirements that should improve performance levels, including a LEED Silver certification re- quirement for major new buildings and renovations. Results by the Rocky Moun- tain Institute show that there is no correlation between the level of LEED achieved by a building project and the project cost.19 Further, federal, state and local codes, ASHRAE, and AIA are targeting widespread deployment of net-zero commercial buildings by 2030, and the Department of Energy is seeking to make net-zero buildings financially viable by 2025. A net-zero building is one that generates as much energy as it uses over the course of an average calendar year. Projects that seek to do better than meet minimum campus standards should receive campus support or credit for the improvements compared to the baseline.

    The campus will implement a freeze on new buildings and building additions once current planned projects are completed. Any new space must take an existing space of equal or greater size (or of equal or greater energy usage) out of commis- sion. Furthermore, any building retrofit will be required to “do no harm”; that is, it should not increase the energy consumption of a building—if necessary by pack- aging together additional energy conservation and renewables as part of a project. New building projects will be net-zero or replace an existing building. These can be facilitated by a marketplace for space. All projects currently in planning require at least a 30 percent improvement in the proposed building performance rating compared with the baseline building performance rating, as calculated using the latest version of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1. Finally, the campus space market will include the demolition of certain buildings with poor energy performance, high deferred maintenance burdens, and low his- torical value. Campus buildings that are seen as approaching a deferred mainte- nance deficiency value that is higher than their current replacement value will be considered for removal or renovation.20

  2. Article: Rapid Decline of News Coverage for Pollinators

    Craig Chamberlain, a Social Sciences Editor for Illinois News Bureau, released an article highlighting the lack of coverage dedicated to bees in mainstream news. Supporting his article with a study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, it was found that the amount of attention dedicated to "pollinator population topics" has significantly declined over several decades.

    Read Chamberlain's article through Illinois News Bureau or the PDF in the attached files!

  3. archived info - previous project description and background, pre iCAP 2020

    Associated Project(s): 

    Description:

    The 2015 iCAP, chapter 3, objective 3, is "Expand the purchase of clean energy. By FY20, obtain at least 120,000 MWh, and by FY25 at least 140,000 MWh from low-carbon energy sources. These targets represent 48% and 56% of our expected 2050 electricity demand, respectively." There are several methods for increasing campus clean energy use: on-campus renewable energy generation (such as the Solar Farm), off-campus power purchase agreements (such as the Wind PPA), the purchase of Renewable Energy Certifications (such as the FY15 RECs purchase), and clean energy provided through the grid purchased electricity (see MISO).

    Background: 

    Generate Renewable Energy On-Campus

    Renewable energy on campus is one of the most important clean energy sources. Solar farm is the main project, geothermal is a promising method, combined with biomass, etc., the proportion of renewable energy is increasing.

    Enter into Power Purchase Agreements

    A power purchase agreement (PPA) is a contract with an energy generation facility. A long-term PPA with a renewable energy generation facility could enable the construction of new renewable energy generation. At the time of this writing, the most economical renewable PPAs are for wind energy from large farms of wind turbines, but we expect that other types of renewable PPAs may become affordable in the future.

    Although nuclear power is not considered renewable, an existing nuclear power plant produces no carbon dioxide emissions and can help us meet our emissions goals. A PPA with a nuclear power plant would enable us to purchase energy from a zero-carbon source.

    Buy Renewable Energy Certificates

    Electrical output from both renewable and nonrenewable power sources are combined in a regionaltransmission grid. In order for a consumer to claim the use of renewable energy, it must own the associated Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), each of which represents the environmental attributes of 1 MWh of renewable electricity generation.

    Only the owners of RECs can claim that they are using renewable energy. For example, if a wind farm operator sells its electricity to one party but sells the associated RECs to a second party, only the second party can claim to be using green energy. To qualify as renewable, any energy the campus purchases must be bundled with RECs, and the campus must retain the RECs for any renewable energy it produces. Therefore, the forthcoming Solar Farm will count toward our renewable energy goals only so long as campus does not sell the associated RECs.

    Another method to increase our use of renewable energy is to separately purchase “unbundled” RECs, without purchasing power from the same generation source. For example, we could purchase power from a coal plant, but purchase a corresponding number of RECs from a wind farm (in this case, the wind farm would sell its electricity without the environmental attributes to a customer who is not willing to pay for the environmental attributes). The purchase of unbundled RECs reduces our carbon footprint according to generally accepted carbon accounting procedures, but it is not clear if it adds renewable energy to the grid.

    In 2015, there was exceptionally low demand for RECs in our local grid region because there are no effective government standards requiring the purchase of renewable electricity. At the same time, a significant number of wind farms have been built and are profitable even without selling RECs (due in large part to a federal tax credit for wind production), leading to a very large supply of RECs. Given the low demand and the oversupply, prices for RECs are very low, and therefore it is not clear that the purchase of RECs really provides an incentive for generators to produce more renewable electricity, or that it leads to an actual reduction in overall global CO2 emissions.

    When unbundled RECs are purchased as part of a long-term contract, this can facilitate the construction of new renewable energy generation facilities. Long-term RECs contracts would also have the economic advantage of “locking in” the current low prices. Conversely, the voluntary purchase of short-term unbundled RECs from existing facilities does not add new renewable energy to the grid. For these reasons, the campus would have a greater environmental impact by purchasing long-term RECs contracts, either bundled with renewable energy in a PPA, or unbundled.

    Low-Carbon Grid Purchased Electricity

    Approximately half of the campus electrical demand is purchased through the MISO grid.  In FY15, the grid purchased electricity included over 10% from low-carbon sources.  Because the RECs are not included when campus buys the energy, it is unclear who can claim the use of that clean energy.  With the new energy bill passed in 2017, there are changes to the requirements for campus’ participation in the Renewable Portfolio Standard.  As these requirements and associated benefits of low-carbon energy in the grid become clarified, it may be determined that the grid’s clean energy can be included in the total campus clean energy usage.

  4. archived info - previous project description, pre iCAP 2020

    Associated Project(s): 

    Assuming that our conservation efforts will cut our energy needs in half, we will have to find ways to produce and/or purchase roughly 250,000 MWh/yr of electricity and 250,000 MWh/yr of heat in a carbon-neutral manner.  Campus has made good progress in reducing GHG emissions since FY08, largely due to improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings.  Looking ahead, we expect to see continued reductions due to improvements in energy efficiency and additional energy conservation efforts.  However, in order to achieve zero GHG emissions, it is also necessary to change the way we generate, distribute, and purchase power.

  5. controls on HVAC units - note

    Associated Project(s): 

    I would note that the room level controls at the National Soybean Research Center have been upgraded to DDC in the past year.  We plan to do this in the ACES Library in 2021.  We have invested in Turner Hall w/ control upgrades and RCx work. The Ag Engineering building saw a recent project last year to upgrade to DDC controls and replace VAV boxes.  ~Karl Helmink, F&S RCx, january 2021

  6. Environmental Justice Plan Brainstorming Meeting

    On December 3, 2020, a small group of community and campus staff (Scott Tess, Morgan White, Ximing Cai, Sharva Hampton-Campbell, Kaamilyah Abdullah-Span, Ruby Mendenhall, Meredith Moore) brainstormed key principles of the environmental justice plan (iCAP 2020 objective 8.3). The notes from this initial meeting is attached and the group will continue to meet monthly. 

  7. Updated list of needed student projects

    This is a list of projects that need students to work on.  It will be updated periodically by sustainability staff members, the last update was 1/2/21:

    • Tree Canopy Analysis: Work with F&S staff to complete a GIS analysis of the university's tree canopy, in support of the Tree Campus USA designation. This will include comparison to peer institutions and a presentation of the results and methodology to the Tree Campus Advisory Committee. Depending on time availability, it can also include an analysis of the local tree canopy, off campus. Contact Morgan White at mbwhite at illinois.edu.
    • CCNet Website: Work with the Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) leadership team to redesign and publish the CCNet website (old version is online at http://www.champaigncountynet.org/). There is a monthly brown bag sustainability networking event on the Third Thursday of each month, but the website hasn't been updated since 2016. Contact Morgan White at mbwhite at illinois.edu.
    • If you have a project idea, please contact us at sustainability@illinois.edu, or submit it through the iCAP Portal Suggestions page.
  8. 12/18 Zero Waste SWATeam Meeting

    Attached are the meeting minutes from the Zero Waste SWATeam on 12/18/2020. The following agenda items were discussed:

    • Grind2Energy Additional Scope.
    • NERC membership.
    • Mask Terracycle Program.
    • Organics Master Plan.
    • Vending Machine Single-Use Plastics Replacement.
    • Mitigating single-serve options in third-party vendors in Union.
    • Reusable dining operations during COVID.
    • Reuse of Surplus Goods.
    • Battery Recycling Options.
    • Purchasing Order Fufillment: Sustainable Options.
    • Purchasing Sustainability Digital Booklet.
    • Food Waste Reduction Webinar Engagement Opportunity.
    • Sustainability Integrations within punch-out catalogues/iBUY.
  9. 12/16 Transportation SWATeam Meeting

    Attached are the meeting minutes for the Transportation SWATeam Meeting on 12/16/2020. The following agenda items were discussed:

    • Intern Solicitation
    • Intern Resources List
    • EV Task Force
    • Fleet Vehicle Usage Tracking
    • Reduction of Fleet
    • Air Travel Emissions
  10. Precious Plastic Campus Recycling Hub

  11. Re-Home Wall Rehab and Siding

  12. SSC Funding Approved for Improving UI Campus Land Sustainability with Cover Crops

    The SSC approved $47,572.00 in funding for the "Improving UI Campus Land Sustainability with Cover Crops" project. The award expires on 12/16/2022.

  13. Energy iCAP Team Meeting Minutes from 12-15-20

    The Energy SWATeam met to discuss a past ESCO recommendation going through to the iWG, recently approved funding for a Building Envelope Team, and new recommendations that can be made regarding a "Comprehensive Energy Planning Document". Team members commented on a recommendation draft that would require campus buildings to have energy use models and data in order to comply with state energy codes. The Building Envelope Team has been approved for funding from the SSC and will start work next March!

    Meeting minutes and chat log are attached. 

  14. Resilience Team Meeting Minutes from 12-10-20

    The Resilience Team met on December 10th and had a fruitful conversation about how to help our surrounding communities while maintaining an equal two-conversation where community, faculty, student, and governments are all heard. Comments were discussed regarding our next recommendation, the Urban Biodiversity Master Plan. 

    Agenda, meeting minutes, and chat log are attached.

  15. Sol Systems Blog about SEE Fellows student project

    Sol Systems published a blog today sharing information about the collaborations with the UIUC Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows program, the campus-wide minor in sustainability.  

    "This past week, two groups of students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presented to Sol Systems regarding their findings through the university’s sustainability minor capstone course. The students conducted an emissions audit for supply chain and land-usage for the university’s second utility-scale solar project, Solar Farm 2.0, a 54-acre, 12.3 MW dc system on the Urbana campus that is being developed by Sol Systems. The presentation and partnership served as part of Sol’s sustainability initiatives and acts as the foundation for building Sol’s framework for future and current solar project developments...."

    Read the full post online at https://www.solsystems.com/groundwork-for-solar-sustainability/. 

  16. EAB to provide assessment of UIUC Sustainability Plan

    Facilities & Services is working with EAB, formerly the Education Advisory Board and headquartered in Washington, D.C., to participate in EAB's new sustainability plan review service.

    Their team of experts will audit the sustainability plan in the following areas:
    -    Global trends in sustainability plans
    -    Comparison to peer plans
    -    Key implementation mechanisms
    -    Institution-specific opportunities
    The report will also link to sample peer plans and supporting research from EAB. 
     

     

     

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