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Projects Updates for place: Abbott Power Plant

  2. Net Metering on campus

    Associated Project(s): 
    ECE Rooftop Solar PVs
    Rooftop Solar Potential

    For all of our buildings with renewable energy systems, we employ a net metering method.  We deduct the energy supplied by the system from the building load on the campus grid.  So, if ECE uses about 250,000 kwh of electricity per month, and the rooftop array will supply 10,000 kwh per month, then the net bill for the ECE building will be 240,000 kwh at the campus electricity rate.  Therefore, the building gets full credit for the energy supplied by the array.

  4. Illini Union cooling towers removed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Cooling Tower and Chiller Plant Water Use

    The Illini Union has demolished its old cooling towers for HVAC in the past 15 years, and recently demolished the old evaporator cooling system for the refrigeration chilling water in 2017. Almost all of our HVAC is now on DDC, with the exception of AHU’s 1, 2, & 3 in the South Building attic, and AHU-21 in the North Building NW subbasement.

  5. potential to add solar on Oak Street library

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential

    There is a grant for helping libraries go green, which could potentially support solar at the Oak Street facility.

    EBSCO has expanded this year’s EBSCO Solar Grant. For the first time, it will provide three $100,000 grants to libraries looking to install solar arrays. If you’re eager to show your community the benefits of solar energy or to add to your sustainability plans, consider applying to the EBSCO Solar Grant now through April 30th. The winner will be announced on June 22nd, 2018, both online and at ALA Annual 2018.

  6. ECS Bike Share Completed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Campus Bike Center
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

    Facilities and Services division Engineering and Construction Services (ECS) has three bikes for employees to share for campus business. Check out is easy and the same as checking out a department car or truck. Two helmets are available for borrowing and lock keys are color coded to the bike they go to.

    Two of the three bikes were purchased through the Campus Bike Center, with locks and front baskets. The helmets came from Neutral Cycle. The whole project cost less than $750 and will have minimum maintenance each year.

    For questions about use please contact Lily Wilcock, lwilco2@illinois.edu.

     

  8. March 2017 Sustainability Council Recommendations Approved

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Council
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Clean Power Agreements Off-Campus
    Energy Conservation Efforts
    Utility and Energy Services Funds
    ECBS Recommendations Summary
    eGen Recommendations Summary

    Interim Provost Wilkin, on behalf of Chancellor Jones, approved moving forward with the recommendations discussed at the March 2017 Sustainability Council meeting. See attached file.

    See iWG follow-up on the March 2017 Sustainability Council meeting here.

    See Transmittal of EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.

    See iWG Assessment for SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.

    See Transmittal of EGen003 PPA term to the Sustainability Council here.

    See iWG Assessment of EGen003 PPA Term here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen003 PPA Term here.

    See Transmittal of ECONS003 Conservation Budget to the Provost Office here.

    See iWG Assessment of ECONS003 Conservation Budget here.

    See SWATeam Recommendation of ECONS003 Conservation Budget here.

    Attached Files: 

  9. OMA representatives review stand-alone cooling towers

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Cooling Tower and Chiller Plant Water Use

    Water Station Foreman, Shawn Young, indicated today that there are two remaining stand-alone cooling towers on campus buildings maintained by F&S: Temple Buell Hall and the Personnel Services Building.  One of these (Personnel) is scheduled to be added to the central chilled water loop in 2020, according to the Utilities Energy Production and Distribution Master Plan.  Base on that discussion, Morgan Johnston will be following up with the Water SWATeam to let them know that because there are so few remaining stand-alone cooling towers, this is not a high-priority item to pursue.

  12. March 2017 Sustainability Council Recommendations & Next Steps

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Council
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Clean Power Agreements Off-Campus
    Energy Conservation Efforts
    ECBS Recommendations Summary
    Utility and Energy Services Funds
    eGen Recommendations Summary

    Director of iSEE, Evan DeLucia, summarized three recommendations presented at the March 2017 Sustainability Council meeting: EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard, EGen003 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Timeline, and ECons003 Conservation Budget, as well as the next steps, for Chancellor Jones’ approval.

    We followed up with the Sustainability Council on April 25, 2017, with the attached file.

    See Transmittal of EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.

    See iWG Assessment for SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.

    See Transmittal of EGen003 PPA term to the Sustainability Council here.

    See iWG Assessment of EGen003 PPA Term here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen003 PPA Term here.

    See Transmittal of ECONS003 Conservation Budget to the Provost Office

    See iWG Assessment of ECONS003 Conservation Budget

    ee SWATeam Recommendation of ECONS003 Conservation Budget

     

    Attached Files: 

  13. EGEN SWATeam Meeting (3.30.17)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Solar Power on Campus
    Geothermal on Campus
    Biomass Boiler at the Energy Farm
    Clean Power Agreements Off-Campus
    Carbon Capture

    The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:

    • Performing preliminary assessment for clean energy PPA
    • Fact sheet using solar farm as basis to estimate land needs and costs of additional solar farm to meet iCAP goal
    • Update on biomass boiler at energy farm
    • Identifying opportunities to purseu implementation of ground source heat pump (GSHP) technology on campus.
    Attached Files: 

  14. Water & Stormwater SWAT Meeting Minutes 3/30/2017

    Associated Project(s): 
    BIF Greywater Pipe System
    Reduce Cooling Tower and Chiller Plant Water Use
    Water Audit / Inventory
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam

    Updates and discussion of greywater meter, greywater design standards, cooling tower cycles of concentration, water use dashboard, and student outreach. 

    Attached Files: 

  15. Water Use and Cycles of Concentration (COC) in a cooling tower

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Cooling Tower and Chiller Plant Water Use
    Land and Water iCAP Team

    Below is information provided by Jeremy Overmann, B.S. Ch. E., Water Treatment Specialist, on the water use and cycles of concentration (COC) in a cooling tower, as requested after a Land and Water SWAT meeting. 

    "

    Water SWAT members,

     

    Here is some more information regarding the cooling tower discussion at today’s meeting.

     

    This first graph shows how much water a typical 100 ton Cooling Tower uses per hour, and how this changes when the tower is operated at various Cycles of Concentration (COC)

    NOTE:  a 1 ton cooling tower can remove 15,000 BTU/hr of heat.

     

    2Q==

     

    Most standard chemically treated Cooling Towers use unsoftened water and operate between 4 – 6 COC, depending on the source water quality (also called Make-Up water) and the efficacy of the chemical treatment program.

    As COC increases, the potential for formation of calcium scale (and possibly other types of scale) increases.  Scale deposits reduce the energy efficiency of the chiller and the cooling tower, and result in the need for labor intensive cleaning to remove the scale.

     

     

    The following table shows the relationship between volume of Cooling Tower blowdown (bleed), blowdown rate (% bleed), COC, and total water usage.

    Cycles of Concentration is controlled by choosing the rate of blowdown.  This is done by controlling the blowdown (bleed) valve at the bottom of the tower.

     

    COC

    BLOWDOWN

    TOTAL USAGE (Makeup)
     

    Gallons

    Percent

    Gallons

    Percent

    1.5

    10,000

    100%

    15,000

    100%

    2

    5000

    50%

    10,000

    66%

    3

    2500

    25%

    7500

    50%

    4

    1667

    17%

    6667

    44%

    5

    1250

    13%

    6250

    42%

    6

    1000

    10%

    6000

    40%

    7

    833

    8%

    5833

    39%

    8

    714

    7%

    5714

    38%

    Note: Evaporation = 5000 Gallons

     

     

     

    In a “Zero” blowdown cooling tower, softened water is used, and cycles of concentration ranges from 20 – 100 or higher.  To achieve proper water chemistry to provide corrosion protection, usually need to operate at > 20 COC. 

    During the Champaign Regional Office Building study, the highest COC achieved was 51.  The blowdown valve is turned off, however some water is lost from leaks in the tower, and from droplets of water that escape with the air that is drawn through the tower.

     

    COC

    BLOWDOWN

    TOTAL USAGE (Makeup)
     

    Gallons

    Percent

    Gallons

    Percent

    1.5

    10,000

    100%

    15,000

    100%

    5

    1250

    13%

    6250

    42%

    10

    555

    6%

    5550

    37%

    25

    208

    2%

    5208

    35%

    50

    102

    1%

    5102

    34%

    75

    66

    0.7%

    5066

    34%

    100

    51

    0.5%

    5051

    34%

    200

    25

    0.3%

    5025

    34%

    Note: Evaporation = 5000 Gallons

     

    "

     

  17. iWG Meeting Notes from Jan. 27, 2017

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Reduce Cooling Tower and Chiller Plant Water Use
    Indoor Bike Parking
    Green Lab Program
    Formal Sustainability Procedures

    The iCAP Working Group met and discussed the following agenda items.  Meeting notes are attached.

    1. Brief iCAP Portal overview by Morgan
    2. Discuss any updates to Water002, Cooling Tower Increase COC
    3. Discuss Trans008, Bike Parking in Ramps
    4. Discuss updates to Econs004, Green Labs Coordinator
    5. Consider issues with recommendation process and view recommendation tracker

    Attached Files: 

  18. EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards recommendation - Transmittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    eGen Recommendations Summary

    Following the completion of iWG assessment, the SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards was transmitted to the Sustainability Council on March 6, 2017.

    See iWG Assessment for SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.

  19. EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards recommendation - Assessment with all comments

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    eGen Recommendations Summary

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on February 23, 2017, to discuss the SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards. The official recommendation from the iWG was:

    "Rooftop solar should be included in the Facility Standards, with guidance developed by F&S staff, in order to maximize the effectiveness of solar installations.  This should apply to new construction, major renovations, and roof improvement projects.  Project scopes should include rooftop solar, as applicable, based on the guidance to be developed according to roof orientation, nearby shading, potential solar capacity, and roof construction type (e.g., gypsum would be an inappropriate roof decking for retrofitting with solar PVs). Exceptions should require a variance during the capital design review process."

    See attached the assessment form complete with official comments from all the iWG members.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.

    Attached Files: 

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