https://ece.illinois.edu/about/calendar/eceb-anniversary
The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was certified as the university’s first zero-energy facility in January 2023. Join the ECE Department and The Grainger College of Engineering to celebrate this milestone on the path to building a more sustainable future.
Hi Rob and Tony,
Tim Mies asked me who “owns” the RECs from small scale solar arrays at individual buildings. I said I’d have to check into it.
Below is a newsletter regarding ECE's zero energy certification.
F&S completed the renewal of our recognition as a Green Power Partner through the US Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partners of our scale now have to use renewable power for seven percent of their annual consumption. Fortunately, the FY21 green power supply for FY21 was 9%, which is a +1.72% increase from the FY19 supply of 7.28%. See attached file.
Overview submitted:
Joyce Mast met with MSTE and F&S contacts today to brainstorm ideas for energy and atmospheric data to be displayed in the ECE lobby on the digital touch screen.
The new ECE building is designed to include Solar Panels on its roof. The panels will provide about 11% of the building's energy needs. The infrastructure for connecting these panels to the building electric supply was included in the original design and construction costs for the full building, while the solar panels themselves were funded separately. This specific project is to have a series of photovoltaic solar arrays on the roof of the building with a 300 kW peak power rating, capable of generating an estimated 470 MWh of electricity annually.
F&S has renewed our campus' recognition as a Green Power Partner for FY20 through the Environmental Protection Agency. This voluntary program promotes the use of green power, and the combined supply for the Champaign-Urbana campus during FY20 was 7.2% of the total electricity usage.
Please see the attached file to see a more in-depth look at the green power supplied and generated on campus
"Why doesn't the company installing the solar panels at U of I put them over the parking lot? I would provide shade for the cars underneath and would eliminate having to kill whatever would be underneath them in the fields."
The best option for building solar panels is ground-mounted, said Morgan White, the associate director for sustainability at the University of Illinois.
F&S completed the renewal of our recognition as a Green Power Partner through the US Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partners of our scale now have to use renewable power for seven percent of their annual consumption, an increase from the previous requirement of three percent. Fortunately, the FY19 green power supply for FY19 was 7.28%. See attached file.
I am on the team that did the Retrocommissioning project in 2018 and I would be happy to share some of our knowledge from that process. Below is the link to a presentation of that project that we took to a Big Ten energy conference. Some of our main takeaways are that the combination of chilled beams, dual HX wheels, coil sizing, occupancy ventilation, and thoughtful building pressurization have led to one of the most efficient buildings on campus. A
Update from Joyce Mast: "All the ECE solar panels except for those to be used for research have been producing power since this morning. Yay! Joyce"
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.
The ECE rooftop panels are installed, but they are not yet "turned on." We are getting close!!
The 235,000 GSF facility for the Electrical and Computer Engineering department will integrate instruction and research. This project is to reinforce structural steel members in the building for the future placement of a rooftop solar array. There are 970 modules to install with a total DC power rating of 272 kW.
Update from Joyce Mast, "Our solar panels are supposed to be producing power today, as of this am the research panels were still not hooked up. Still, power production is imminent."
The rooftop solar project for ECE is moving forward now, and installation is expected in summer 2017.
ECE rooftop solar project update:
1) The original PO bought approximately 500 panels for $240,925. This was funded with $100K from the DCEO grant, and $140,925 from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) funding.
2) The original funding plan was for a total project cost of $900,000. It was made up of $225K from the SSC, $250K from DCEO, $100 from the Grainger Center for Engineering, and $325K from the department and college. When DCEO cut the grant funding with the state budget crisis, the project stalled with just the initial purchase of panels completed.
Joyce Mast is coordinating a Request for Purchase to buy and install the solar panels that will go on top of the ECE Building. The building already has the structural supports for the panels, so the purchase will include the racks, PV panels, and inverters. Joyce is working with ECE's administrative office, the Purchasing Department, and F&S Capital Programs to facilitate this RFP.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has awarded a grant of about $250,000 to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building Solar Panels Project.
The DCEO grant brings the project’s funding to its goal of $900,000. “This award gives us the final piece that will let us do the solar panels on the building itself,” said Professor Philip Krein, chairman of the ECE Building Committee. ECE ILLINOIS is still seeking funding for the large photovoltaic array that will be placed on the nearby parking structure.
The new Electrical and Computer Engineering building (New ECE building) will be operational starting the fall semester of 2014, and will be a unique green building on the University of Illinois campus. It is designed to be the most energy efficient engineering building in the world and is targeting LEED platinum certification, the highest rating for efficiency. With the full planned solar energy complement, the building is projected to achieve net zero energy status.
