The American College and University Presidents' Climate Committment picked up the UI Solar Farm project on twitter.

Channel 3 news shared the story of the UI Solar Farm on TV and on the Illinois homepage website.

Channel 15 news interviewed Morgan Johnston about the UI Solar Farm.  The news report showed on Channel 15 on Friday, November 09.

The News-Gazette had an article about the Board of Trustees approval of the Solar Farm.

As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 179 T-12 fixtures in the Admin Tech Info Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 29,829 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.48 years.

As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 229 T-12 fixtures in the IGPA were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 35,627 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.61 years.

The Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois approved the purchase plans for the Solar Farm on Thursday.  The next steps are to complete the Development Agreement, Land-Lease Agreement, and Power Purchase Agreement.  Once these are completed, the Solar Farm vendor will begin the design and implementation of the Solar Farm at the southwest corner of Windsor Road and First Street.  The entire site should be completed and operational by the end of 2013.

The Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois approved the Solar Farm purchase.

Jeff Bossert at WILL Public Radio interviewed Morgan Johnston about the Solar Farm.  The interview was recorded and will be on the radio.

The News-Gazette published a follow-up article about the Solar Farm site selection.  The article is online.

The News-Gazette contacted SSC members and F&S to get an overview of the Solar Farm project as discussed at the BOT Audit, Budget, Finance, and Facilities sub-committee meeting.  The article is online.

It was also picked up by the Chicago Tribune, Danville Area Connect, I4U, as well.

As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 221 T-12 fixtures in the Atmospheric Sciences Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 34,365 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.83 years.

As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 367 T-12 fixtures in the Meat Sciences Laboratory were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 66,103 hours. The simple payback for this project is 2.91 years.

The Student Sustainability Committee met with F&S and exchanged letters and draft letters before finalizing the funding approval for the Solar Farm.  Some of the related files are attached here.

As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 256 T-12 fixtures in the Horticulture Field Lab were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 40,187 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.58 years.

Due to the Board of Trustees meeting schedule, the SSC has agreed to do a straw-poll about the funding of the Solar Farm project at their upcoming meeting on Oct. 26, 2012.  They requested a full proposal be submitted this week, for review by committee members this coming week.  The submitted proposal and associated calculations are attached here.

On October 23, as part of the 2012 Sustainability Week, Champaign County Bikes and the University of Illinois will offer a FREE Cycling Savvy Course. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

6:30-9:30pm

ARC Auditorium

See attached flyer for additional details.

As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 687 T-12 fixtures in the Admin Tech Info Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 112,316 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.42 years.