UIUC's plans for a new microreactor were featured in the April edition of "Nuclear News." The article highlights efforts to build a  "research, education, and training facility intended to help advanced reactor technology become a widely deployable, marketable, economic, safe, and reliable option for a clean energy future."

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Paul Foote - Energy Efficiency and Conservation Specialist

Karl Helmink - F&S Associate Director of Utilities and Energy Services

On 4/8/2022, the team met with Karl Helmink and Paul Foote. They both stressed an emphasis on energy conservation for the energy plan. They stated that a large problem stopping energy reduction is the “billions of dollars” worth of deferred maintenance that exist in campus buildings. This is in addition to the new buildings being constructed despite existing abandoned building space. They also informed us about the retro-commissioning team that they are both a part of. They reduce energy by an average of 25% for each building retro-commissioned and have saved the university over $100,000,000 in utilities since 2007. They do this by focusing on the “low hanging fruit,” this being scheduling, sensors and some maintenance. They roughly estimate that it will cost about 2 billion dollars to make the steam to hot water transition. This would take many years and about 10 boilers for redundancy. They recommend geothermal but warn that the university already has a lot of underground, so it would need to be placed carefully, possibly on the perimeter of campus. It would also still need a backup system (probably Abbott).

Present: Meredith Moore, Morgan White, and Stacy Gloss

Gloss reported on the following:

• Green Infrastructure Mapping: Lisa Merrifield met with Illinois EPA and partners at the end of March to discuss the mapping project. Meetings will be held with NCSA soon about feasibility and next steps.
• Gloss notified Lisa Merrifield that she is available to help with Biodiversity Plan
• DFA advising on-going. Their upcoming presentation is April 27 on E-waste in Siebel Center for Design
• Final report from Ann Witmer's capstone course is expected: A student consulting team is developing a report on renewable energy technologies that can be adopted through a campus local-offset program
• Gloss and Moore will present  to GEEB on April 26 on environmental justice

Discussed:

• SSC semesterly reporting requirement for NGICP training is due July 1; Gloss will email campus NGICP participants.
• Sustainability Clinic recommendation meeting next steps;
• Working to understand Extension's role in environmental concerns / environmental justice.  White, Gloss, and Moore will work to meet with Shibu Kar as an introduction between the Resilience Team and Extension on iCAP resilience goals, environmental justice planning, and support for programs like a sustainability clinic

Tasks (Gloss):

• Help with agenda for next resilience team meeting & update the gantt chart for meeting resilience goals
• Attend next Land & Water team meeting if available (related to potential campus master plan for rainwater management & relationship to/with community coordinated rainwater master plan)
• Attend the iWG meeting as resilience team rep for Environmental Justice iCAP recommendation

https://recyclingpartnership.org/plastic-iq/

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Mike Larson - F&S Director of Utilities Production

On 4/7/22, the team met with Mike Larson. This interview gave valuable insight on the transitioning to clean energy, as well as the challenges that go along with using renewable sources. In the short term, it is recommended to focus on conservation as well as carbon capture technologies. He does not believe carbon capture is feasible for the long term, but it could be a valuable technology to use while technologies such as nuclear are being developed further. He believes that when nuclear is commercially viable, it will be the best option for campus. He also thinks that electrification of the university could be positive, but only if the grid electricity becomes more renewable. At the moment, the efficiency of Abbot is greater than the electricity sources that power the grid. If the campus were to be electrified and converted to hot water, technology such as heat recovery chillers should also be considered.

Heartland Coca-cola provided data from our UIUC purchases from 2016 to part of 2022. There are 3 tabs, broken out by full service, direct delivery bottle/can and BIB. 

Here are the symbols used:

• Dasani 20oz
• Dasani .5L 24pk
• Sparkling (soda) 20oz
• 12oz sparkling cans
• Smartwater 1L
• Dasani 12oz
• Core Power 14oz
• BodyArmor 28oz
• Powerade 28oz 32oz
• Minute Maid Juice Bottles 12oz
• Vitamin Water 20oz
• Dunkin 13.7oz
• Monster single
• Dasani 1L
• Core Power Elite 14oz
• Powerade 20oz
• Gold Peak 18.5oz
• Smartwater 20oz IC

Attached is a banner fund request associated with UIF Fund 337632.

Morgan White, Dhruvaraj Gambhire, and Ali Khan met on 4-6-2022 to discuss what the next steps of the project are.

A file containing the notes from the meeting is attached below.

Please see attached the progress report from 2022 for the Campus Bicycle Master Plan.

Read the 2019 Report for 2014 Campus Bicycle Plan

Attached are the Land and Water iCAP Team April meeting notes. 

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Clark Bullard - Former MechE Professor, Experience in Thermal Systems

On 4/5/22 the team spoke with Clark Bullard. In this meeting, we were provided with valuable insight into the importance of conservation and updating the current steam heating system on campus. In his opinion, the University should focus on conservation mainly and purchase renewable energy from the grid. This would allow more resources to be put towards conservation, where there is currently a lot of energy being lost. Additionally, he stressed the importance of updating the campus heating system to something more modern, such as a hot water and heat pump system. The team found that this interview gave good insight and recommendations on a potential way to approach the energy transition.

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Xinlei Wang - ABE Professor, Experience in Renewable Energy Systems

John Zhao-ABE Doctorate Student, Research in Geothermal Systems

On 4/5/22, the team interviewed Dr. Xinlei Wang and John Zhao. Professor Wang is a subject matter expert with regards to geothermal energy and has done research on other forms of renewable energy. Professor Wang explained that geothermal energy is the most efficient way to both heat and cool buildings and that despite high upfront costs it is a cheaper system to implement than traditional heating and cooling. Professor Wang explained that if the University was to switch to a geothermal system, then it would have to be done building by building and it would take a lot of planning and time. Professor Wang also told the team that geothermal and solar energy can be used together to create an energy efficient system and make it viable for the University.

On Wednesday, March 30th, the Resilience iCAP Team had their second meeting of the semester. The team discussed updates on projects such as the Environmental Justice Plan, the Biodiversity Plan and events for Earth Month. Meeting minutes are attached. 

Lowa Mwilambwe is coordinating a meeting with representatives from Coke, to discuss sustainability options, per the discussion at the Sustainability Sub-council.  They are gathering a team that will be able to engage with our campus both short-term and long-term.