You are here

Content filtered by visibility: Public

Project Updates

  2. Bike Registration Signs: 6/26 meeting between Sarthak and Shayna

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Registration

    In today’s meeting, we discussed the email we received from ARC about location and size of our signs. We are sticking with the size we discussed earlier, 12x18, and the idea is to mount them on posts. However, that will have an additional cost so the range of signs and posts we can produce will be around 10-15. That will be enough to target our priority locations. Before the next meeting with the ARC on Tuesday, we have to finalize a map with the specific locations pinpointed with images. This map will be created by Sarthak Prasad because he will be using the Bike Census information.

  3. Article: Can Solar Farms Help Save Bees?

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 2.0
    Bee Campus USA
    Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas

    Discover Magazine released an article highlighting the biodiversity benefits that can stem from pairing solar farms with pollinator-friendly plants. Supporting its claims with initiatives from universities across the country, the article recognizes the University of Illinois' pollinator habitat at Solar Farm 2.0.

    Read the article on Discover Magazine. Or, refer to the PDF of the article in the attached files.

     

    Attached Files: 

  4. News-Gazette article about CIF geothermal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) with Second Nature
    Issue Press Releases and Sustainability Reports
    Illinois Geothermal Coalition

    The News-Gazette printed this story about the geothermal at the Campus Instructional Facility: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/university-illinois/renewable-en...

     

    "URBANA — The University of Illinois’ glossy new building at Springfield Avenue and Wright Street represents the next step in its sustainability goals.

    The four-story, 122,000- square-foot, $75 million Campus Instructional Facility is also the biggest geothermal installation on the UI campus.

    Its geothermal system can pump 135 tons of hot or cool air into the building. That’s twice as much as the next biggest geothermal system on campus, and about 30 times the amount pumped into an average home.

    “The whole world knows about solar and wind power and things like that — hydroelectric power, too — but that’s only the electric side of energy. Energy also includes heating and cooling,” said Morgan White, director of sustainability at UI Facilities & Services. “It’s truly transformative, because it’s moving into the phase of getting us clean thermal energy and not just clean electricity.”

    Electricity provides heating and cooling as well, she said, but it’s primarily provided by natural gas, propane and other nonrenewable sources of energy.

    The key to the geothermal endeavor? Forty boreholes dug into the Bardeen Quad next to Grainger Library. They’re 20 feet apart, 6 inches wide and drilled 450 feet deep.

    Initially, the project required 60 boreholes, but UI researchers reduced that figure — and made the system financially feasible — by checking the thermal conductivity of different rock and soil layers, or the rate that heat passes through them, while considering the depth and flow rate of groundwater.

    To keep the building temperate year-round, a mixture of water and glycol circulates from a heat pump in the mechanical room into a pipe that runs up and down the underground field of boreholes.

    In winter, the pump pulls heat from the ground into the building. In summer, heat is pumped from the building back into the ground.

    “It’s like when you have a bathtub that’s a little too hot or a little too cold, and you pour some water in and stir it up,” White said.

    In all, the system reduces the building’s energy consumption by 65 percent compared to a typical heating/cooling installation, saving about $45,000 per year.

    Student initiatives helped fund the state-of-the-art thermal system. The 18-member Student Sustainability Committee, funded by the annual “Green Fee” assessed on students, allocated $375,000 — or about 13 percent of the system’s cost — to the facility’s geothermal installation.

    The building has a number of other unique features. It contains two dozen new classrooms — one of the highest figures on campus — replete with active-learning and distance-learning spaces. In the fall, engineering courses will occupy most of the space, along with math, statistics and other technical classes.

    The facility is also the first UI building funded through a public-private partnership, which allows for tax-exempt financing.

    Meanwhile, faculty and graduate students will use temperature information from a 385-foot-deep monitoring well, funded by Facilities & Services and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment, for continued research opportunities. 

    As part of the Illinois Climate Action Plan, the university plans to get to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    Currently, around 12 percent of electricity is provided by renewable sources, like the solar and wind farms near campus, White said. But only 4.5 percent of the UI’s total energy use, counting thermal, comes from renewable sources.

    “Clean electricity is important, but it’s not enough,” White said.

    In the planning stages, the UI wasn’t supposed to start implementing geothermal systems until 2035, but a suggestion by Yu-Feng Forrest Lin of the Prairie Research Institute jump-started that process."

  5. Fun Times at the TED Talk: Eco-Edition Event!

    Associated Project(s): 
    TED Talk: Eco Edition Series [ARCHIVED]

    We had a fantastic June TED Talk: Eco-Edition discussion on water conservation on 6/24! Attached is Vica Otrubina’s presentation. After watching Kelsey Leonard’s TED Talk, “Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans”, Vica did a terrific job hosting the group discussion. I have been thinking about the question she posed, “Corporations are recognized to have ‘human rights’. Do you think it’s possible for us to extend these rights to water/air/etc.?” since the conversation yesterday. Stay tuned for our July conversation by signing up for the iSEE newsletter and continuing the conversation on the Waste Reduction @ Illinois Facebook group. See you soon!

    Attached Files: 

  7. list of projects needed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Independent Student Projects
    Tree Campus Higher Education
    NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate
    Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) [ARCHIVED]

    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 6/24/21:

    • Develop informational messaging about SmartWay, get more UIUC departments aware of the program, and coordinate a related student event.  Contact Morgan White at mbwhite at illinois.edu.
    • Conduct a campus poll (fall semester 2021) regarding the Top 10 most iconic/significant/impressive trees on campus (including the arboretum). Develop an online survey tool (i.e., an online poll) whereby students and campus employees can nominate their favorite campus trees. Upon conclusion of the survey, work with Jay Hayek to tabulate and rank the results and create a publicly viewable ArcGIS Online StoryMap showcasing campuses Top Ten Trees. Prepare a presentation of results for the annual Arbor Day Celebration. Contact Jay Hayek at jhayek at illinois.edu.
    • Follow through with Facility Liasons for implementation of recommendations from NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors class: Illini Union.
    • Follow through with Facility Liasons for implementation of recommendations from NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors class: Huff Hall.
    • Follow through with Facility Liasons for implementation of recommendations from NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors class: ECE Building.
    • Follow through with Facility Liasons for implementation of recommendations from NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors class: Armory.
    • Follow through with Facility Liasons for implementation of recommendations from NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors class: Bevier Hall.
    • 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.
    • We are seeking a student volunteer who can do tree identification for a series of trees in the Arboretum, and work with the University Landscape Architect, Brent Lewis, and the Superintendent of Grounds, Ryan Welch, to compare the tree identification to the draft tree inventory. 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. [Press Release] Businesses Call on Illinois Governor to Support Electric Trucks and Buses

    Associated Project(s): 
    Electric Vehicle (EV) Task Force

    Below is a press release provided by Electrification Coalition (www.ElectrificationCoalition.org):

    More than 40 businesses urge Gov. Pritzker to join multi-state agreement to electrify medium- and heavy-duty vehicles

     

    Washington, D.C.— Dozens of businesses, including global vehicle manufacturing leaders, urged Gov. J. B. Pritzker to support the electrification of trucks and buses throughout Illinois. The Electrification Coalition delivered a letter Thursday signed by 41 businesses, asking the governor to join the Multi-State Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero Emission Vehicle Memorandum of Understanding, pledging that at least 30 percent of all new trucks and buses sold in Illinois will be zero-emission vehicles by 2030, and 100 percent by 2050.

    “Illinois is establishing itself as a national leader in the manufacturing of medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles,” said Lion Electric CEO and founder, Marc Bedard. “Gov. Pritzker’s administration has been a fantastic partner in working with Lion to select Joliet, Ill., for our upcoming U.S. manufacturing facility. The governor’s participation in the Multi-State Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero Emission Vehicle Memorandum of Understanding would further solidify the state’s ongoing commitment to clean transportation and pave the way for thousands more clean energy and manufacturing jobs in the state, paying dividends for decades to come.”

    Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have already signed onto the agreement. Illinois’s participation would build on Gov. Pritzker’s existing work to advance the adoption of electric vehicles, including the dedication of all Volkswagen settlement funds to electric vehicle deployment. The governor has set a goal of getting 750,000 electric vehicles on the road in Illinois by 2030, and he aims to make Illinois “the best state in the country to manufacture and drive an electric vehicle.” The Illinois General Assembly this year adopted a resolution urging Gov. Pritzker to add Illinois to the multi-state agreement to electrify medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

    “Illinois is well positioned to be the first state in the Midwest to commit to the MOU,” said Chris Nevers, Senior Director of Environmental Policy at Rivian. “With sound policy and strong partners, Illinois can continue to demonstrate leadership in environmental responsibility and advanced manufacturing, which will have major benefits to the state's economy and promote job growth.”

    Rivian’s first manufacturing campus is located in Normal, Ill., where the company is building its R1 SUV and pickup truck products and its commercial vans. Rivian’s teams at the Normal campus include manufacturing engineering and operations, supply chain and logistics, IT and customer engagement. Other signatories to the letter include Volvo Trucks North America, Proterra, Mack Trucks, Parsons, Siemens, Lion Electric and more than two dozen Illinois small businesses.

    Robust public investment and regulatory reform along the EV supply chain has the potential to create more than 500,000 jobs across the United States over a five-year period, according to a report by the Electrification Coalition and Securing America’s Future Energy. Nearly 154,000 of those jobs would stem from incentives that make it less expensive to purchase medium- and heavy-duty EVs like trucks and buses.

    “Illinois’s participation in the multi-state agreement to electrify trucks and buses is imperative to growing the state’s leadership in automotive manufacturing, with major implications for the economy and future jobs,” said Ben Prochazka, executive director of the Electrification Coalition. “The electrification of transportation is a question of when – not if. Illinois has a chance to help our nation pick up the pace so that we can remain competitive on the global stage.”

    Lion Electric, a leading manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty urban vehicles, announced in May that it has selected Joliet, Ill., for the construction of its U.S. manufacturing facility. The new facility will represent the largest dedicated production site for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the United States. The 900,000 sq-ft facility is expected to add a minimum of 745 jobs to the region over the next three years, with an annual production capacity of up to 20,000 all-electric buses and trucks.

    The United States is currently the world’s largest consumer of petroleum, accounting for one-fifth of global daily supply; oil accounts for more than 90 percent of energy use in the U.S. transportation sector. The country’s overwhelming dependence on oil has broad implications for public health, national security, the climate and the future of American manufacturing jobs.

    Conventional vehicles are a leading source of air pollutants that affect human health. Emissions from internal combustion engines (ICEs) contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, which can trigger health problems such as aggravated asthma, reduced lung capacity and increased susceptibility to respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia and bronchitis. And transportation is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

    "As a digital agency that builds the internet for a living, our work sometimes replaces the need for physical transportation,” said Tim Frick, president of Mightybytes, a Chicago digital agency and Certified B Corp. “However, COVID-19 also forced millions of people to shop exclusively online, increasing the need to transport goods long distances. Transportation is a huge source of carbon emissions. Electrifying freight vehicles can help us significantly reduce this environmental impact."

    ICE vehicles, particularly those used for freight, are a major source of particulate matter, which is linked to lung cancer, heart attacks and other health issues. Low-income and minority communities are more likely to be located near highways and other transportation facilities that lead to negative health effects resulting from vehicle emissions.

    “I grew up in a city with heavily polluted air, and it is not an experience I wish upon anybody,” said Soroush Yousefisahi, founder of Boomerang Coffee of Chicago, which aims to use electric vehicles to transport its products. “So I urge Gov. Pritzker to take this step to electrify vehicles in the near future to preserve our well-being and natural resources and encourage all businesses to rethink the way of the past.”

    According to the American Lung Association, widespread adoption of electric vehicles by 2050 would result in an estimated savings of $72 billion per year in health costs nationally. In Illinois alone, the annual benefits would include $3.2 billion in avoided health-impact costs, 274 premature deaths avoided, 4,106 asthma attacks avoided and 18,735 lost work days avoided.

    “EV infrastructure takes vehicles from local polluters to zero emissions, drastically reducing unhealthy emissions from vehicles that enter buildings like fire stations and warehouses,” said Jamie Johnson, CEO of Verde Energy Efficiency Experts, which works with Chicagoland commercial and municipal buildings on energy efficiency, cost savings and building health. “In addition to saving transportation costs, further building gains can be found from reducing exhaust management. EVs represent not only an improvement in transit, but an important piece for the sustainable future our state needs."

    # # # 

    About the Electrification Coalition: The Electrification Coalition is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes policies and actions to facilitate the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) on a mass scale in order to overcome the economic, public health and national security challenges that stem from America’s dependence on oil. For more information, visit electrificationcoalition.org.

  11. archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    Kill a Watt Monitors at Libraries

    There are three Kill A Watt monitors that the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) bought for the Student Weatherization Program.  After the SSC project was done, the Kill A Watt monitors were given to the University Library so that other students can use them. To check out a Kill A Watt device, request one through the Library Catalog at https://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/vf-uiu/Record/uiu_6491875. 

    To find it directly, go to library.illinois.edu.  Click on catalogs in the light blue section of the page, and choose library catalog.  It will open a search page, and users can search for “kill a watt” to get the link above.

  12. 2021 International Freezer Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    Freezer Challenge

     

    Research, managing labs, and personnel keeping you busy? No worries!

    International Freezer Challenge Coordinators can enter your lab's information and the cold-storage sample management efforts you have made during the past year.

    Any changes, upgrades, cleaning out, defrostings, filter cleanings, and reductions to freezer/refrigerators can all be added to your score sheets. 

    Sample management, reductions, inventory creation or changes and upgrades, as well as, increasing room-temperature sample-storage inventory are all actions that increase your score and reduce the environmental impact of your lab operations.

    All actions in sample management you have made since August 2020 help your lab improve environmental impact, reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption, and are eligible to boost your lab and UIUC's overall point totals in the 2021 International Freezer Challenge.

    If you would like us to register your lab and complete your score sheet?

    • Send a completed copy of the linked word document with your action items, or send a request for assistance to gfoote2@illinois.edu.
    • If requesting assistance, we will arrange a time to meet with you and gather the necessary information to complete your lab's registration and scorecard.

    Help UIUC defend our 1st place international standing and win the opportunity to be highlighted and have your photo in NATURE magazine!

    For more information and questions about the International Freezer Challenge, please contact Paul Foote, F&S energy efficiency and conservation specialist, gfoote2@illinois.edu, 217-244-1048.

     

     

  13. June Tour at Allerton Park & Retreat Center

    Associated Project(s): 
    Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) [ARCHIVED]
    Allerton Climate Action Plan (apCAP)
    Solar Power on Campus
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    For June, CCNet has arranged and sponsored a tour at Allerton Park & Retreat Center. This tour will take place on Friday, June 25th at 3:00 PM CDT. As mentioned in their monthly newsletter: 

     

    Tour at Allerton & Food at 3 Ravens

    Date: Friday, June 25th at 3:00 PM CDT
    Location:
    Allerton Park & Retreat Center (515 Old Timber Road, Monticello, IL 61856) &
    3 Ravens (108 South Charter, Monticello, IL 61856)

    Join us on a tour of Allerton!

    We will be meeting near the outside patio of Greenhouse Cafe at Allerton Park & Retreat Center. During this tour, Derek Peterson, the Director of Allerton, will show us clean energy installations at the center and we will visit the compost toilet funded by the Student Sustainability Committee. The Clivus Multrum compost toilet system is installed at the park’s Schroth Trailhead, providing park volunteers, trail-hikers, and other visitors the ability to use the restroom in an environmentally sustainable and convenient manner without needing to travel all the way to the Visitor Center to do so.

    Afterward, all are more than welcome to continue your visit to Allerton or join us for a quick bite at 3 Ravens in Monticello, IL!

    Please note that coordinated transportation will not be provided for this event. If you would like to drive to the event, parking is available at multiple locations around the park.

    Learn More About Planning Your Visit (Parking & Accessibility)

  14. TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series on Water Conservation this Thursday!

    Associated Project(s): 
    TED Talk: Eco Edition Series [ARCHIVED]

    Hello all and happy Sunday! We have our next TED Talk: Eco-Edition event on the topic of water conservation and policy on Thursday! Vica Otrubina, a graduate student in Civil & Environmental Engineering, is this month’s host. She will be showing a pre-recorded TED Talk from December 2019 by Kelsey Leonard, “Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans” followed by a guided discussion. I am really looking forward to this topic and hope you are able to join!

    The discussion will be held on Thursday evening, June 24, from 6 – 7 PM on Zoom. Register here. As always, all are welcome to attend. Grab a snack, invite anyone else who may be interested, and get ready for a thought-provoking and enlightening discussion in a casual environment – not to mention, a fun time with great folks! J Have suggestions for future TED Talk topics or hosts? Let me know!

    Have a good week and see you on Zoom Thursday evening,
    Meredith

  15. Recent Environmental Justice Projects

    Associated Project(s): 
    Environmental Justice Plan
    Independent Student Projects

    The following list was provided by Warren Lavey and includes a detailed description about recent Environmental Justice projects:

    • Project for: Stop EtO (community environmental organization in Lake County, Illinois)
      • Environmental injustice: air pollution from industrial activities affecting low-income, minority communities
      • Status: ongoing
      • Students involved: 4 (law and medicine)
    •  
    • Project for: Forest Preserve District of Champaign County
      • Environmental injustice: lower access to and use of parks and other resources by low-income, minority communities
      • Status: ongoing
      • Students involved: 1 (undergrad in integrative biology)
    •  
    • Project for: Asociación Petón do Lobo (community environmental organization in Spain)
      • Environmental injustice: waste from taconite mining operations threatening small, low-income farmers; national and regional governments denied residents access to environmental information and participation in licensing proceedings
      • Status: ongoing
      • Students involved: 7 (law)
    • Project for: Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (community environmental organization in Chicago)
      • Environmental injustice: proposed expansion of a truck terminal near an elementary school for low-income, minority students
      • Status: completed (buffer with trees planted)
      • Students involved: 2 (undergrads in public health and computer science)
    •  
    • Project for: Friends of Riverfront Park (community organization in Peoria)
      • Environmental injustice: proposed conversion to develop luxury apartments of 20+ acres of a city park that was financed by the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and borders on affordable housing
      • Status: completed (park conserved)
      • Students involved: 2 (law)
    •  
    • Project for: NAACP of Sandbranch, Texas
      • Environmental injustice: lack of adequate water and sewage infrastructure for a town of low-income, minority residents
      • Status: completed (state and federal funding obtained)
      • Students involved: 2 (law)
    •  
    • Project for: Gullah/Geechee Nation (African-American group in coastal South Carolina and Georgia)
      • Environmental injustice: proposed highways disrupting cultural heritage sites for low-income, minority residents
      • Status: completed (highway construction not approved)
      • Students involved: 2 (law)

  17. Seventh Annual BeeBlitz

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Calling all citizen-scientists! The Seventh Annual BeeBlitz will be on Saturday, June 26th, 2021 from 9-11 AM CDT! 

    To attend, meet at the Pollinatarium or go bee spotting in a forest, prairie, or backyard near you! Bring your camera or smartphone and be ready to snap photos of honey & bumblebees, then upload them to BeeSpotter to contribute to its database of Midwestern bee spottings.

    Learn more about the BeeBlitz.

  18. Weekly Update: Shop cleaning; Bike donations; Juneteenth Freedom Ride; Moonlight rides

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Made some progress last week on the surplus of scrap bikes that we’d been accumulating. Shop is looking cleaner. Thanks to Todd for picking that up this weekend. We got seven bikes donated from Champaign Cycle, which I was able to pick up on the bike trailer. One of those bikes was a very quick fix and is on the floor ready to be sold. We replaced a damaged fork and now the bike is orange and blue—how appropriate!
    I interviewed and began the hiring process for a new student worker.
    The community bike ride season is well underway as there was a Juneteenth Freedom Ride last Saturday and two moonlight rides happening this week—one on Friday and one on Wednesday. We’ll talk that up to any visitors this week.

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 16
    Sales: $508
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $290
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Misc: 7 for $41

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  20. suggestion for servicing solar arrays

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Power on Campus

    Perhaps there should be a standard developed for solar on buildings with monitoring and connectivity requirements. trouble shooting issues could go to a service contract to handle or there could be a work order for the F&S electricians. We should certainly train the campus electricians on everything that needs to happen for maintaining solar systems, or get a standing service contract.

Pages