Construction will begin in June on the University of Illinois Campus Instructional Facility (CIF), which will be the first public-private partnership on the UIUC campus and the first geothermal system project of its size and scale. This geothermal installation will be scalable, allowing for expansion to other buildings on the Bardeen Quad. The system will reduce overall usage of other energy sources and provide a form of resiliency when parts of the campus energy system go offline, as well as reduce dependence on the Abbott Power Plant. It will also provide a prime opportunity to seek publicity and coverage to promote the UI as a leader of sustainability. Its completion will be a milestone for the university’s goal of carbon neutrality and will be the first to use this forward looking design while transitioning the campus towards a cleaner tomorrow.

The ECEB is projected to achieve net-zero energy shortly, due to its super-efficient design, construction materials, and recently installed solar panels. In order to celebrate and educate about this achievement, a multi-disciplinary team from ECE, Facilities & Services, iSEE, Engineering AV IT, and the School of FAA is coming together to visualize, construct, program and operate a student-focused display about energy production, utilization, and conservation in the ECEB south lobby. Several thousand students pass through this lobby daily, as well as many campus visitors, including the 10,000+ that come during Engineering Open House. The display will engage students and visitors with a touchscreen and information kiosks, show in real time the energy produced by ECEB’s solar panels and solar farm allotment, and demonstrate the efficiencies of ECEB. With the installation of this display, the building will be able to obtain LEED Platinum certification.

This project will retrofit drying ovens and associated workspace to utilize renewable energy heat from an existing biomass boiler. The College of ACES is financially supporting the construction of a sample processing room to better utilize the existing drying over assets at the Energy Farm, for which the current energy source is propane. The biomass boiler, installed in 2017, has proven to be functional and capable of decreasing carbon. Right now, the primary structure it heats is a greenhouse, from October to April each year. By expanding the months of operation and utilizing excess capacity, an increased value and return on investment will be realized.

“Hyperloop” is a proposed mass transportation method originally theorized by Elon Musk. The system involves a high-speed train, or “pod,” inside of a vacuum tube. In theory, a full-scale design could see pods traveling at up to 700 MPH, making it ideal for inter-city transportation normally taking up to six hours by car, and consuming very little energy. Illini Hyperloop is one of 21 competition teams accepted globally to build a pod for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition. Musk’s SpaceX has built a mile-long Hyperloop tube, which can support a near-vacuum. Student-led teams around the world have entered the competition to race their vehicle. Illini Hyperloop has made it into the competition, and hopes to successfully complete construction of their vehicle, ship it to California, and race it on the track. With many students driving or taking buses to and from campus, a Hyperloop could potentially provide quick, inexpensive, and sustainable public transportation, and link Champaign to cities such as Chicago or St. Louis.

The Illini Union Illini Rooms (I-Rooms) are currently using compact fluorescent lighting fixtures, which are low efficiency, contain mercury, and are expensive to maintain. This project will replace all 72 of these fixtures with LED alternatives. It will increase energy conservation efforts in the Union and reduce its overall carbon footprint. Doing so will also advance iCAP objectives and increase awareness of wasteful energy consumption.

To address the need for sustainability education on campus, this projects will digitize key portions of the ENVS 301 course hosted through Coursera. While the process of creating a full online course is intensive, this project will allow for a separate Intro to Sustainability Module to be available free of charge to all students.

This project will replace the outdated incandescent lighting systems in the museum’s primary gallery for special exhibitions. The current system was installed in 1968 and is still in use. The full replacement will encompass 165 – 395 fixtures. Aside from being wasteful of energy, the current system is also increasingly difficult to maintain and presents several safety concerns. This LED conversion is just one component of the museum’s long-term plan for energy savings and sustainability, which will eventually include further LED conversion and a roof replacement.

Just like any other lab or research facility, the South Farms are a valuable asset to the University of Illinois. In order to have the biggest impact on research, the best equipment and data generation techniques are necessary. This allows the university to practice applicable research that improves the quality of human life. As such, this project will fund the purchase of a combine draper head for the South Farms that will increase productivity, diversify available crops for harvest, and elevate the South Farms to be on par with current farming techniques. All researchers on the South Farms, from small grain researchers to cover crop researchers, will benefit from access to this technology due to the higher rates of harvest, cover crop growth, and environmental return this draper head will generate.

Vision Zero is an international organization with the primary goal of promoting zero fatal and severe injury crashes in cities and communities. This is done by implementing practices which go beyond the traditional approaches to safety – by combing data-driven decision making with the incorporation of human error, community input, and implementing a “Safe Systems” approach. This project’s goal is to have zero traffic crashes at UIUC, making it a safer environment for students and staff. It is expected that traffic incidents will increase on campus due to the rise in bike ridership and construction. This project will investigate which Vision Zero principles could be implemented in order to prevent these dangers, resulting in a report that identifies the safety critical point in the transportation network that can be improved according to Vision Zero.

The primary goal of this project is to create an intuitive and complete open-source loT solution for both research and general use. This system will make data collection as easy as placing sensors where they are needed and adding them to the system through only a few button clicks, after which the cloud-based platform will take care of everything else. The open-source nature of the project leverages non-proprietary solutions and allows developers to expand the data-collection system to new uses. The more ambitious goal of the project is to bridge the gap between research and application. Users will have an opportunity to share data with any research project and benefit from predictive analytics models derived from researchers’ findings in return. The idea is for this feedback loop it greatly speed up the research process and dramatically cut down the efforts to speed the transition of research outcome into practical benefit.

The Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI) is a student-led organization that works to promote the development of renewable energy production at UIUC and to educate the campus community about the advantages of biodiesel. Their primary focus is the production of biodiesel and soap from a feedstock of used vegetable oil obtained from the University Dining Halls. In the past, biodiesel produced by IBI was utilized by University Garage and Carpool Services. With the addition of a glass-lined 400 gallon batch biodiesel reactor and relocation to the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory, IBI will be able to continue to do so. The funding from this project will be allow for the purchase of this reactor, which will enable IBI to increase its production capacity and recycle larger quantities of used vegetable oil.

All, The week previous wasn’t as busy as I anticipated. I keep thinking I’ve got a handle on when the shop will be busy and I keep being surprised by the reality: quiet and calm when it’s nice/sunny and then hustle/bustle when it’s cold and windy. Go figure.

Working backwards:

Saturday was the LCI training for the Bike Rodeo. I’m now certified to teach kid’s bike education courses with the League of American Bicyclists. Going forward I’ll probably sign up for the next level of certifications because it can only help the reach and scope of the Bike Center. Friday was a zero for Fix-a-Flat attendees, unfortunately. Thursday evening was a Bike Maintenance 101 class in the Winter Garden at the ARC. We had three engaged participants and a half dozen or so passersby that grabbed fliers and the sort.

This week we’ve got another Bike Maintenance 101 info session/class at the ARC on Thursday evening. It’d go smoother with a second person so I’ll recruit a staffer for it this week. Friday is our Fix-a-Flat class and our Friday Ride. Projecting to be 70° roughly so hopefully a good turnout for both!
Numbers:

Visitors: 74
Sales: $478.50
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $150
Memberships: 4 for $120
Tire/tube: 8 for $48

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager

https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/news/2019/04/22/solar-panels-added-to-...

All, Apologies for the delay. I was out of town Monday and Tuesday.

Last week was busy. Hovered around 20 people in per day. Warm weather always helps. We had our third Fix-a-Flat class and again no attendees, unfortunately. The students hosted their Friday Ride and one person showed up (former employee). I tabled at the Health Fair last Tuesday and got to chat with the UIPD officer stationed next to me. He referred me to the METCAD phone # in the event of cyclists witnessing or experiencing unsafe car/truck drivers on campus.

This week was obviously truncated with me being out of town. The student staff operated the shop in my absence. I’ll check in with them this week and see how that went. Tomorrow evening is the Bike Maintenance info session/class in the winter garden from 7 – 8pm. Friday is the first Full Moon Ride, a community bicycling event here in town, so I’ll talk that up. It is easily our most popular cycling-related event in the warmer months here in town.
Numbers:

Visitors: 96
Sales: $717.50
Memberships: 4 for $120
Bike (refurb): 2 for $350
Tire/tube: 11 for $55

Thanks!

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager