Tom Abram was the Sustainability Coordinator at F&S when the ACUPCC was signed and the Climate Action Plan was written.  He prepared this vision for funding sustainability efforts on campus in 2008.

Allerton Park, located in Monticello, Ill., was previously the private estate of Robert Henry Allerton. In 1946 Allerton Park was given as a gift to the University of Illinois by Robert Allerton as “an educational and research center, as a forest and wildlife and plant-life reserve, as an example of landscape architecture, and as a public park”. Today, the park is used for various purposes, such as business meetings, hiking, and weddings.

Allerton Park is 4.7 miles away from downtown Monticello and has three entrances to it. One of these entrances is a North Entrance that leads from Old Timber Road. Allerton Park wishes to construct a pedestrian pathway which runs alongside Old Timber Road, connecting the Visitor Centre of the park to County Farm Road, which is connected to downtown Monticello. However, a quarter mile north from the visitors center the path is obstructed by a creek, which is difficult to cross. Allerton Park needs a solution that would help connect the two ends of this path over the creek. They wish to construct a bike path that would connect all three entrances of the Park and be a form of transportation within the park. Allerton Park wishes to draw visitors towards the park via a safe and sustainable transportation method and to promote a positive relationship between users and the natural environment. Also, this bridge project will assist the student organization, Bridge to China, to build sustainable bridges in future bridge projects in China.

This project seeks to significantly reduce Allerton Park’s net energy usage while, at the same time, promoting clean, renewable energy.  This will be done by converting the facility’s most inefficient and outdated heating and cooling system, located within the Gatehouse building, to geothermal heating and cooling.  As a U of I entity, Allerton Park strives to lead the way in upholding the University’s climate commitment by proactively encouraging sound and sustainable building principles.  As a climate leader, Allerton Park is committed to encouraging alternative energy initiatives, improving energy efficiency, and engaging students in supporting alternative sources of energy. 

By providing convenient bottle filling stations at water fountains in several heavily-trafficked campus buildings and libraries, the goal of this project was to wean the student body off of plastic water bottle consumption, lower campus waste generation, and encourage students, faculty, staff, and visitors to adopt environmentally-conscious habits. A marketing campaign called “Tap That” was coordinated to publicize the project and educate the campus community about the numerous benefits of reusable water bottles. In total, the project expenses were $15,160.

When most people think about clean energy, many just think wind and solar. However, the truth is that with the rapid increase in technology and innovation within the last few decades, the possibilities for renewable energy have increased exponentially. Biodiesel, for instance, is one that many people are not familiar with but should be because it is leading the way in clean fuel production. Biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be made from a diverse mix of feedstocks including recycled cooking oil, soybean oil, and animal fats.

In addition to the club, the team working on this project found that an education component would be very beneficial to spreading their overarching goals of sustainability across the campus. Because of that, they created a class that students from all disciplines can take and piloted it this semester. The objective of the class competent is to educate students on the project and hopefully increase student and campus involvement in sustainability. I had the opportunity to check out the class earlier this week. I got to see the entire progress that the oil goes through first hand, and it was incredible. The SSC plans to follow up again after they are moved into their permanent location so stay tuned for further progress and innovation updates.UIUC is participating in the development and expansion of biodiesel in many ways. On campus, there is a registered student organization dedicated to it called The Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI). Their primary mission is to produce biodiesel and soap from waste vegetable oil (WVO) collected from campus dining halls in an effort to reduce emissions and promote sustainability on campus. The Student Sustainability Committee initially voted to fund the Illinois Biodiesel Initiative during its 2012-13 funding cycle; however, due IBI being forced out of their old site at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, SSC funding was put on hold. While they wait for their permanent site in the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory, IBI is currently running scaled-down production in a space in Roger Adams Laboratory.

In the meantime, aside from the class, there are several other opportunities to get involved with the initiative and in the club. Students can join any of the four subgroups which include production/testing, Soap (production or research), Finance, and Special Projects. They are always looking for new members from all grade levels.

This is a two-part project. Part 1 is the development of a K-12 sustainability education online resource, probably in the form of a website. There are many existing online educational resources for teaching about sustainability in K-12 education, but they are scattered and some of the information is poor quality and some is difficult to find. Part 2 is a proposal for funding “new” course development and delivery. The course would cover both content information related to sustainability and methods for teaching it. Students would complete a major project that could involve either K-12 education or on-campus UI student education.