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ECE Building

306 North Wright Street
61801 Urbana , IL
United States
Illinois

Projects at this location

Project Description
Electrical and Computer Engineering Building: LEED Platinum

Illinois ECE achieved LEED Platinum certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at achieving high performance in: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, sustainable construction and waste management, and indoor environmental quality. The ECE Building is designed to be one of the largest net-zero energy buildings of its kind in the country and includes countless features to help meet that goal. Many of those features also contributed to its LEED Platinum certification. 
Solar Desalination

The Solar Desalination funding program will develop novel technologies or concepts using solar thermal energy to assist in creating freshwater from otherwise unusable waters. Thermal desalination is a potential solution to increase water supplies for municipal water and agriculture, and is an important technology to purify water produced from various industrial processes, including oil and gas production.
Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power Systems (Gen3CSP)

The Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power Systems (Gen3CSP) funding program will take successful, high temperature, lab-scale sub-component concentrating solar power technologies, develop them into integrated assemblies, and test these components and systems through a wide range of conditions.
Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of Sunlight (FOCUS)

FOCUS projects aim to enable cost-effective solar energy systems that offer the best of today's existing technologies: high-efficiency conversion of sunlight to electricity and stored, dispatchable energy from heat.
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center helps solve the nation’s most challenging problems in civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, Department of Defense, civilian agencies, and the Nation’s public good.
Decision Frameworks for Multi-Hazard Resilient and Sustainable Buildings (RSB)

The goal of the Decision Frameworks for Multi-Hazard Resilient and Sustainable Buildings (RSB) solicitation is to advance knowledge for new concepts for multi-hazard resilient and sustainable building systems using decision frameworks for selection among alternative building system designs
Building Technologies Office

The Building Technologies office leads a network of research and industry partners to continually develop innovative, cost-effective energy saving solutions in building design. Some of the relevant programs under the Building Technologies office include 

  1. Emerging Technologies
  2. Residential Building
SUNSHOT Initiative

The SUNSHOT initiative is a national effort to support solar energy adoption by making solar energy affordable for all Americans through research and development efforts in collaboration with public and private partners.
Structural and Architectural Engineering and Materials (SAEM)

SAEM aims to enable sustainable buildings and other structures that can be continuously occupied and/or operated during the structure’s useful life. The SAEM program supports fundamental research for advancing knowledge and innovation in structural and architectural engineering and materials that promotes a holistic approach to analysis and design, construction, operation, maintenance, retrofit, and repair of structures.
Energy for Sustainability

The program supports fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and for energy storage. These processes must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and use renewable resources.
ECE LED Lighting

Construction on a state-of-the-art facility for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) began on October 7, 2011. One of the features of the building is the use of LED bulbs in over half of the lighting fixtures. Nick Holonyak, University alumnus and inventor of the first practical visible-spectrum LED, is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics.
ECE Net-Zero Energy Building

The ECE Building acheived LEED platinum certification in November 2019, and it is striving for a net-zero energy certification. From a vast array of photovoltaic cells, to a chilled beam system to cool and heat the classroom tower, ECE wil accomplish a major campus addition with maximum space and minimal carbon footprint.

Excerpt from the ECE building website:
ECE Rooftop Solar PVs

The new ECE building is designed to include Solar Panels on its roof. The panels will provide about 11% of the building's energy needs.  The infrastructure for connecting these panels to the building electric supply was included in the original design and construction costs for the full building, while the solar panels themselves were funded separately. This specific project is to have a series of photovoltaic solar arrays on the roof of the building with a 300 kW peak power rating, capable of generating an estimated 470 MWh of electricity annually.

Projects

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