As a great public university system, we are accountable to many different individuals and communities – on our campuses, throughout Illinois and around the world. This accountability includes making clear where we stand on issues that affect our academic enterprise, our students, our faculty and staff, and our campus culture.
The CU Youth Sustainability Committee, which is made up of local high school students, hosted their first CU Youth Sustainability Summit on Saturday, October 13th, 2018. This summit focused on Climate Change and the importance of Local Sustainability.
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.
Atop the Undergraduate Library is a rooftop terrace that features the building entrances, seating, and look down into the lower courtyard. This rooftop also has tree pockets built into the roof, that are supported by building infrastructure featured in the orginal plans for the building. The trees in these pockets make the terrace into a green roof for the UNdergraduate Library. They provide protection from direct sunlight and the evaporation of moisure off of plant material that can cool the buidling's rooftops and lowering energy costs from cooling while increasing the roofs lifespan.
The roofing material on Bousfield is designed to reduce solar heat absorption, keeping the environment cooler and using less energy for air conditioning. In addition to other materials used to accomplish this, small patches of green roof located on the north and southwest sides of the building were also added. The landscape, including these patches of green roof, is designed with native and drought-tolerant plants to reduce dependency on potable water, as well as reduce the amount of maintenance that needs to be done to support the green roof plants.
According to the Control Mandate #13 - Solid Waste Management Act (415 ILCS 20/3.1 thru 20/3.1), each State-supported institution of higher learning shall develop a comprehensive waste reduction plan covering a period of 10 years which addresses the management of solid waste generated by academic, administrative, student housing and other institutional functions.
On April 11, 2019, Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory (IBRL) was awarded the LEED Silver certification
The Lincoln Hall remodeling project consisted of the rehabilitation, restoration, and remodeling of Lincoln Hall on the main quadrangle of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Campus. Three small courtyard additions were also part of the project. Two small green roofs (designed as sedum meadows) were also planted on the coutyard on SE and SW side.
In the Fall of 2012, as a further step to conserve natural resources and encourage sustainability throughout the University of Illinois south campus, a 2,860 square-foot green roof system was developed for the conference center roof, adjoining the iHotel. This eco-friendly system created additional green space and complements the natural landscaping that has already been implemented in the Research Park.
In October 2018, the Chemistry Annex acheived Gold LEED Certification status.
