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  1. Krannert Art Museum LED Lamp Retrofit

    The Krannert Art Museum approached the Student Sustainability Committee with an immediate need to improve their lighting profile. This specific LED Lamp Retrofit project would switch from incandescent lamps to LED lamps in the Noel Gallery and the East Galleries. Given its variety of available lamps, its efficiency values, and its non-UV characteristics, LED lamps are an ideal solution for these galleries at Krannert Art Museum.

  2. Field to Fuel-Biomass

    This project involves purchasing and installing a biomass boiler at the Energy Farm, in order to heat a research greenhouse using Miscanthus that is grown on the Energy Farm. The hope for the project is that a successful pilot will pave the way toward expanded use of biomass heating on our campus in order to reduce our campus greenhouse gas emissions.

  3. Element House at the Energy Farm

    The 2007 Solar Decathlon house is coming home to Champaign Urbana to a permanent foundation at the University Energy Farm. Funds have been secured for its transportation, placement on a permanent foundation, utility hook ups, and inspection of current systems to ensure safe working order. Funding from the Student Sustainability Committee will defray the costs of upgrading the systems and bringing the house up to code. To meet these goals, the solar array will need to be redesigned and reconstructed; the electrical, lighting, and HVAC systems will need to be updated; and new monitoring equipment will need to be installed. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to have a fully functioning net negative energy residential model home. Student groups are assuming the responsibility for all design, construction, and monitoring tasks as they are able.

  4. Farm and Fiber

    Fresh Press, in collaboration with the Sustainable Student Farm (SSF) and the Woody Perennial Polyculture (WPP) site, are aiming to grow student opportunities through individual and collaborative research and public engagement efforts. The money requested in the Farm and Fiber grant will contribute to the acquisition of walk-in coolers, perennial crops, bee hives/equipment, additional paper dry box, a bailer/hay rake, and a bale shredder blower. This equipment will benefit each project at the SSF by increasing farm production and allowing for increased agricultural fiber yield, leading to a growth in paper production. This increased capacity will triple production capacity and allow greater opportunity for university paper commissions and student workshops in Fresh Press facilities at South Studios.

  5. Nitrile Glove Recycling

    The Nitrile Glove Recycling Program is an expansion of a preliminary pilot program performed by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC). The initial pilot program collected gloves used in the laboratory setting in one central location. Gloves were collected from individual ISTC laboratories once a week into a larger collection container, and were stockpiled until there was sufficient volume to ship to the supplier. This project expands the pilot test to several more buildings on campus as a stepping stone to eventually serving the entire campus.

  6. SECS Re_home landscaping

    In 2011, students at faculty from the University of Illinois develop the Re_Home for the Solar Decathlon Competition. As a result of a new landscaping and beautification plan, the Re_Home has found a permanent place on campus. In maintaining a “sustainability ideology”, the landscaping plans for this project are geared toward sustainability with the use of native, low maintenance plants as well as vegetables, edible herbs, and fruit trees. The Re_Home is an exemplary embodiment of sustainability and its permanent home will serve as a showcase in sustainability education.

  7. Sheltered Bicycle Parking

    Providing safe and convenient locations for bicycle parking is one of the key ways the University can support increased bicycle ridership and greener commuting. The goal of this project is to construct a secure, sheltered bicycle parking area for students, faculty, and staff at the Chemical and Life Sciences Building and the Roger Adams Laboratory. These parking structures are modeled after the sheltered bicycle parking currently located at the Ikenberry Commons.

  8. Composites in Aviation

    Student Aircraft Builders (SAB) is an organization dedicated to teaching students from all across campus how to work together as a team to successfully construct a flyable airplane. The goal of the Composites in Aviation project has two phases. The first phase constructs a quarter scale glider powered by alternative energy. The second phase graduates from a model to a full-sized glider. Through the use of composite materials and an innovate design from an aerospace engineer, the finished glider will exemplify the future of more fuel-efficient long-range flight.

  9. Sustainable Agriculture Food System Tomato Processing

  10. Recycling on the Quad

    The intent of this project is to improve the waste process in and around the Quad. The first step will be merging the existing 40 stand-alone refuse containers with twenty new recycling bins to create a total of 30 combined waste/recycling stations. All containers will be cleaned, painted, and color-coded to clearly indicate that one bin is for recycling and one is only for landfill-directed refuse. In addition to the expanded bin options, signage will be placed in the buildings on the Quad to launch the new standards and clarify what can be recycled. To measure the impact from this project, waste audits will be conducted before and after the proposed changes.

  11. New ECE Building Project Solar Panels

    The new Electrical and Computer Engineering building (New ECE building) will be operational starting the fall semester of 2014, and will be a unique green building on the University of Illinois campus. It is designed to be the most energy efficient engineering building in the world and is targeting LEED platinum certification, the highest rating for efficiency. With the full planned solar energy complement, the building is projected to achieve net zero energy status. The facility will be one of the two largest net-zero energy buildings in the United States. It will be a facility that supports all its own energy needs – on average over each year – leaving no carbon or fossil consumption footprint. Although the ECE building design itself is intended to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the energy objectives go far beyond this rating to true energy sustainability.

  12. Coffee Ground Repurposing

    The Coffee Ground Repurposing Project, spearheaded by University Housing, seeks to create a coffee ground recycling network on the University of Illinois campus. Rather than discarding used coffee grounds and sending them to a landfill, University Housing will offer used coffee grounds from the dining halls to the public for composting and re-use. The project has two main goals. First, the project will further minimize the amount of food items being directed to the landfill from University Dining Halls. Second, and more importantly, the program will be an educational tool to demonstrate to UIUC students how nearly every item they dispose of has an alternative use as opposed to being sent to the landfill.

  13. Campus community Garden Fostering Sustainable Food

    The Campus Community Garden (CCG) will be designed by students, built, and planted on the grounds of the University of Illinois Turf Farm. The CCG will look and feel like a typical allotment-style community garden, but the management of the garden will be focused on undergraduate learning opportunities. To this end, half of the individual garden plots (24 raised beds) will be made available to students for independent gardening activities and experimentation. The other 24 raised bed garden plots will be used for teaching, demonstration, and outreach on urban agriculture, and they will also serve as important examples of successful production methods for student gardeners.

  14. Energy Shade Curtains-Phase III

    Energy shade curtains have many benefits for greenhouses including optimization of natural light reaching the crop canopy and reductions in heating inputs and electricity for cooling equipment and lighting. This is the 3rd phase of funding provided to the Plant Care Facility (Turner Hall Greenhouses) for curtain installation and programming, and 7 additional curtains were installed at a total cost of $71,000. Meters installed in rooms with and without curtains continue to track energy savings, and have shown an overall 50% heating use reduction, 30% electricity use reduction, and 30% water use reduction (for cooling) during fall and winter months.

  15. Archived web info - CSE SSC page

    Student Sustainability Committee

    SSC Chair, Suhail Barot

    The Student Sustainability Committee'spurpose is to:

    1) explore the options for the use of the student fees for sustainability and alternative energy generation, and 2) evaluate the feasibility of projects being discussed with the professional assistance of engineers in the Division of Facilities and Services. The committee reviews and recommends projects to be funded from two student fees, the $14.00 Sustainable Campus Environment fee and the $2.00 Cleaner Energy Technologies fee.

    In Spring 2003, a $2.00 per semester non-refundable student fee for Cleaner Energy Technologies was approved by a student referendum. The intent of the fee is to "provide pollution-free renewable energy as a portion of the campus energy portfolio and reduce campus energy consumption." In Spring 2010, students passed a referendum that raised the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee from $5 to $14. The measure passed by 77% approval, and established University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as having the largest funding pool of its kind in the United States. The Student Sustainability Committee, is a joint student, faculty and staff committee, though students are the only voting members on the Committee.

    The projects approved by the Student Sustainability Committee undergo approval by the Office of Sustainability.

    To become a member of the Student Sustainability Committee, visit the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs website for application information and application deadlines.


    Student Sustainability Committee Members

    Students - 2012-2013
    Kathryn Kinley - (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
    Marika Nell - (Civil and Environmental Engineering) - Treasurer
    Suharsh Sivakumar - (Computer Science)
    Emily Cross - (Earth Systems, Society and Environment)
    Olivia Webb - (Agricultural and Biological Engineering)
    Jordan Jessop - (Graduate Student, Natural Resources and Environmental Science)
    Marcus Ricce - (Graduate Student, Urban and Regional Planning)
    Felicia Speranske - (Natural Resouces and Environmental Science)
    Sean Sullivan - (Earth Systems, Society, and Environment)
    Teresa Tousignant - (Graduate Student, Architecture) 

    Faculty Advisors - 2012-2013
    Brenda Coble Lindsey- Social Work
    Brian Deal- Urban and Regional Planning
    Praveen Kumar- Civil and Environmental Engineering
    Robert Pahre- Political Science
    Madhu Viswanathan- Business
    Michelle Wander- Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

    Staff Advisors - 2012-2013
    Stephanie Lage- Office of Sustainability
    Betsy Jo Liggett- Environmental Compliance, Facilities and Services
    Morgan Johnston- Sustainability Coordinator, Facilities and Services
    John Prince- Deferred Maintenance, Facilities and Services
    Ed Slazinik- Illini Union

    Program Advisor
    Mckenzie Beverage – Student Programs and Activities

     

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  16. notes from SSLC presentation

    • Structure
      • 10 students, 6 faculty, 6 staff
      • $1.1 million to distribute among student and faculty projects
        • Cleaner Energy Technologies fee
        • Sustainable Campus Environment fee
      • 4 Subcommittees
        • Executive
        •  Bylaws
        • Fines
        • Marketing
      • 6 topics – include more community input
        • Land
        • Energy
        • Food and waste
        • Education
        • Water
        • Transportation
    • Strategic Impact
      • ICAP concerns  - fund projects that help UIUC reach ICAP goals
      • Projects that have no other method of funding.
    • Process
      • Step 1: ideas get turned into specific requests and goals, submitted to SSC in application with project abstract and approximate funding needed.
      • Applications are reviewed and selected based on strategic impact goals, get invited to step 2…
      • Step 2: Specific logistics figured out, feasibility reports made
      • Step 3: Entire SSC votes
    • SSC allocations
    • Future goals
      • More student engagement
      • Expand outreach efforts
      • Get more student-driven project applications
    • Some projects/organizations SSC has funded…
      • Green Observer
      • Bike Shop
      • Solar decathlon house
  17. Working Group kickoff meeting

    The SSC Working Group kickoff meeting we held today.  All the working group chairs gave a quick overview of the project types they handle. The chair gave an overview of the process and the workload for the working groups.  

    The individual working groups met at various tables and discussed their plans for the year.

  18. Positions determined for FY14

    Working Group Formation and Chair Selection

    a.       Energy

    Chair: Jessica DeWitt

    b.       Water

    Chair: Amy Liu

    c.        Food/Waste

    Chair: Maria Jones

    d.       Land

    Chair: Amy Liu

    e.       Transportation

    Chair: Katie Kinley

    f.        Education

    Chair: Nishant Makhijani

     Subcommittee Formation and Chair Selection

    a.       Executive

    Chair: Marika

    b.       Finance

    Chair: Katie

    c.        Bylaws

    Chair: Nishant

    d.       Marketing

    Chair: Marlon

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