Illinois’ renewable energy fund lacks power to fulfill purpose

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

Five years ago, Illinois passed legislation requiring electric suppliers to buy more renewable energy such as wind and solar power and then pass those costs on to customers.

The intent of the mandate was to have so-called green electricity accounting for a quarter of the power flowing into residences and businesses by 2025 while fostering homegrown jobs and cleaner air.

But that was before customers of the state’s two major electric utilities defected en masse to other suppliers that purchase power on the open market. With that move, the state is falling short of its green mandate, because money being collected from customers by these other energy suppliers isn’t being used for green energy purchases.

Instead, the money is going into a fund that’s sitting untapped because of obscure language in state law.

In a related story, the Tribune reports that, although Illinois law requires that renewable energy should come from Illinois or surrounding states, the power it receives is probably from outside Illinois, unless a municipality or business explicitly has stated it wants local renewable power.

 

Chicago Prepares to Launch Bike-Sharing Program

Read the full story in Governing.

Hundreds of three-speed bikes painted “Chicago blue” will hit the streets in June when the city debuts a bicycle-sharing rental program that originally was set to launch last summer, officials are expected to announce Thursday.

Operating under the name Divvy, which is intended to convey the idea of sharing bikes, the system will start out with about 75 solar-powered docking stations in the downtown and River North areas and expand within a year to 400 stations and about 4,000 bicycles covering much of the city, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.

 

IIT wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, won first prize among small institutions in the Agency’s first Campus RainWorks Challenge. EPA created the challenge to inspire the next generation of landscape architects, planners and engineers to develop innovative green infrastructure. The student team will receive a $2,500 cash award and IIT will receive $11,000 for faculty research on green infrastructure.

“EPA’s Campus RainWorks Challenge encourages the use of green infrastructure to manage stormwater — to improve water quality and to prevent the type of flooding caused by the heavy rains that hit Illinois last week,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman, who presented the award today at an Earth Day ceremony at IIT. “The concept and technical quality of the IIT team’s design is truly impressive.”

The IIT team designed a plan to redevelop a 1,200-foot section of Dearborn Street on the IIT campus. The plan incorporates green infrastructure design elements, including rain gardens that double as outdoor seating areas and permeable walkways. Once implemented, the project will reduce stormwater runoff by more than 70 percent and reduce water used for campus landscaping by 3 million gallons annually.

The project will serve as an ongoing stormwater management design and research site for IIT’s campus and the city at large. IIT’s team was composed of a faculty advisor and 14 graduate and undergraduate students from various disciplines including landscape architecture, business and engineering.

“This is a really great moment for the IIT Master of Landscape Architecture program, for the College of Architecture and for the University, because it brings focus and attention to an increasingly vital urban landscape infrastructure issue: a great design problem for design education,” said Mary Pat Mattson, Studio Assistant Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology. “The award gives us an opportunity to build on our ideas through further research and coursework. And we look forward to seeing how this impacts the campus landscape in very real ways.”

More than 30 expert judges from EPA, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Water Environment Federation and the American Society of Civil Engineers reviewed submissions from 218 teams. The winners were selected based on six criteria: analysis and planning, preservation or restoration of natural features, integrated water management, soil and vegetation management, value to campus, and likelihood of implementation.

Stormwater is one of the most widespread challenges to water quality in the nation. Large volumes of polluted stormwater degrade our nation’s rivers, lakes and aquatic habitats and contribute to downstream flooding.

The Campus RainWorks Challenge engages students and faculty at colleges and universities to apply green infrastructure principles and design, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and increase the use of green infrastructure on campuses across the nation. Green infrastructure filters and captures pollutants by passing stormwater through soils and retaining it on site. Green roofs, permeable surfaces and rain gardens are some of the most common types of green infrastructure.

 

Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award deadline is approaching

Just a reminder that the deadline for applying for the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award is getting closer. Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. on May 31, 2013.

Details and application information can be found on the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center website at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/info/govs_awards.cfm or contact Deb Jacobson at 630-472-5019, djacobso@illinois.edu.

 

Federal and City officials team with community to fight Pilsen pollution

Read the full story in Gazette Chicago.

From lead-contaminated soil to respiratory illness–inducing air pollutants, Pilsen’s industrial past and present have created problematic environmental and health issues for area residents.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is teaming with 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis, City officials, and community partners to try to solve the problems.

Project leaders have targeted various sites, spread throughout the community, as confirmed or suspected former and current sources of pollution that must be dealt with, including Loewenthal Metals and former Peoples Gas manufactured gas plants. The community effort will go beyond preliminary soil testing already accomplished to major testing across the area this spring and
summer.

Initial EPA soil testing last year in an alley behind H. Kramer & Co., 1345 W. 21st St., a lead smelting facility still in operation, revealed abnormally high levels of lead. Workers have erected a fence on one end to prevent people from walking through the alley connecting Loomis and Throop Streets between 21st Street and Cermak Road.

 

Illinois DCEO Free Green Nozzle Program

DCEO is offering FREE green nozzles!

What is a green nozzle?
A highly efficient pre-rinse spray valve that saves energy through reduced hot water heating.

Who is Eligible?
Public sector facilities like schools, colleges, universities, park districts, hospitals, nursing homes, and other state and federal facilities with food preparation and cooking services in Nicor, Peoples, North Shore or Ameren Illinois service territories.

For more information click here.

 

Illinois deal on fracking could be national model

Read the full story in the Quad City Times.

After years of clashing over the drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” the oil industry and environmentalists have achieved something extraordinary in Illinois: They sat down together to draft regulations both sides could live with.

If approved by lawmakers, participants say, the rules would be the nation’s strictest. The Illinois model might also offer a template to other states seeking to carve out a middle ground between energy companies that would like free rein and environmental groups that want to ban the practice entirely.

 

Chicago Challenges Offices to Go Green

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has launched round three of the Chicago Green Office Challenge.

The Green Office Challenge is a competition among local businesses to reduce energy, water, and waste while saving money. The activities should contribute to meeting the goals of the Challenge: to cut energy, water and materials use by 10 percent.

Since its first round was launched in 2008 by ICLEI, the model has been copied by 11 cities across the US.

 

Illinois Biochar Group spring meeting – April 5, 2013

Agenda

Noon – 1 pm       Seminar by Dr. Sandeep Agnihotri on “Porosity of Biochar”  (Plan to bring your lunch and attend.) If you cannot attend the seminar at ISTC, you may view the webinar live by registering at: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/124000839.

1:15 – 3:30 pm   Meeting with updates by members on their biochar work

Attendance for the seminar and meeting is free and open to the public.

For those who would like to give a 5-10 min. update on their biochar project, please contact Nancy Holm at naholm@illinois.edu by March 1.

The agenda for the meeting will be sent out by March 7.

 

Phase I of Household Hazardous Waste Collection Options Project Started in East Central Illinois

Local county and municipal governments and area health agencies regularly receive inquiries from residents about how to dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW).  Historically, HHW collection options available to east central Illinois residents have been inadequate.

In December, the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission received grant support from the Lumpkin Family Foundation and Illinois Sustainable Technology Center to begin the first phase of a 3-phase project which seeks to improve HHW collection options in a 7-county area of east central Illinois (Champaign, Vermilion, Douglas, Edgar, Coles, Cumberland, and Clark Counties).

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) subsidizes the operation of four HHW collection facilities, all situated in northern Illinois.  After a three-year hiatus due to lack of state funding, during 2012, IEPA resumed a limited schedule of downstate HHW one-day collections. Local government jurisdictions or agencies requesting a HHW one-day collection are placed on a prioritized waiting list, with the amount of local funds provided for the one-day collection as one IEPA selection criterion.  Local funds to IEPA for a one-day collection are provided from landfill ‘tipping fees’ in those counties with a landfill, and funding options for the majority of downstate counties with no landfill is extremely limited.

Phase I of the project will start in January 2013 and is expected to take 6 months to complete.  Phase I includes data collection, and developing an inventory of potential alternatives for convenient HHW collection options. Phases 2 and 3 of the project will focus on selected HHW options for implementation and will include further outreach and collaboration.  One hope for the outcome of the project is that it can be used as a model in other Illinois counties.

For more information, contact Susan Monte at smonte@ccrpc.org.