Illinois Sustainable Technology Center • Prairie Research Institute
Author: Joy Scrogum
Joy is a Sustainability Specialist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has worked on developing & maintaining online resources for the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable since 2001. As part of ISTC's Technical Assistance Program, she works on Zero Waste Illinois projects with clients throughout the state, and waste reduction outreach projects including the Illini Gadget Garage and the Green Lunchroom Challenge. Key past projects include coordinating the International Sustainable Electronics Competition, developing & teaching ENG 498 "Sustainable Technology: Environmental & Social Impacts of Innovations," & Greening Schools, which focused on making K-12 facilities & curricula more sustainable. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyscrogum/
Dr. Junhua Jiang is a Senior Research Engineer in ISTC’s Applied Research on Industrial Environmental Systems Program. Jiang conducts cutting-edge research and develops interdisciplinary research programs in a range of areas, including electrochemical energy storage, nanostructured materials, electrochemical sensors, waste utilization, water treatment and purification, and green chemical processes. He joined ISTC in 2011.
Jiang graduated from China’s Wuhan University in 1997 with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. He conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow in London at Imperial College and in China at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Prior to joining ISTC, Jiang worked as a staff scientist for fuel cell company NuVant Systems, and a research scientist and manager at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center. In these roles, he conducted innovative research on fuel cell and hydrogen technology, electrolytic processes of renewable ammonia, nanomaterials, and more.
Jiang’s research interests include energy-conversion technology, fuel cells and hydrogen technology, batteries and supercapacitors, green-chemistry processes for renewable fuels and chemicals, advanced materials, electrochemical treatment, water purification and desalination, and other areas of sustainable energy. He is currently developing biochar supercapacitors for energy storage and water purification; advanced carbon materials from renewable and waste feedstocks; and nanostructured materials and components from ionic liquids.
He is also working on electrochemical detection techniques for water contaminants. Jiang holds five issued and pending patents, has authored or presented more than 100 highly-cited peer-reviewed articles and conference papers, and has obtained more than $2.5 million in research grant funds.
Check the ISTC home page periodically for more Researcher Spotlights. Thanks to Lauren Quinn for writing the original profile of Junhua for the home page!
Shantanu Pai is an assistant sustainability researcher at ISTC working in the Zero Waste Illinoisprogram, which assists in waste diversion and pollution prevention benefits for Illinois business, industry, and government. He joined ISTC in 2013.
Shantanu graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 2013 with a BS in Waste and Soils Resources. During his studies, he served as a research assistant at the Center for Land Use and Planning and at the Center for Waste Education. He also worked with Marathon County, WI, on framing their zero waste plan.
His research interests include fate and transport of waste materials through market driven initiatives; the role of affluence and directed public policy in solid waste management; and solid waste industry in the developing world. His passion for these topics is captured in a 2014 Prairie Research Institute lightning talk.
Check the ISTC home page periodically for more Researcher Spotlights. Thanks to Lauren Quinn for writing the original profile of Shantanu for the home page!
A free kickoff workshop and training for the Green Lunchroom Challenge, a voluntary competition among K-12 schools to improve the sustainability of their food service operations, will be held on Thursday, September 17 in the Stephen J. Warner conference room at ISTC from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The workshop will provide an overview of the Challenge, presentations on relevant tools and programs, discussions of barriers and opportunities related to food waste prevention and reduction in K-12 schools, and a school food service training session presented by Greg Christian, Founder and CEO of Beyond Green Partners, a food service and consulting company focused on nutritional and environmental impacts of school food.
Registration for this workshop is limited to 40 participants. Please note that you do NOT need to participate in the workshop in order to participate in the Challenge itself. Interested schools may sign up for the Challenge at any time during the Challenge period (Sept. 1, 2015 – April 1, 2016) at www.greenlunchroom.org.
The training presented by Greg Christian will take place during the final two hours of the half-day workshop, and will cover the problem of food waste, multiple barriers to its reduction, front and back of house waste, measurement techniques to identify opportunities for improvement, and a systems approach to waste reduction, drawing on Greg’s personal experiences and methods for maintaining a zero waste kitchen. The two hours of in-person training can be counted by school nutrition/food service professionals as continuing education for the USDA Professional Standards which went into effect on July 1, 2015 (See http://www.isbe.net/nutrition/htmls/snp-prof-stds.htm). Attendees will need to keep track of the training agenda, hours, and proof of attendance. ISTC will have a sign-in sheet at the event and can send you an email afterward confirming your presence at the training.
The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biologyco-sponsor the Chambana Science Café, a monthly seminar series that brings scientists to the public to talk about their research in an informal setting. Seminars take place on the first Wednesday of every month at 5:30 p.m. at Pizza-M (208 W. Main Street in Urbana, IL), and there is free pizza while it lasts. The first meeting of the semester will be next week on September 2, with a presentation by Sarah Brown-Schmidt, associate professor of psychology at Beckman Institute.
As noted in this article, the Gadget Garage will open to the general campus community for repair assistance on Monday, September 14. Fall hours will be Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.
Professors Martin Wolske and William Bullock are also teaching courses associated with the Gadget Garage, with classes beginning this week. Professor Bullock’s class is a multidisciplinary effort with the following course objectives:
Collaborate with peers from business, design & technology in planning and startup
Experience project management, leadership and team building
Create a business and marketing plan to insure success going forward
Plan and implement new branding, advertising and wayfinding strategies
Participation in the iFixit Technical Writing Project (a unique portfolio piece)
Knowledge to create more sustainable designs and extend product life cycles
Professor Bullock is particularly interested in having students with interests in marketing and engineering participate alongside their peers from industrial design. A few seats are still available; interested students should see the course flyer and contact Professor Bullock directly with questions. Professor Wolske’s Introduction to Network Systems class will be meeting in the Gadget Garage space, and students will have opportunities to work on service learning projects associated with this project for the course.
See the Illini Gadget Garage page on the Sustainable Electronics Initiative web site for more information on the courses and the project itself, including a map of its location. General questions can be addressed to Joy Scrogum.
Photo by Joyce Seay-Knoblauch. Pictured (left to right): William Bullock, professor of industrial design, Joy Scrogum, coordinator of the Sustainable Electronics Initiative, and Martin Wolske, research scientist and adjunct faculty member in library and information science.
ISTC recently completed a retrofit of lighting at its headquarters building in Champaign, with assistance from UI Facilities and Services. All T12 fluorescent light fixtures and exits signs have been upgraded to T8s and LEDs. Altogether, the changes are expected to save 160,000 kWhs annually.
T12 lamps are being phased out nationally due to changes in federal energy standards which are meant to encourage improved efficiency at commercial and industral facilities. See Fluorescent Light Standard Changes and Lighting Answers: T8 Fluorescent Lamps for more information on these changes and the comparisons between the two types of lamps. According to the Ameren Illinois Act on Energy program, switching from T12 fixtures to high-performance T8 or T5 lamps and an electronic ballast could result in savings of 33% or more on your electricity bills each year.
If your business is interested in a lighting retrofit to T8 or T5 lamps or LEDs in order to increase efficiency and cut costs, you can apply for cash incentives for your project via the Act on Energy program. Visit the Lighting Incentives page on the Act on Energy web sitefor application information and assistance with identifying a contractor in your area.
Members of the UI sustainable electronics campus consortium and other interested parties are invited to attend a meeting at 11:30 AM on Wednesday, Aug. 5th at ISTC to learn more about and discuss the Illini Gadget Garage project. The project team will be meeting to discuss current progress (location, classes to be associated with the project, etc.) and next steps. Anyone interested in learning more or providing feedback is welcome to attend. Feel free to bring lunch along with you. Because this meeting will involve a group discussion, rather than formal presentations, it will not be simultaneously broadcast as a webinar.
Funded by the Student Sustainability Committee, this project involves the establishment of a collaborative repair center on campus for student and staff-owned electronic devices. See our previous post on the project for further information. For those unable to attend, minutes will be posted to the Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) web site. At any time, please feel free to contact Joy Scrogum with any questions about the project, or to discuss ways to become involved. A page devoted to the project will be added to the SEI web site in the near future.
Photo by jfcherry on flickr. CC by 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, food production represents 10 percent of the total US energy budget, uses 50 percent of US land, and accounts for 80 percent of the freshwater we consume–yet, 40 percent of food in the US goes uneaten. And in 2013, 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 33.3 million adults and 15.8 million children. Food waste is clearly both a tremendous problem and opportunity for improving the sustainability of our society. Reducing food waste in schools not only helps to ensure those precious expended resources are providing nutrition as intended, but also provides the opportunity to set important examples of conservation and systems thinking among our impressionable youth, which will hopefully stay with them as they become our next generation of leaders.
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) is therefore pleased to announce an exciting new project that addresses this important societal and environmental challenge. In order to identify sources of food waste in K-12 schools and facilitate its prevention and reduction, ISTC, in collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), UI Extension, and Beyond Green Partners, Inc., is launching the Green Lunchroom Challenge this fall. Funded by US EPA Region 5, the program is open for participation from K-12 schools throughout the state. Marketing of the program will however, be targeted toward underserved regions of southern Illinois, including Pulaski, Alexander, Marion, White, and Fayette counties. According to data from the ISBE, over 70 percent of K-12 students in those counties are eligible for assistance through the National School Lunch Program. By preventing and reducing food waste in these areas particularly, and throughout the state, it is hoped the Challenge will not only achieve environmental benefits, but also stretch federal and state assistance and resources through increased efficiency.
Photo: USDA Blog
Similar to the successful Illinois Green Office Challenge, the Green Lunchroom Challenge is a voluntary, “friendly competition,” in which participating schools will choose among a variety of suggested activities to improve the sustainability of their food service. These activities will range in complexity and commitment to allow participants to best suit their situation, budget, and available community resources. Examples might include, but not be limited to, composting of food scraps, use of creative entree names and careful relative placement of food choices to reduce waste of fruit and vegetables, donation of unused food to local food banks or shelters, etc. In addition to operationally related activities, schools may also choose to integrate food waste prevention and reduction into curricula, helping students learn about food security and hunger, composting, the circular economy, and stewardship. Resources and guidance will be available on the project web site and from ISTC technical assistance staff for each recommended activity, and participants will earn points for every activity they complete. Relative progress will be displayed on an online leaderboard. On Earth Day 2016, the participating public K-12 school with the most points will be declared the winner for the year and will receive public recognition and a prize (to be determined) to foster continuous improvement.
A kickoff workshop will be held in September 2015 (date and location to be announced) to introduce the Challenge; identify (in part through feedback from school and district representatives in attendance) key sources of food waste in schools, as well as barriers to its prevention; to raise awareness among potential participants of existing relevant toolkits and programs; and to provide comprehensive training on analysis and modification of menus, food procurement and inventory, lunchroom procedures, etc. Note that a school does not need to participate in the workshop to participate in the Challenge, and schools may register throughout the Challenge period (Sept. 1, 2015- April 1, 2016). While the competition is only open to K-12 schools in Illinois, ISTC hopes that other states and organizations beyond schools will be able to use resources developed for the Challenge to guide food waste reduction and prevention in their operations and regions.
Interested parties may contact Joy Scrogum with questions or to request addition to the mailing list for more information on the workshop and activities as it becomes available. The project web site will be available soon, and potential participants will be able to sign up to receive further information there as well. (The URL for the program web site will be posted in the comments of this post as soon as it is live.)
Photo by Tim Lauer, principal of Meriwether Lewis Elementary School in Portland, Oregon
Back in 2013, ISTC Emerging Technologies Resource Specialist and current SEI Coordinator, Joy Scrogum, and ISTC Affiliated Faculty Scientist, William Bullock, served as guest editors for a special issue of the journal Challenges, entitled “Electronic Waste–Impact, Policy and Green Design.”
The journal’s editors recently received multiple requests to reopen this special issue. Scrogum and Bullock have once again agreed to serve as editors.
From the issue’s rationale:
“Electronics are at the heart of an economic system that has brought many out of poverty and enhanced quality of life. In Western society in particular, our livelihoods, health, safety, and well being are positively impacted by electronics. However, there is growing evidence that our disposal of electronics is causing irreparable damage to the planet and to human health, as well as fueling social conflict and violence.
While global demand for these modern gadgets is increasing, policy to handle the increased volumes of electronic waste has not kept pace. International policy governing safe transfer, disposal, reclamation, and reuse of electronic waste is nonexistent or woefully lacking. Where laws do exist about exporting and importing hazardous waste, they are routinely circumvented and enforcement is spotty at best. While European Union countries lead the way in responsible recycling of electronic and electrical devices under various EU directives, most industrialized nations do not have such policies. In the U.S., for example, most electronic waste is still discarded in landfills or ground up for scrap.
It is imperative that we consider how green design practices can address the growing electronic waste problem. This special issue is meant to do just that and spur discussions on how electronic products can become greener and more sustainable.”
If you are interested in submitting a paper for this special issue, please send a title and short abstract (about 100 words) to the Challenges Editorial Office at challenges@mdpi.com, indicating the special issue for which it is to be considered. If the proposal is considered appropriate for the issue, you will be asked to submit a full paper. Complete instructions for authors and an online submission form for the completed manuscripts are available on the Challenges web site at http://www.mdpi.com/journal/challenges/special_issues/electronic-waste#info. The deadline for manuscript submissions is December 31, 2015.
This post originally appeared on the Sustainable Electronics Initiative blog on 6/19/15. You may subscribe to the SEI blog via email, and learn more about sustainable electronics issues on the SEI web site.
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and the Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) are pleased to announce that a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign consisting of SEI coordinator Joy Scrogum (ISTC), William Bullock (Art + Design), Martin Wolske, and Jon Gant (both of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science) has recently received funding from the Student Sustainability Committee for a project entitled “Illini Gadget Garage: Education through Electronic Product Life Extension.”This seed funding will be used to launch a center where UI students and staff will bring their personal electronic devices for assistance with assessment and repair. The center will be called the Illini Gadget Garage. Using the same “collaborative repair” model employed at the campus bike shop and MakerSpace Urbana’s computer Help Desk, clients with devices in need of repair/troubleshooting will work together with Gadget Garage student staff and volunteers to perform the necessary device assessment and maintenance activities. Depending upon the situation, activities may range from guidance on how to make your computer/device run faster to actual repair and replacement of components.
Beyond the avoidance of waste by extending the useful life of products, desired outcomes for students, staff, and the community include:
Hands on experiences for UI students, not only in terms of performing repairs, but also in process documentation and fostering sustainable behavior on a larger scale through the iFixit Technical Writing Project; marketing and business operations; lessons in industrial design for repair and recyclability; and in environmental education and communication.
Increased awareness of electronics laws and recycling options.
Increased awareness of sustainability issues surrounding electronic products throughout their lifecycles.
Decreased misconceptions regarding the disposability of devices and prohibitive complexity of electronics repair and maintenance.
Contribution to the overall efforts to make ours a more sustainable campus with a reduced carbon footprint.
The project team will use SEI’s Sustainable Electronics Campus Consortiumas an advisory group, providing input and feedback on project progress and development. The project is just getting started, but there will be more information on the SEI web site and posted here on the blog over the coming months. In the meantime, if you have questions or want to be added to the campus consortium list so you can become involved in meetings on this and other relevant efforts, please contact Joy Scrogum.
Dr. Junhua Jiang is a Senior Research Engineer in ISTC’s Applied Research on Industrial Environmental Systems Program. Jiang conducts cutting-edge research and develops interdisciplinary research programs in a range of areas, including electrochemical energy storage, nanostructured materials, electrochemical sensors, waste utilization, water treatment and purification, and green chemical processes. He joined ISTC in 2011.
