Fellows are selected based on their significant impact on the field. Fellows represent outstanding authorities from industry, academia, and government agencies. Six new fellows were named for 2016 and will be honored at the 71st STLE Annual Meeting and Exhibition May 17 in Las Vegas.
Tribology is a multi-disciplinary field concerned with design, friction, wear and lubrication of moving parts. It is a branch of inquiry which spans mechanical engineering, materials science, surface science and others.
Sharma, a chemist by education, has published 87 publications in international journals, five U.S. patents, nine book chapters, and 133 presentations in international and national conferences. Among his research interests is the development of bio-based lubricants and additives for industrial applications.
Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) toured the Abbott Power Plant at the University of Illinois on Jan. 15 for a briefing on Prairie Research Institute (PRI) research to develop next-generation carbon capture technology.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin spoke about the carbon capture research following a tour of the University of Illinois’ Abbott Power Plant.
The first-hand look at the project was an “eye opener,” Durbin said. If selected for the federally funded project, the technology would economically extract at least 90 percent of the carbon dioxide following an Abbott Power Plant retrofit. The ramifications for coal-rich Illinois – for jobs, the economy, and keeping utility rates low – could be profound.
“What’s going on here at the Abbott Power Plant is an effort to show that there is an environmentally responsible way to deal with the sources of energy whether they’re coal, natural gas, or oil,” Durbin said after the tour. “We’re working with the university, and the power plant, on an application for a Department of Energy research effort; and their goal, of course, is to take even more of the emissions and turn the pollution into profits and make certain that it doesn’t at least harm the environment in serious ways.”
For many nations around the world where coal is likely to remain the fuel of choice well into this century, the new technology could be a game changer in the challenge to limit global warming. The project includes expert advisory panel representing some of the largest power producers around the world, including China, India, and Brazil, said Kevin O’Brien, director of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and primary investigator for the project.
“We’re living in an era of dramatic change,” Durbin said. “Ten years ago we depended on OPEC oil. Now we’re talking very seriously about climate change and the need to reduce emissions.”
He praised the efforts at the University for keeping the more than 70-year-old plant at the forefront of efficient and effective technologies to deliver both steam and electric power to students and staff. “It still serves the campus today,” Durbin remarked. “The good news is that over the years there have been some dramatic efforts to modernize this plant and to make sure that it not only meets the standards but goes beyond, and sets the standard for new technology and new energy development.”
“So it was good to see this first hand today — to be educated. I will tell you that it came as an eye opener to me. The steam generation and how important it is to the University of Illinois and also very important to generate the kind of electricity that sustains a modern campus in the 21st century.”
The project would put Abbott well beyond existing standards for emissions control. Abbott’s current pollution control technology, consisting of a combination of electrostatic precipitators and a flue gas desulfurization unit (scrubber), remains the “best available control technology” for removing pollutants from the byproducts of coal combustion.
The carbon capture research project also will look ahead to developing new uses for waste carbon dioxide. The project seeks partners interested in forming and building the overall “value chain” for captured CO2 – including members/ suppliers to the coal and power industry, and current and potential end-users of CO2. To learn more about the opportunity, call +1 (630) 472-5016.
Registration is now open for the 2016 Illinois Green Office Challenge (IGOC), a friendly competition to see which Illinois organization can accumulate the most points by conserving energy and water, reducing waste, and saving money.
Last year the Challenge began in the Central Illinois communities of Champaign-Urbana, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering and Research Laboratory in Champaign was the highest scorer in the region. This year offices statewide are encouraged to sign up.
Contestants can start piling up points Tuesday, March 1, as they begin to score points for completing specific sustainability activities at their facilities.
Workplaces primarily used for office space are encouraged to join the challenge to cut energy, water and waste.
The Challenge website provides participants with the information and tools they need to compete and complete activities, and a live leaderboard will track their scores, as well as those of other competitors from across the state. At the end of the Challenge, participants will be acknowledged for their hard work through media, peer recognition, and year-end awards. The Challenge welcomes all public and private buildings that are used primarily for office space.
There is an administrative fee of $50 for registration, but it can be waived if it is a barrier to participation. Questions can be directed to Bart Bartels: bbartel@illinois.edu.
A Peoria-area kickoff is scheduled for Thursday March 3. Additional community meetings and informational workshops will be scheduled as organizations and communities sign up. For complete information, visit the IGOC website at https://www.illinoisgoc.com/.
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) has become a signatory to The Paris Pledge for Action, a world-wide call to action to reduce environmental impacts and limit global warming to less than two degrees.
“Minimizing the impact of climate change will require global innovation and cooperation,” said Kevin O’Brien, director of ISTC at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute (PRI). “There is not one solution to this societal, governmental, and technological challenge,” he added, “there are as many as we can think of.”
COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, was the United Nation’s 21st climate conference in December, at which 196 nations recognized that climate change represents an “urgent and potentially irreversible threat to all human societies” requiring “deep reductions” in global greenhouse gas emissions.
The Paris Pledge for Action offers cities, businesses, investors, organizations and others everywhere to pledge to impact the goal of halting the rise in the average annual temperature on Earth. It is an initiative of the COP21 French Presidency (diplomatic host of the Conference) and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
The pledge also reads: “We … realize that taking strong action to reduce emissions can not only reduce the risks of climate change but also deliver better growth and sustainable development.”
Researchers at PRI have partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy on its technology roadmap on two approaches to perfect systems that can remove a record proportion of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel energy (especially coal used to generate electricity). With a Phase I DOE grant the team is currently investigating the engineering requirements to install ground-breaking technology at the U of I’s Abbott Power Plant. A second grant is developing a unique bi-phasic solvent as an ultra-efficient carbon capture technique.
“Our mission includes research, technical assistance, and public information to help forge a more sustainable future,” O’Brien continued. “The new technology, and our partners, span three continents and some of the largest power generators in the world so that our findings can quickly have the greatest impact on our Pledge for Action.”
It was a valuable window into the spirit of the times before 1985 that convinced Illinois lawmakers to create a center for research, industry assistance and public information. Thousands had been killed in Bhopal, Love Canal had blighted whole neighborhoods, the Cuyahoga River had burned, and in Illinois, contamination at Waukegan Harbor and Lake Calumet had brought home to citizens the need for scientific evidence about the threats.
ISTC took the opportunity to tell this story at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Nov. 9. It was a proud moment for the original players who participated in the event, and for ISTC’s parent Prairie Research Institute, and all of their current researchers who continue to drive sustainable economic development in Illinois. Videos on the presentations will be made available soon at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/news/30anniversaryhome.cfm.
The University of Illinois received its second Greenovation Award July 28 from Kimberly-Clark Corporation for its leading role in supporting the recycling of nitrile gloves in its laboratories, kitchens and housing facilities. One of Kimberly-Clark Professional’s RightCycle program’s top performing partners, the University has recycled a lot of gloves – nearly 3,500 pounds of them through April, 2015.
The local recycling program originated with engineers at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and was quickly taken up by the University’s Housing, as well as Facilities and Services Departments. Bart Bartels, technical assistance engineer at ISTC and part of the Center’s Zero Waste Illinois team, is assisting the university with its program.
Oil spills like this one in 2009 north of Australia are the target of new clean up research.
ISTC is part of a multidisciplinary team awarded a research seed grant from the University’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) to develop carbon nano particles (CNP) as a more environmentally friendly technique for cleaning up oil spills.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Engineering Research Laboratories in Champaign was the 2015 champion for green workplace achievements. It and nine other winners of the first Illinois Green Office Challenge were announced Thursday. Find out about all the winners here.
With funding from the UI Office of Public Engagement, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) is hosting a Sustainability Film Festival next week on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Three documentaries will be screened at the Spurlock Museum‘s Knight Auditorium on the evenings of April 22, 23, and 24th from 6-7:30 PM:Living Downstream, Terra Blight, and Waste=Food, respectively.
Admission is FREE and open to the public on a first come, first served basis; doors open at 5:30 PM. After each film, a Q&A/discussion will be held with ISTC staff and other relevant campus and community experts. Panelists will answer questions about their organizations/programs, the issues dealt with in that evening’s film, and provide guidance for the audience on what they can do to prevent pollution, avoid exposure to and release of environmental toxins, and contribute to a cleaner environment in their own lives.
The Festival kicks off on Earth Day (April 22) with Living Downstream. Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. This poetic film follows Sandra during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links. After a routine cancer screening, Sandra receives some worrying results and is thrust into a period of medical uncertainty. Thus, we begin two journeys with Sandra: her private struggles with cancer and her public quest to bring attention to the urgent human rights issue of cancer prevention. At once Sandra’s personal journey and her scientific exploration, Living Downstream is a powerful reminder of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the health of our air, land, and water.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 23, we’ll be screening Terra Blight. This 55-minute documentary explores America’s consumption of computers and the hazardous waste we create in pursuit of the latest technology. Terra Blight traces the life cycle of computers from creation to disposal and juxtaposes the disparate worlds that have computers as their center. From a 13-year-old Ghanaian who smashes obsolete monitors to salvage copper to a 3,000-person video game party in Texas, Terra Blight examines the unseen realities of one of the most ubiquitous toxic wastes on our planet. By the film’s end, the audience will never look at their computer the same way again.
Finally, on the evening of Thursday, April 24, we will show Waste=Food. In a world where more and more societies with high consumption rates generate excessive amounts of waste, traditional environmental notions of reducing or recycling waste products are no longer sufficient. The new theory of ecologically intelligent design, green design and building, argues that manufacturers’ products, when discarded, should either be completely recyclable in the Technosphere or become biodegradable food for the Biosphere. Waste = Food explores this revolutionary “cradle to cradle” (as opposed to “cradle to grave”) concept through interviews with its leading proponents, American architect William McDonough and German ecological chemist Michael Braungart, coauthors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Their ideas are increasingly being embraced by major corporations and governments worldwide, unleashing a new, ecologically-inspired industrial revolution.
DVDs of the documentaries will be available after the film series at the Prairie Research Institute Library. The DVDs will have online activities and resource lists associated with them to enhance the educational impact of the films.
For more information, contact Joy Scrogum. We hope to see you at the movies!
Three documentaries will be screened at the Spurlock Museum’s Knight Auditorium on the evenings of April 22, 23, and 24th from 6-7:30 PM: Living Downstream,Terra Blight, and Waste=Food, respectively. Mark your calendars–admittance will be free and open to the public on a first come, first served basis. Doors open at 5:30 PM. After each film, a Q&A/discussion will be held with ISTC staff and other relevant experts. Panelists are being confirmed and will be announced as the time of the screenings approaches.
The DVDS of the documentaries will be made available after the film series at the Prairie Research Institute Libraryfor professors, students, and members of the general public to check out for use in classes, meetings, and for personal enrichment. The general public will have access to materials either from their local public library via inter-library loan through the University’s participation in the Illinois Heartland Library System, or directly from the Institute library if they have a UIUC Library courtesy card. The DVDs will have downloadable activities and resource lists associated with them to enhance the educational impact of the films.
Registration is now open for the 2016 
