Utilities & Energy Services

Mike Larson awarded for emergency planning by Division of Public Safety

Mike Larson, interim director of F&S Utilities & Energy Services (UES), was awarded and recognized for strategic campus contingency planning by Brian Brauer from the U. of I. Division of Public Safety (DPS).

Larson saw how strong communication between the City of Champaign and Urbana Fire Departments, DPS, and crafts, trades, and utilities at F&S, is necessary to safely address different types of ongoing emergencies, like fires, utility leaks, or electrical hazards. Brauer took note of recent successes in emergency response, and nominated Larson with the Campus Emergency Planning Recognition Award.

Campus energy operations at Abbott Power Plant account for about 75 percent of all steam and electricity use on campus. Used to power electric turbines, steam is sent across campus in underground tunnels and piping. So, after a steam pipe burst on campus in 2025, Larson advocated for stronger communication between the various emergency responders when he examined how the event was handled.

Brauer said Larson “worked to help us understand the issue, walked us through the spaces involved, and identified the other F&S team members who could have played a role in a more organized and effective emergency response.”

Ironically, in August 2025 while discussing better emergency response, another arose: this time, a chemical spill in the Boneyard Creek. Larson was on top of it, and his “knowledge of the June response led him to notify UIPD to assist with managing the scene at that event,” Brauer recounted. Two more emergencies required response from the city and university, this time two fires, including one at a residence hall, and Brauer says the enhanced communication lifted the quality of the response.

From Brauer’s nomination: “As a result of Mike’s concerns and the training and discussions that arose from the after-action process, the Grainger College of Engineering, F&S, Champaign Fire Department, and DPS all integrated seamlessly and effectively to benefit the university’s population. Changes that were implemented to the Champaign Fire Department response benefited the university and housing as a fire emergency was contained. Emergency Management continues to work with F&S to refine emergency alerts for facilities emergencies, and those ongoing conversations are also a result of the initial concerns Mike raised.”

“If Mike had remained silent, this would not have been addressed as proactively as we were able to,” Brauer said. “I see the U. of I. as having two integrated and intertwined sets of emergency responders: DPS and F&S. One can’t deliver their services to the university without the assistance of the other!”

Shop Spotlight: Steam and Gas

Above ground pipes that bring natural gas to campus

Steam distribution operators maintain the utility connections that connect the university district on centralized systems.

For an example of that, you may think of Abbott Power Plant, the campus cogeneration facility that makes both steam and electricity with massive boilers that power gigantic turbines – see for yourself! From Abbott, steam and electricity go through miles of underground pipes all over campus, keeping buildings comfortable and operational.

Outside of natural gas and other utility checks, they are the first responder of F&S after-hours calls on campus, identifying the issue, deciding what’s needed next, and interacting with any building personnel on site. They grease and oil up building mechanical systems, that’s basically anything with a motor. They change air filters, which can come in as many sizes as there are needs. They keep logs and records of the amount of utilities being used building by building, looking for spikes in a graph. They go underground, into cold environments, venture into tight compartments, and make important value judgements and decisions that make the campus safer and help avoid sudden, massive utility failures.

They also go on site whenever anyone needs to dig on campus for any reason. This includes a location near the intersection of Curtis Ave. and Neil St. in Savoy, on location of Solar Farm 2.0. But the utility here comes from a different place altogether.

Did you know: It’s from Monticello

Yes, the natural gas burned at Abbott comes from a pipeline that begins in Monticello, home to many university employees, Fighting Illini fans, and the Allerton Park & Retreat Center.

Operators regularly go to Monticello to check the source feed; they’ll make stops between there and Savoy for checks. At the Curtis location, the PSI in the piping is lowered from 800 to 400 PSI, and sent on to Abbott. Another portion of the facility takes it down further to 50 PSI, which is the distribution level for direct use at a facility; in this case, there are many agricultural buildings on nearby farms that require gas. Two more important modifications are made to the gas here.

Did you know: Add the Stink, Warm the Gas!!

Both at Curtis Avenue and Abbott, there are tanks that add an odorizer, called mercaptan, to produce the well-known “rotten egg” smell in gas.

“You have to put that smell in there,” said Justin Schmidt, steam distribution operator. “The natural gas originally, when it comes out of the ground, it’s odorless, tasteless. So they put that in there. This is a safety issue. If there’s a gas leak, somebody can notice it right away.”

There’s also a heating element to bring the gas to the perfect temperature to keep it flowing throughout cold pipes. It’s very important to prevent ice crystal formation, because a particularly cold, windy day might cause a problem…

Put Into Action: December 13, 2024

In the cold of early morning in Piatt County, that piping began to fail to achieve 800 PSI as it heads toward campus. Eventually it got so low as to prevent a boiler from firing at full power at Abbott. As fuel faded, steam stopped flowing, allowing freezing, windy temps to invade campus.

The cold’s rule didn’t last.

“We didn’t really notice any difference until about 1 or 2 in the morning,” Schmidt said of that event. “One of our guys called, like, ‘Hey, we might have some serious problems here with natural gas,’ because they couldn’t make steam. We had the gas back on by four or five in the morning. We had to make sure all the steam, everything came back up with steam through the tunnels, but since it wasn’t off long, everything was still hot.”

Most building occupants wouldn’t notice a change at all.

Per the F&S announcement, which came at 8 a.m., “[t]here may be cooler temperatures in some campus buildings and some specialized lab equipment that utilizes high-pressure steam may not work,” meaning this was not making all classrooms and offices unusable for the tens of thousands who populate the campus, and for those it did impact, it didn’t last long.

F&S At the Expo

The All-Employee Expo, held at State Farm Center, a popular on-campus event was in full force. Thousands walked the halls of SFC and were able to learn about colleges, units, and efforts of the university, as well as other local vendors. F&S was well-attended, hosting eight tables of teams and shops that had giveaways, tokens of appreciation, information, examples, and stories of success.

Machinists & Locksmiths

Machinists had metal wafer keychains giveaways, while also showing a few larger-scale items made for campus-wide projects for University Parking, Gies Memorial Stadium, and more. Key covers were made available from the locksmith shop, also promoting its different door lock mechanisms.

Painters and Ironworkers

The painters shop, which also does signage inside and outside, was joined by the ironworkers shop. Many attendees enjoyed the different types of signage available, and seeing tangible examples you can see and touch offered a higher level of satisfaction and customer confidence.

Utilities & Energy Services team members were on hand to put passers by to the test, both mentally and physically!

One station at the UES table was a pair of stationary bikes that, as you pedal, turns on a light and pushes out some air that lifts a ball into the air.

Meanwhile, at another end of the table, folks could take a 5-question quiz, the “Watt’s Your Campus Energy IQ?”

Of 172 test-takers, the average score was a 133, or “Energy Genius” level. Additionally, nine of those who took the quiz were selected at random and have won a solar power bank. Those winners are from Housing; Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES); F&S; McKinley Health Center; Illinois State Water Survey; School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics; and, Gies College of Business.

Transportation Demand Management (TDM)

TDM shone a light on the importance of biking and other active modes of transportation — essentially, encouraging people to not use a single-occupant vehicle. They reflected light too, with slap bracelets available in the safety orange which can also help drivers identify bikers.

Safety & Compliance

S&C belonged with other safety professionals, and did so, co-hosting a table with Department of Research Safety, which is an administrative unit that oversees research-specific safety in labs on campus. The two came together last year for the Be Smart, Stay Safe promotional and informational campaign, highlighted on a website here https://besafe.illinois.edu/. F&S has more safety responsibilities than only labs, which need specialized HVAC, extraordinary energy needs, and specialized needs like waste compliance or rope-aided high elevation rescue.

Sustainability and Environmental Compliance

Folks who would like to keep campus green, in more ways than one: Morgan White, director of strategic initiatives & sustainability, and Betsy Richardson, coordinator of special programs with S&C. White has led and continues to lead many F&S responsibilities in sustainability and practices that can help the campus reduce its energy use. Betsy’s work includes helping organize, run, and promote the Boneyard Creek Community Day, when hundreds across Champaign-Urbana-Savoy head to clean up local waterways and green areas.

Transportation & Building Services

TBS might have been one of the most visited tables thanks in part to its own folks: Building Services is the largest unit on campus, by number of team members. At the table, they could find information, a game with giveaways, and chat with knowledgeable, friendly faces Pete Varney, director of TBS, Shawn Patterson, assistant director of fleet services, and Neil Franzen, transportation manager.

Mill Shop

Perhaps the crown jewel of F&S’ presence at the All-Employee Expo. Or maybe not a shiny emerald, but rather expertly-crafted wood. Scott Schmidt and Ryan Ritter in their space could easily recall years worth of work, both having more than 10 years of experience. Some of their crafted goods used to draw visitors in included wooden Block Is that were two inches tall, perhaps a foot, and the eye-stopping 5-footer.

Wanna see more?: https://fs.illinois.edu/millworkers-shop-image-gallery/

CIF Benefits from RCx

Students head into class at the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Campus Instructional Facility (CIF) has quickly become an on-campus hub, drawing tens of thousands of students per week through its doors. A wide array of classes are there, and public space areas are often populated as study areas. The building went up in 2021 and in these years since, F&S Retrocommissioning (RCx) experts figured it likely they would work on the building, with its high usage and advanced mechanical systems.

CIF was also introduced as a geothermal-powered facility, meaning it draws on the relative stability of below-earth temperatures to keep the building warm or cool, depending on need. Special windows prevent hot temperatures, and change colors. Panels in individual rooms keep users comfortable. The air handling unit has dual energy recovery wheels, rooms have CO2 and humidity sensors, and it was designed with good window and wall insulation and air sealing. The building was given a LEED® Platinum rating once built, one of just five on the Urbana campus.

But there’s always room for improvement, and RCx efforts have resulted in a 38%drop in energy use (kBtu/ft2/year). Here’s how.

Students on study area steps in Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)

RCx Prescriptions

Retrocommissioning teams make solutions happen – a team is deployed to the site with the express goal of, through hardware, software, education, and investigation, making the building more effective at heating and cooling its occupants. RCx has made improvements to more than 350 buildings totaling a cost avoidance of $160M since 2007. Occupancy is one piece of low-hanging fruit within reach of most any building’s energy use reduction plans. Ideally, you should use less energy when there’s fewer people in the building, like at night, during unscheduled days, holidays or break periods, and in summer months.

Bringing 40,000 students through each set of doors per week raises periodic peak needs — as they open the door to enter or exit, more conditioned air will need to offset that fresh air that just swept inside.

Andy Robinson, F&S engineer in energy services administration, was on the team addressing CIF concerns. The results, says Robinson, have made CIF a “contender for most efficient building on campus, especially one that has so many students in it.”

“We save a lot of energy in large campus rooms by turning down the airflow based on the CO2 demand or when nobody is there at all,” said Robinson. “Every room at CIF already had CO2 sensors, but the program wasn’t letting the air go as low as we determined it could. CIF is the busiest classroom building on campus, but there are still plenty of hours when rooms were sitting empty or with one person keeping it running too high.”

6 Solutions

A few improvements were made simply done thanks to metering findings done by Robinson and the RCx team.

For one, the primary air handling unit would run all through the night hours and early morning in times when the building is empty. This was solved with some adjustments made to in-room sensors.
Secondly, a chilled water valve, which is a backup to cool the building, would not close all the way. They spotted this hardware issue and worked with their team of dedicated F&S craftspersons – sheet metal workers, temperature control mechanics, and electricians are teamed with engineers and programmers to get on site and get it done.
Thirdly, classroom use in summer months have seen “very limited” use, and many are very large, so using the CO2 sensors is even more important.
Fourth, the radiant panels which keep comfortable temps in each room are fairly unique on campus, especially paired with a geothermal heat recovery chiller, and they required special programming. Areas like the radiant heated concrete monument steps are an ideal warm place on a cool day.
Fifth, some locations of plumbing show water chemistry issues, leading to valve failures in the heat recovery chiller. This has now been humming along well for the past year.
Sixth, the amount of campus-generated steam should go down based on preheat and reheat temperatures changing to a lower temperature. The building does a great job of keeping its heat in and needing very little cooling/steam needed from campus.

The project lasted March until June in 2024, and results have been impressive.

Electricity use is down 6% (in kWh), chilled water reduction of 72% and a steam reduction of 52%, with more expected this winter.

“For saving energy, reducing the room load and the 100% outdoor air is the first step,” said Robinson. “Last winter we were able to cut the campus steam to the air handler to essentially 0 by lowering the water temperature from 160 to 115F, which the geothermal HRC production on-site can produce. We can do this because the dual heat recovery wheels are so efficient at extracting the exhaust heat and preheating the outdoor air, and because the building is so well designed.”

Lessons learned from the design and construction of CIF have been incorporated into the Gies College of Business’ new Wymer Hall. This is the newest geothermal high efficiency classroom/office building, and it will be interesting to see how the two stack up in energy once the commissioning bugs are worked out.

Resources

RCx CIF – Andy Robinson – MAPPA Presentation ^PDF

Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: Retrocommissioning

Above and Beyond

The Lit Path and the Dark Sky

You see it every time you walk at night: pathway, bike lane, and street lighting is a trusted, safe way to journey campus. Big evening events for new students hit each fall, leading into sporting events, music acts and every outdoor activity… but at night.

And with lighting installed in recent years, including at Illini Grove, along Kirby west of Gies Memorial Stadium, and in multi-story parking lots, pedestrians are seeing more clear than ever. All while the campus grows toward full adoption of “Dark Sky” standards, which is a “recognized worldwide authority combatting light pollution.”

Essentially, you don’t want light leaking up toward the sky, or simply being turned on unnecessarily or placed in inefficient locations. Lights like spherical globes or other, more ornamental shapes, may spill light up more than more modern designs that take light pollution seriously.

But Why?

“Second to an overall reduction of outdoor lighting, using ‘Dark Sky Approved’ light fixtures is the best method for reducing light pollution,” said Bridgette Moen, F&S landscape architect. “Light pollution is detrimental to both wildlife and human health. Many animals rely on day-night cycles, which are disrupted from light pollution. According to the National Audubon Society, artificial light can disorient migrating birds and result in collisions with buildings. Researchers at the University of York found that moths attracted to night lights resulted in reduced plant pollination.”

“In the human environment, light pollution can actually decrease safe movement at night. Traditional streetlights are often non-shielded and light the landscape at the vehicle scale; this can cause glare and make it harder to see pedestrians or cyclists. Too much artificial light in the evening can also disrupt sleep patterns, leading to higher risks of chronic conditions. Perhaps the most obvious result, light pollution makes it much harder to view the night sky. Light pollution has become so ubiquitous that starwatchers flock to regions with low light pollution to enjoy the night sky. One of which is in the backyard of the university at the Middle Fork River Forest Preserve, the only Dark Sky Park in Illinois.”

Eva Sweeney, F&S capital projects, is glad to note how trends are increasing: “’Dark Sky’ lighting prevents light pollution not just to the sky, but also glare and spillover beyond property lines. F&S facility standards call for ‘Dark Sky’ approval on all outdoor lighting, including streets, sidewalks and parking lots. Virtually all new installations for the past 15-20 years have adhered to this policy.”

“It takes planning to meet all the safety needs of our busy campus while maintaining ‘Dark Sky’ standards. Newer LED technology and fixtures make it much easier to control the output, directing nearly all the light to where people can use it. Less than half as much energy is needed to safely light our streets and sidewalks compared to the old fashioned fixtures. Apart from ‘Dark Sky,’ sometimes even more can be saved with motion-activated lighting such as at Lot E-14. That technology is most suitable for parking lots, where late night usage is very low. Lights on the busiest pedestrian sidewalks are not generally motion activated for safety reasons.”

Little Light

One location on campus, and the experts who use the space, needing real darkness is the Observatory.

“Astronomers can’t view the stars if they are being blinded by streetlights, so for many years the nearby lights were painted black on the side facing the Observatory,” Sweeney said. “Nowadays we use Dark Sky fixtures instead.”

The nearby historic farming land, the Morrow Plots, doesn’t want too much electric light, either. Famously, buildings nearby were planned in a manner as to not “throw shade on the corn,” per an old song about the campus feature.

“Not many people will remember that the nighttime effects were also considered, and lights were placed to avoid shining on the. Believe it or not, corn needs to sleep too!”

Commercial Geothermal Gains Momentum

By Austin Keating
Originally posted to The ACHR News

New research reveals growing acceptance of geothermal HVAC among commercial facility managers

A comprehensive survey reveals the growing momentum of commercial geothermal HVAC, with one in four facility managers already adopting the technology and industry experts predicting continued expansion driven by tax incentives, energy efficiency, and technological advancements.

Commercial contractors are seeing increased interest in geothermal HVAC — and the latest data backs this up. A new survey by The ACHR NEWS, in partnership with myCLEARopinion Insights Hub, found that 25% of facility managers have already implemented geothermal systems in their buildings, while over half reported familiarity with the technology.

“The misconception that geothermal is geographically limited is starting to be corrected,” explained Bryant Jones, executive director of Geothermal Rising, a trade association representing the geothermal industry across the United States and Canada. He pointed to installations now spanning from Manhattan skyscrapers to Midwestern universities, suggesting broader adoption than many in the industry previously recognized.

The survey, which captured insights from commercial contractors and facility managers across the country, painted a picture of a maturing market. One-third of facility managers claimed to be “extremely knowledgeable” about geothermal HVAC, indicating growing sophistication among commercial end-users.

Decision Making

The survey revealed that facility managers rely heavily on professional channels for their geothermal information, with 78% turning to HVAC contractors and 71% consulting manufacturer websites. This professional guidance is crucial, as the decision to implement geothermal involves complex considerations.

System reliability and performance emerged as the top factors in installation decisions, followed closely by long-term cost savings and initial installation costs. These priorities align with what industry experts see in the field.

While 77% of facility managers cited cost savings over time as the most important factor when considering geothermal HVAC, the technology’s initial expense remained its biggest hurdle. An overwhelming 87% of survey respondents identified high initial cost as their primary concern.

Kent Reifsteck, director emeritus F&S’ Utilities & Energy Services (UES) division, acknowledged this challenge: “There’s a pretty significant capital cost for providing the well field. So anytime you do just a standalone building, you do the analysis, and you find it’s a little difficult with the cost of putting the well fields in.”

However, the financial equation is becoming more favorable with Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives.

“Under the IRA, there are tax credits up to 50% for all of that work, including the ductwork if needed,” Jones noted. These geothermal incentives appear stable, he said, with industry organizations working to maintain them, while subsidies for air-source heat pumps — the main competitor to geothermal heat pumps — may fall off.

“We are hearing that air source tax credits for air source heat pumps and solar and wind are being looked at to be eliminated,” Jones explained. “And the geothermal industry is working with Congress and the Trump administration to protect and maintain tax credits for geothermal technologies.”

Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David M. Turk underscored the broader policy implications in recent Congressional testimony. “Getting rid of those [tax credits] is exactly the wrong thing to do right now,” Turk warned, citing analysis showing potential increases of $220-400 in annual energy costs per household if certain credits were repealed.

Case Study: Wymer Hall

The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s new Wymer Hall project demonstrated how commercial geothermal can work at scale. The nearly 100,000-square-foot facility utilizes 70 boreholes drilled to depths of 450 feet, making it one of the most comprehensive geothermal installations in academic settings.

Early results from similar systems on campus were promising. The Campus Instructional Facility (CIF), which uses a comparable geoexchange system, showed approximately 58% lower energy usage compared to buildings with a traditional energy profile.

The university has long been at the forefront of advanced cooling strategies. During the era of Blue Waters, a petascale supercomputer that was decommissioned on December 31, 2021, the campus developed innovative cooling approaches.

Reifsteck described their unique cooling strategy: “For Blue Waters, we actually had an economizer cycle for the winter, so we didn’t have to mechanically cool the computers. We used on-site cooling towers in the winter so that we could get by without having to do mechanical cooling.”

Beyond major computing facilities, the campus continues to manage specialized cooling needs. “We’ve got a lot of smaller areas throughout all the different buildings that have research or small computer rooms that need year-round cooling,” Reifsteck explained. These facilities remain connected to the campus’s central chilled water system, which maintains cooling capability throughout the year.

The approach demonstrates how geothermal and advanced cooling systems can be integrated with existing infrastructure to meet specialized cooling needs efficiently.

The university operates one of the most sophisticated district energy systems in academia, centrally distributing both electricity and steam. It won the International District Energy Association’s system of the year award in 2024. The campus infrastructure includes an extensive network of steam tunnels and a central chilled water system, offering unique advantages for a regional campus.

“Some buildings need cooling even in the winter,” Reifsteck noted. “We use the central chilled water system as our heat source for heat pumps to provide heating in the buildings with hot water.” The system employs what they term “heat recovery chillers” to take advantage of simultaneous heating and cooling needs across campus.

Survey Says

The survey highlighted high expectations for project management and communication, with 78% of facility managers expecting detailed project timelines and regular updates from contractors. This demand for professional service came as the industry works to build its workforce.

“We really do need more educational training programs for commercial HVAC installers,” Jones acknowledged. “The demand is increasing, and the workforce is not aligned with that demand growth.”

“The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment opportunities for HVAC workers will grow by 6% through 2032, which is about twice the average growth rate for all occupations,” said Joe Parsons, senior marketing sustainability manager at Climate Control Group. “Other sources project a 9% growth from 2023 to 2033. This demand is driven by multiple factors such as an aging workforce, increased focus on energy efficiency, technological advancements, and the need for improved indoor air quality.”

At the same time, recent advances in heat pump and recovery chiller technology have made commercial geothermal increasingly viable. “There’s a lot of advancements, whether you call them heat pumps or recovery chillers,” Reifsteck noted.

Whether using the ground as a heat source/sink in geothermal applications, or leveraging a central chilled water system, the basic principle remains the same: moving heat from where it isn’t wanted to where it is needed.

“Anytime we can use the heat pump and take advantage of the instantaneous need for heating and cooling, both, that’s when we gain the most efficiencies,” Reifsteck noted.

The evolution extends beyond equipment. Modern geothermal systems can now integrate with building automation systems, provide real-time performance monitoring, and offer sophisticated load management capabilities.

“We’re seeing rapid adoption in commercial spaces thanks to advancements like variable-speed compressors, advanced controls, and modular system designs,” Parsons said. “These technologies not only boost efficiency and flexibility but also simplify integration with building automation systems.”

He said geothermal is now a far more attractive option for facility managers looking to cut operating costs and reduce carbon footprints.

“They’ve made improvements on the equipment needed to do that on a larger scale,” Reifsteck added, pointing to enhanced controls and system optimization tools. These technological advances are being put to work in major commercial projects.

Market Drivers

Several factors are accelerating commercial geothermal adoption:

Energy Independence: “If building owners are concerned about global supply chains, then geothermal is a technology to look at because it doesn’t have global supply chains the way that wind, solar and fossil fuels have,” Jones explained.
Environmental Impact: “Geothermal has the lowest life cycle carbon footprint of any renewable energy technology, and it has the smallest environmental footprint of all energy technologies,” Jones said.
Grid Benefits: “Geothermal provides two benefits to utilities,” Jones noted. “It can help take load off of the grid through heating and cooling applications, and then you can also add electricity to the grid through geothermal power generation technologies.”

Looking Ahead

For facility managers considering geothermal, Jones recommended starting with proper training and certification through organizations like the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association. Thereafter, as more commercial success stories emerge and technology continues to advance, the current 25% adoption rate could mark just the beginning.

“As a result of the increased energy independence, system reliability and new technologies, more building owners are recognizing the long-term value of geothermal solutions, especially when combined with these next-generation heat pumps and chillers that deliver both environmental and economic benefits,” Parsons noted.

With stable tax incentives for geothermal likely to continue while competing technologies’ subsidies face uncertainty, the market appears positioned for growth.

“The data is showing that the demand is there,” Jones concluded. “Geothermal heat pumps have been growing year after year.”

Girl Scouts Tour Abbott Power Plant 2025

Girl Scouts from Champaign and nearby counties visited Abbott Power Plant in April to learn about the co-generation facility that provides heat and power to most of campustown.

There, they interacted with demonstrations held by Grainger College of Engineering students, who showed how electricity and steam work, toured the production floor and other areas of Abbott with Utilities & Energy Services experts, and climbed on and in giant earth-movers and other utility vehicles used by F&S operating engineers.

See the INSIDER story from last year’s visit: https://fs.web.illinois.edu/Insider/2024/04/16/abbott-power-plant-welcomes-girl-scouts-2024-edition/

Shop Spotlight: Card Access Opens Doors

Access to this Q&A
Permitted!

The F&S Card Access team keeps campus safe, by changing lock and unlock permissions of individuals on campus. For example, when a new person is hired, they can get in the parts of a building they need to; just as importantly, names and identities can be removed from entrance and exit permissions lists.

The i-card holds all the value, as it is the ‘key’ to entrance in particular places at different times. Below is a Q&A with team members.

Why is it valuable to students/faculty/staff to have doors be accessible through the i-card?

The most important point to get across in everything we say is that in general, we do not accept requests from most students/faculty/staff. To centralize departmental security, every department that adds access controls nominates a limited number of staff members (usually facility managers) to be access control authorizers, and unless we get a request from someone on that list for a building, we either politely redirect it to the list of authorizers or ignore it. Our advice for anyone that’s having a problem getting electronic access to an area is to reach out to the facility manager for the space they need access to.

To be clear, we see the convenience provided to staff and students of being able to use a card for entry instead of a brass key as a knock-on benefit. Our true benefit to the University comes from the fact that electronic access control creates accountability of entry, allows for faster manipulation of area rosters, and allows us to pre-schedule changes to building unlock schedules based on either planned or extemporaneous events, all of this to ensure departmental needs and priorities are being adhered to.

How quickly can someone be added/removed from a door’s accessibility?

Generally, users can be added or removed from access within minutes during operational hours, although this estimate increases during our busiest times of year (semester starts), with the quality of data received, with the complexity of a request, or with any additional requirements for a higher-security space. There are additional background check requirements for spaces that regularly contain minors, and any adds or removes to those spaces are slower because it is our obligation to follow state laws unique to those spaces.

As departments move to Security Expert, we’re working with select facility managers to pilot faster methods of adding or removing users that leverage existing onboarding and offboarding processes that departments must regularly conduct anyway.

What are some recent buildings that now use card access? How has that benefited the building occupants?

Most new capital projects in the last five years have included an element of electronic access control. Some recent buildings that we have added card access to include Agricultural Engineering Science Building, Levis Faculty Center and Engineering Sciences Building. This benefits the building occupants by giving them a sense of security knowing that the building is secure, and only certain users have access to the building.

What’s the future of card access? Just more buildings?

The campus is currently migrating the existing access control systems to Schneider Electric’s product: Security Expert. Moving all of our doors to one system will allow our department to serve the campus more efficiently.

Additionally, we’re working with departments that have previously run their own single-building installations of access control systems to join us on our installation of Security Expert. By combining resources, we can be better stewards of campus resources, and we can make the process of gaining access easier for staff members who need access to many locations because of their job duties.

We’re also working with departments to replace all swipe readers for any of our doors with chip-based readers. We encourage everyone to check the back of their card for the HID/Seos logo to confirm their card will work with the new reader technology!

Beyond that, we’re constantly trying out new technologies in access controls, providing research, development, best practices, and real world testing for campus departments, while holding an extremely high standard for what we can deliver at a high quality level to a campus of over 150,000 users, so we have no product updates to announce at this time.

Are the retinal/fingerprint/temperature scanning features available in any buildings? Which ones? What “types” of buildings?

Temperature scanning features are no longer being used on campus, as many models of temperature scanners were found to be unreliable for production environments. Now that the campus is back to pre-pandemic levels of health monitoring, we have no intention to reintroduce this feature on campus.

There are multiple brands of biometric-factor scanners being used on campus, primarily in environments that require additional security for operational or grant compliance reasons. The most important thing to note about all of our biometric-factor scanners is that scanners are only being installed in partnership with departments. The partnership is paramount because current policy has the onus of BIPA compliance on the hosting department. We’re happy to discuss future biometric installs with any interested facility managers, but we’ll be holding any future installations to that same standard.

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2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: What’s So Cool About Chilled Water

At the 2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference, Mike Larson, director of utility operations at Abbott Power Plant, described part of why the Urbana campus is so remarkable in utility and energy production and distribution: chilled water.

2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: Keynote Recap

Cold water, taken down to 42 degrees Fahrenheit at five chillers in Champaign and Urbana, is pumped throughout the campus in 26 miles of underground pipes to enter 138 buildings and absorb surrounding warmer temperatures, which in turn, keep things cool. It’s much more efficient and effective for a large campus like Illinois, which might otherwise require a plethora of small window a/c units or other measures that require much more electricity or steam.

In 2004, a $50M conversion to an alternative chilled-water configuration using regional chilled-water plants serving a large central-piping loop connecting campus buildings was started. The loop has reduced cooling energy consumption by an estimated 20 percent.

The Campus Chilled Water System (CCWS) provides:

Enhanced energy conservation – the chiller loop operates with fewer chillers, colder chilled water temperatures, and reduced pumping requirements
Increased efficiency (one chiller can feed multiple buildings)
Increased reliability
Reduced maintenance costs

Upgrades

This system was further optimized through a series of software and hardware upgrades.

F&S did so through through its Energy Performance Contracting (EPC): https://fs.illinois.edu/Projects/epc-06-campus-chilled-water-system-optimization/.

Awarded to Veregy Central, LLC
$2,499,000 contract value
$264,971 guaranteed annual energy cost savings
10-year payback with guaranteed energy cost savings only

Installed OptimumLOOP control software at Oak Street and North Campus Chiller Plants to enhance system performance. Its proprietary algorithms continuously analyze and adjust operations in real time, optimizing control of chilled water plant equipment for maximum efficiency. The cloud-based OptiCx platform provides operators with valuable insights, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and data analytics, enabling quick detection, diagnosis, and resolution of system faults.

EPC projects use the amount of money it estimates saved in the future to help fund it – oftentimes, the savings do even better than projections.

The university uses EPC to manage complex facilities with high energy use, such as laboratories, making them energy efficient and addressing deferred maintenance issues along the way.

The EPC provides customers with a comprehensive set of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and distributed generation measures and is accompanied with guarantees that the energy and operational savings produced by the project will be sufficient to cover the full cost of the project.

Said Sylvia McIvor about EPC and the importance of the CCWS: “It is not necessarily ‘rare’ to have a district chilled water system on a larger university or hospital campus. However, our whole ‘energy enterprise’ – which includes the chilled water system – is unique due to the integration of co-generation, renewable energy, smart grid technology, and sustainability initiatives. Our district cooling system is on the scale of a municipal system in size.”

What We Have

Having a large CCWS enterprise made that a prime candidate for an EPC project, especially with varying ages, efficiencies, and capabilities of the mechanical and software systems.

“If we didn’t have the CCWS, you’d have to do all these improvement projects individually at each building,” said Larson. “There’s a lot of advantages to having centralized steam and chilled water. That effects every building.”

The CCWS EPC project had a large impact footprint, and is exactly the place where savings could be found.

“Huge projects result in huge savings,” Larson told the attendees.

What Larson has found is that the five chiller plants push out enough cold water, but the pressure might weaken as it traverses miles of plumbing.

“We want to run our pumps as low as possible to save power, while still serving the campus community. We may need need to add tertiary pumps–down the line, closer to a high-use building like Beckman–to push the flow faster.”

CampusChilledWaterPlanningMap Download

2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: Keynote Recap

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a world-leader in teaching, collaboration, research and workforce development – and a conference has helped position Illinois as a leader within the state and region for those who perform similar work to F&S.

The Illinois Chief Engineers & Facility Mangers Conference was a two-day gathering held in March, meant to spur discussion and find solutions to common issues at all state and nearby universities, among those who care for and maintain the material world.

Read about the 2024 conference here, including presentations on culture and leadership, Illinois code on all-gender restrooms, and a retrocommissioning project in a cleanroom.

As the largest university in the state, Illinois has taken a leadership role, hosting the event and offering speaking opportunities for F&S leaders to detail offerings and opportunities that can be accomplished at smaller schools with fewer employees.

Jeff Angiel, associate vice chancellor and executive director, outlined pride points and challenges regarding F&S and the state of utilities and maintenance at large public universities like Illinois during his keynote speech.

Other topics ranged from energy conservation to automation, construction and chilled water systems. Attendees came from University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois State University, Washington University, and local public school districts. More than 100 people registered for the conference.

High Energy

Angiel noted the size and scale of the entire energy ‘enterprise,’ shining a light on last year’s honor as System of the Year from IDEA (International District Energy Association). Abbott Power Plant is the key to much of why campus energy and utility use is so special, as it is a co-generation plant, meaning it produces both electricity and steam.

Solar Farms add to the electric grid, and the university also purchases supplemental power from the regional supplier, Ameren. The efficiency of Abbott’s production allows the university to avoid higher costs and national grid uncertainty.

Angiel noted he is looking forward to a possible micro-nuclear reactor and third solar farm as added options for energy generation.

“When you think about nuclear reactors in the past, that the there’s always been a concern about safety. But this micronuclear power is really changing that paradigm and changing the perception of what happens with nuclear power. These installations are still growing, still an evolving technology, but it’s something we’re really excited about and think it would be very useful here on campus. I think we’re uniquely positioned with a co-generation power plant and the centralized scheme of systems that we have to be able to incorporate a technology like this in the future. So, we have been working with the federal government and several partners to help realize that.”

“Things Don’t Get Cheaper”

Angiel also noted challenges, of which many are just as relevant for the largest operators, like Illinois, as well as a family wanting to update their home mechanical systems: cost and speed. Deferred maintenance, or the accrued cost of *not* updating systems and buildings on-time, is also growing, ballooning over $1 billion a few years ago.

“Our deferred capital maintenance burden was measured at $1.3 billion [in 2023],” said Angiel.

He took a breath and reacted, “Whoa.”

“When a piece of equipment comes to the end of its useful life or a building comes to its useful life, we have been delaying the repair and replacement. We try and extend that life and just say, ‘You know what, we can get a few more years out of that. Let’s kick the can down the road and we’ll deal with that problem later.'” It’s a common thought, but Angiel stressed that responding to a reactive or emergency scenario is always more costly than doing the proper predictive or preventive maintenance.

“If we don’t do any spending on capital deferred maintenance by 2033, that’ll grow to $2.5 billion.”

Talking Through It

“One thing that that I’m trying to do is, as a new person here on campus, is communicate all of these things as much as I can,” Angiel said. “I’m engaging in a lot of conversations with our university leadership, and trying to educate our partners on process and realities of our current business systems. What I’m trying to do is educate our consumers.”

“I want to hear everybody’s concerns and thoughts about how we do things and what’s important to them, because sometimes if you don’t pay attention, if you don’t listen, we could be focusing on the wrong things, and having the wrong priorities.”

“Managing the interests of a campus of hundreds of buildings has a different goal than just managing a single project. We’re balancing these goals and strategic initiatives of campus, not just the cost of a single construction project. The overall cost of a project needs to assess the total cost of ownership and decision making, and our campus needs to understand that when we approve a project, we’re not just approving the construction costs.”