Sustainability

Researchers prep for landmark field test of ‘second-life’ EV batteries

lblouin — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:30:35 +0000

Researchers prep for landmark field test of ‘second-life’ EV batteries lblouin Mon, 02/10/2025 - 10:30

Connecting large batteries to the electric grid is an idea that has multiple benefits. Most fundamentally, an electricity system powered by an increasingly large share of solar and wind will almost surely require storing energy in some fashion, given the variability of the wind and sunshine at any particular moment in the day coupled with our expectation that power will always be available. Indeed, large battery storage systems are already being deployed across the world in sophisticated ways. For example, a Massachusetts town of about 27,000 people is building a 15 MWh, grid-connected battery storage system that can help power the town during power outages, stock up on less-expensive energy during off-peak hours and feed electricity back to the grid during times of peak demand, when utilities generally have to fire up their most carbon-intensive diesel-powered backup systems. Grid-tied battery storage systems, however, come with a few caveats. For one, it takes a lot of batteries to store enough energy to actually make a significant difference, which means battery storage systems are expensive. Moreover, if you consider the climate emissions involved in manufacturing the batteries and the mining for the lithium and cobalt needed to make them, battery storage systems are far from being climate neutral.

Throw at this predicament a seemingly too-good-to-be-true solution: Right now, electric vehicles represent the largest use of large batteries, and EVs are steadily gaining market share across the globe. However, manufacturers estimate that batteries in new EVs will likely need to be replaced after eight to 12 years, or when they can hold about three quarters of their original charge. These slightly diminished batteries, however, could still be useful for other things, like — you guessed it — grid-tied storage. Now add into the mix the fact that EV sales have been strong for the past few years and we could be a decade or so away from having millions of used batteries ready for a “second life” in the electric grid. Importantly, this approach could reduce the costs and climate impacts of building large storage systems compared to those that use new batteries.

Undoubtedly, it’s an idea with tons of promise. The catch, at least for now, is that we don’t really know how well it will work, according to Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Xuan Zhou. Zhou says our understanding of the performance of new EV batteries is pretty solid and getting better all the time. However, we simply don’t have the same level of data about what’s really going on inside used EV batteries to say for sure they’ll be as reliable an option for grid storage as we hope they’ll be. The reason is that charging and discharging a battery hundreds of times — and subjecting it to thousands of hours of road vibrations — changes its underlying chemical and physical properties. That’s ultimately why it loses capacity over time. And many details about a battery’s potential second life inside a grid storage system — like how many years it would last, how safe it would be and how cost-effective it would be — are still largely unknown.

Zhou, along with his Electrical and Computer Engineering Department collaborators Associate Professor Mengqi Wang and Professor Wencong Su, hope they’re about to provide the world with some of the best data-backed answers to date. With a new $1.48 million grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, the largest state grant in the university's history, the team of researchers is set to build a 500 kW grid-tied storage system that will use actual used EV batteries.

Su and Wang say some of the best work in this field is currently being done at Stanford University. But those experiments involve taking new EV batteries and subjecting them to hundreds of charging and discharging cycles in order to intentionally deplete them in a way that mimics what happens in an EV under certain driving conditions. “For the emulation, however, they might not be able to emulate the true environment the batteries would be operating in,” Wang says. “We can imagine, in an EV, there will be vibrations. There will be accelerations and decelerations. The devices around the pack might also generate heat. And there will be variations in the temperature and all these environmental conditions for the battery pack — they will not be constant at all. This all impacts the battery. So by using real used EV batteries, we hope our data will end up being more practical.”

From left, Associate Professor Xuan Zhou, Associate Professor Mengqi Wang and Professor Wencong Su.

Zhou says they are still working out many details for the design and build of the project. One of the unexpected challenges was simply locating used EV batteries. “Initially, it looked like we were going to have to get them from Europe, where EVs have been more popular,” Zhou says. “But now it looks likely that we will be able to get about eight to 20 battery packs from used GM vehicles.” After they secure the batteries, Zhou says they’ll perform extensive tests to get a sense of their chemical and physical properties. Meanwhile, Wang and Su will work out how the batteries can be connected and tied to the grid. Because the team is planning to test several types of use cases, this will require a carefully planned system of custom power converters, controllers and control algorithms. For example, they want to see how well the batteries perform in a “peak shaving” role. That’s when the batteries would feed electricity back to the grid during times of peak demand, which helps utilities avoid using their expensive, carbon-intensive backup systems. They also want to test “load shifting,” which is where the batteries would charge during non-peak hours and then release that energy during peak hours, when electricity is more expensive. Another variable: the partner site that will host the storage system has a solar array. Wang says connecting all those components and systems in a way that doesn’t produce harmonics on the grid, damage equipment or compromise power quality takes careful planning. Many of the components will have to be custom built, too, since this kind of system is not an off-the-shelf technology.

Another big hurdle the team might encounter is testing the system. At 500 kWh, this project is so big that the current testing facilities at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn — or any other university the team knows of — isn’t equipped to handle a test of the full system. Zhou says the new battery lab in Ann Arbor may be able to provide single pack-level testing, and they may need an industry partner for tests beyond that. Wang says the size and testing requirements also make it more challenging to design other aspects of the system. “I think the piece of equipment that has the highest power rating is our battery simulator in our IAVS lab, which has 100 kW testing capacity. So we’ll start with a smaller system as a proof-of-concept design. And then we’ll scale up to the real-world test. But this makes it much more challenging. The components, like the semiconductors or power converters, can’t just be scaled up. They’ll have to be swapped out with new hardware with higher power ratings. So we’re going to be busy!”

One other noteworthy feature of the project: After the study of the storage system is complete, the research team’s Genesee County-based industry partner on the project, ReCharge ReCycling, which is helping design and build the storage system, will help prepare the battery pack for a third life. “That’s why we’re calling this project ‘Closing the loop,’” Zhou says. “They’ll be dismantling the battery down to the cell level and then trying to recover the precious metals so they can be used to make a new battery. So we’ll really get a full picture of what it’s going to take to take a battery through this full cycle.”

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Story by Lou Blouin. Photos by Annie Barker.

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Off

Mon, 02/10/2025 - 15:30

Connecting millions of used electric vehicle batteries to the grid is an idea that holds tons of promise. But how well will this strategy work in the real world?

Associate Professor Xuan Zhou (right), Associate Professor Mengqi Wang (left) and Professor Wencong Su are heading up a new project that will tie used EV batteries to the electric grid.

Student-led garden grows food and community

stuxbury — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 19:56:52 +0000

Student-led garden grows food and community stuxbury Tue, 02/04/2025 - 14:56

When it’s freezing cold outside, it helps to “think spring.” That’s what College of Education, Health and Human Services Fall 2024 grad Sasha Kindred is doing. More specifically, she’s planning how the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Community Garden — with its zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, sweet peppers, cabbage and more — can have another successful year.

“I know it seems early, but we are working to plan what’s needed for our community garden,” says Kindred, a Planet Blue Ambassador and an intern for 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Sustainability Programs. “This gardening project is a newer initiative on campus that gets people thinking about sustainability in a different way, and of what we can do to help ourselves and the people in our campus community. During these times of uncertainty, there are many sustainable skills that we can adopt to help ensure that basic needs are met.”

The student-led garden, which is located in the Environmental Interpretive Center’s Community Organic Garden, aims to build community, while addressing food insecurity among students. This Planet Blue Ambassador initiative started in 2024.

Last fall, the garden helped stock the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Student Food Pantry with fresh produce. The garden team, led by Kindred, is looking for interested students, faculty and staff to help do that again.

Interested in getting involved? Sign up to volunteer, suggest what to grow and ask for more information. All skill levels are welcome.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that 23% of undergraduate students in the U.S. — 3.8 million — experienced food insecurity in 2020, more than twice the rate of food insecurity among the U.S. population that year. And that number keeps growing.

Dearborn Support Community Support Coordinator and Case Manager Tatiana Rodriguez, who manages the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Student Food Pantry, sees this trend at the university. In the 2022-23 academic year, the student food pantry distributed about 8,000 pounds of food. During the 2023-24 academic year, the food pantry distributed around 46,000 pounds of food. And from Fall 2022 through Winter 2023, the food pantry served an average of 102 students a month — in January 2025 alone, 451 students visited the pantry.

“With the high prices of food, gardening is an important way to be self-reliant and to help others,” says Office of Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves. “There was also a mutual aid component to it. Our friends at the EIC would let us know when someone renting their own garden plot needed a hand and our volunteers would jump into action.”

Approximately 45 pounds of fresh produce was donated to the Student Food Pantry through this garden initiative in 2024. The types of fruit and vegetables grown were based on student preferences, which were gathered by an online survey. Kindred says cultural connections are made through the garden too. At the end of the gardening season, students harvested hundreds of marigolds — a natural pesticide for gardens — to make garlands that they donated to student organizations hosting Día de los Muertos celebrations.

Maves says the community garden was made possible by contributions from the Environmental Interpretive Center, a team of 40 active volunteers and dedicated faculty and staff. She says faculty and staff donated time, gardening experience and items. For example, CEHHS Assistant Professor Finn Bell donated sweet pepper, cabbage, leek and cherry tomato seedlings, along with a variety of several seeds.

Faculty and staff — like Custodian John Berger, left, and Electrician Jeremie McCoy — came out to support the garden too.

“We had a core of dedicated volunteers who spent time tilling the soil, planting, weeding and growing friendship,” Maves says. “They put their hands, heads and hearts into this garden.”

Among those was volunteer Aronhot "Aron" Malau, a criminology and criminal justice graduate student. Malau grew up on a farm in North Sumatera, Indonesia, where he helped his parents grow coffee, rice and vegetables. He was among the first to work on the plot, clearing weeds and prepping the soil.

Malau, an international student, says he saw the garden plot as a way to meet more people on campus, connect with his home and leave a positive mark at the university.

“I was so happy to have this opportunity to get out and do something good, using what I learned on my parents’ farm. My work in the university garden is something I will always remember. When I come back and bring my kids, I will show them the spot where I worked,” says Malau, who graduated in Winter 2024 and now works as a tax officer in Jakarta, Indonesia. Malau and his wife have three young children. One was born in 2024 while he was a 51��Ƶ-Dearborn student. They named their youngest child Clara after Henry Ford’s wife. “We all have different gifts and skills. If one of those can help someone who is less fortunate, isn’t that a beautiful thing?” Malau adds.

51��Ƶ-Dearborn senior Sophia Hawkins not only volunteered in the garden, she was also a part of a food scarcity-focused class that brought the idea of a community garden to Maves and Kindred. While taking Sociology Associate Professor Carmel Price’s “Poverty and Inequality” course in Fall 2023, Hawkins had the idea to start a garden and classmates were interested. But, with students graduating and the challenges of recruiting new volunteers, the project needed a long-term university-based home that went beyond the semester.

At the end of the growing season, students had a Harvest Party where they cleared the plot for the 2025 season.

“In class, we talked about ways to support people around us. I wanted to grow food with the goal of donating it to the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Student Food Pantry. I’ve been to the food pantry and it’s a great resource we are blessed to have, but it doesn’t always have fresh produce items. I thought about what we, as students on tight budgets, could do to change that. We could work to grow our food,” says Hawkins, who’s majoring in criminology and criminal justice. “I’m so glad Sasha and Grace wanted to take the community garden idea on. They’ve done an amazing job with it. Come out and help — it’s fun to get your hands a little dirty.”

Kindred says she looks forward to working in the garden and having the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn community come together to do good for the food pantry, create sustainable skills and to enhance overall campus well-being.

“We are directly contributing to an important cause through our donations, which is motivating. But there are multiple things gained from learning how to garden and working together as a community. You have the opportunity to learn something new, meet people with similar interests, receive mental health benefits from working outside with the land, and grow more confident in your ability to grow your own food,” she says. “This is a cause that has multiple positive effects.”

Questions about the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Community Garden? Reach out to Maves or Kindred.

Story by Sarah Tuxbury. Photos courtesy of Sustainability Programs.

Nature or Environment

Student Success

Sustainability

Planet Blue Ambassadors

Student Engagement

Off

Tue, 02/04/2025 - 19:56

The 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Community Garden — which is seeking volunteers for the 2025 season — cultivates food sustainability skills, brings people together and stocks the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Student Food Pantry with fresh produce.

51��Ƶ-Dearborn alum Daille Held, left, and senior Sophia Hawkins spent summer 2024 Saturdays volunteering in the student-led community garden.

Planning for EV infrastructure is complicated. Here’s a better way to do it.

lblouin — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 13:45:53 +0000

Planning for EV infrastructure is complicated. Here’s a better way to do it. lblouin Wed, 01/22/2025 - 08:45

Electric vehicles still represent less than 1% of registered vehicles in the U.S. and comprised just over 8% of new U.S. vehicle sales in 2024. But government officials across the country are already planning for a future in which EVs are the go-to mode of private transportation — as evidenced by increasingly large public investments in EV charging infrastructure, like the $7.5 billion pledged under the Biden administration. When it comes to actually making a plan for building out that infrastructure, however, the devil is in a complex web of largely unknown details, says Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Jian Hu. Ideally, Hu says, you’d want to build a charging system that serves people’s needs for the next 10 years. The tricky part is that involves correctly anticipating a host of trendlines which are basically impossible to predict. “There are so many uncertainties,” Hu says. “We don’t know how fast the EV market will grow, which means we don’t know what the charging demand will be. Will the public want fast or slow charging? Will people charge at home or at work? During peak hours, or non-peak hours? Will utilities adopt dynamic pricing so it’s cheaper to charge at certain times of day? And how will this affect charging behavior? And what if there are new technologies that emerge? There are so many things we don’t know.”

Typically, when government agencies are planning for things like this, Hu says they might use what statisticians call a deterministic model. When you’re making this kind of model, you take account of what data you have, plug it into a formula that defines the relationship between the variables, and then you typically get a single answer, which then guides your plan of action. A simple retirement calculator, which takes your current age, retirement age, anticipated rate of return, the rate of inflation, and monthly savings target and tells you how much money you’ll have when you retire is a simple kind of deterministic model. But Hu argues that these kinds of prediction models aren’t the best tools when you’re dealing with complex situations with lots of uncertainty. “What if your rate of return on your investments isn’t the 7% you’ve put into that calculator? What if it is less and then you don’t have the money you expect when you retire? If you only use this kind of model, you’ll have this single prediction and you base everything on that. But you’re not preparing for a possible worst-case scenario.”

Because of this, statisticians often use different tools for forecasting complex, highly uncertain phenomena, like investment performance. One of the most popular is called stochastic modeling, which, instead of giving you just one answer, provides a range of results represented by thousands of different simulated scenarios in which the values and probabilities of the underlying variables are allowed to change. A popular type of stochastic model is a Monte Carlo simulation, which is used in financial planning. Unlike a simple retirement calculator, which assumes fixed values for things like the rate of inflation or a rate of return, a Monte Carlo analysis will run thousands of simulations in which all the variables you have in your model have different values and assigned probabilities. As a result, you get a much wider representation of possible outcomes, including best-case, worst-case and most likely scenarios. A Monte Carlo simulation might tell you, say, that in 98 percent of its simulated scenarios, which account for a wide range of possible economic conditions, your savings plans are going to get you to the end of your life with money in the bank. That might give you much more confidence in your investment strategy. You might even decide to take a more aggressive approach. Or, as Hu frames it, stochastic modeling gives us a much more complete way to understand risk.

Because stochastic models are so much better at helping us understand risk of uncertain events, Hu says they could be an excellent approach for planning EV infrastructure, given that reliable data on important details, like consumer charging preferences and future electricity demand, are sparse or lacking altogether. As part of a National Science Foundation-funded project, and in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, which is itself partnering with the Chicago Transit Authority, Hu will be creating novel approaches to stochastic modeling that he hopes can profoundly improve this planning process. To get just a little bit technical for a moment: Hu says one of the big challenges of stochastic modeling is coping with “distributional ambiguity,” which is where you’re lacking a lot of reliable information about the probability of key phenomena. Currently, one of the ways statisticians deal with this is a method called distributionally robust optimization, but Hu says DRO has a few limitations. One, it’s computationally intensive, which means as models get more complex, it becomes increasingly cumbersome and time consuming to run them and adapt them to new data. Second, DRO tends to hedge against worst-case scenarios and can therefore lead to overly conservative outcomes. Third, it's a machine learning-based process that is a “black box,” meaning it does not show how it arrives at its answers. It therefore might not be a great option for publicly funded agencies, who, in spending large sums of taxpayer dollars, could certainly benefit from transparent or interpretable models. Hu says his novel stochastic modeling strategy aims not only to improve on these limitations, but also provide more overall usability for public agencies, including models that can be more easily updated as better data emerge.

After developing the model, Hu is looking forward to a big field test toward the end of the project: helping the Chicago Transit Authority as it embarks on electrifying their massive fleet of public buses. Current electric bus battery technology generally provides a range of around 60 miles. But many of CTA’s current scheduled vehicle route blocks are much longer; nearly a third of weekday blocks are longer than 100 miles. CTA therefore envisions building out a bus-charging infrastructure that’s integrated with their garages and bus routes, which will also require enhancements to the local electric grid to accommodate the new electricity load. Figuring out where these grid modifications need to be made and the ideal placement for the charging stations in a way that harmonizes with the complex bus routes — which are likely to change in the future — is exactly the kind of complicated, ambiguous planning task Hu says his model can help with. Most importantly, it gives a government agency its best chance of spending limited public resources for EV charging as effectively as possible.

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Story by Lou Blouin

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Off

Wed, 01/22/2025 - 13:40

Given a web of uncertainties, like future electricity price, consumer charging behavior and EV market growth, Associate Professor Jian Hu says a novel type of stochastic modeling can minimize the risks of public investments in EV infrastructure.

Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Jian Hu is testing a new approach to planning charging infrastructure with the Chicago Transit Authority. Photo by Annie Barker

The (solar) power of teamwork

lblouin — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:46:29 +0000

The (solar) power of teamwork lblouin Wed, 11/13/2024 - 09:46

Sustainable energy is a growing field, with opportunities for students working toward a number of different majors, especially in engineering. But when two students saw a need for more ways to develop hands-on experience on the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus, they took the lead to launch a collaboration with a national organization providing just that.

Christian Cannon and Alexis Thompson not only brought GRID Alternatives to 51��Ƶ-Dearborn but — as co-presidents of the university's student chapter — united the group with the Ann Arbor campus to provide meaningful experiences installing solar energy systems in San Diego County, Los Angeles and even Nepal. Cannon — a 2024 environmental science graduate — now works as a clean energy business development intern at Walker-Miller Energy Services in Detroit. Thompson has been working as a consultant for sustainability projects while completing her degree in mathematics, with a certificate in geographic information systems.

Cannon and Thompson began exploring a partnership with GRID Alternatives, the largest nonprofit solar installer in the United States, out of a shared interest in gaining hands-on experience in the clean energy field. While attending the Solar Power International conference in Las Vegas in 2017, they met Tim Sears and Erica Mackie, the co-founders of GRID Alternatives, who helped connect Cannon and Thompson with the then-leaders of their affiliated student group chapter — GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy — on the 51��Ƶ-Ann Arbor campus. Soon after that meeting, Cannon and Thompson became the co-presidents of a newly united U-M chapter under the guidance of faculty advisor Tony Reames, an associate professor in U-M’s School of Environment and Sustainability, and Eva Gogola, 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s director of annual giving and advancement services.

Students participating in GRID take part in an immersive service-learning opportunity called Solar Spring Break, providing students with hands-on experience at GRID locations in different regions throughout the country and abroad. The students also volunteer to install solar panels in low-income neighborhoods. "This work represents an invaluable opportunity for students to gain real-world experience in the clean energy industry," Cannon says.

One challenge student-run organizations face, however, is funding. Like GRID-affiliated chapters across the U.S., the U-M chapter had to raise money for the solar installation equipment, travel and other expenses. Thompson stressed the need for equity in these efforts, pushing back against the trend that the students who are able to participate in such opportunities are only those who can personally afford to do so. "One of the things we wanted, which has not always been the case with other GRID campus groups, was to send people to work in these communities who look like those communities," Thompson says.

Cannon and Thompson worked closely with Mariah Fiumara, director of U-M’s Engineering Center for Student Organizations, to raise funds through competitive grants, business sponsorships and local fundraising efforts, while Ann Arbor GRID member Camille Burke, a 2020 grad, rallied support from other student-run organizations. The group raised more than $100,000, which supported a dedicated team of 100 students from both campuses. "I want to stress that this is something students can do, that it is possible," Thompson says. "We want this work to continue for 51��Ƶ-Dearborn and Ann Arbor students."

The group took part in three Solar Spring Breaks, the first installing solar energy systems on the La Jolla Indian Reservation near San Diego, the second installing in residential homes in Los Angeles and the most recent on the Kumal Tower in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. Together, these initiatives represent more than 40 kW of solar capacity — an amount that can typically supply electricity to about 10 average U.S. homes while offsetting 40 tons of carbon dioxide.

Camille Burke, Christian Cannon and Alexis Thompson (top row, second, third and fourth from left) with fellow GRID members on the Kumal Tower.

"Our campus was the first university to conduct an international trip through GRID Alternatives’ Solar Spring Break program," Cannon says of the group's work in Nepal. The idea for an international installation took root with the group's first experience on the La Jolla Reservation, where the proximity to Tijuana, Mexico, inspired the team to provide sustainable energy to lower-income areas beyond U.S. borders. While the logistics were unfavorable for a Solar Spring Break in Mexico, the students found an ideal opportunity to do meaningful work rehabilitating Nepal’s Kumal Tower, a disused watchtower that previously did not have a functioning power supply, converting it into a fully functional wildlife observation center.

Members of GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy found their experiences installing solar energy systems meaningful on both professional and personal levels. “Working with GRID Alternatives taught me how my engineering skills could make sustainable energy accessible to those who need it most," says Yesha Lester, a 2019 51��Ƶ-Ann Arbor grad. "I gained hands-on experience with solar technology and saw the power of community-focused projects. Knowing our work would lower a family’s bills made the project rewarding and showed me that engineering is about improving lives, not just solving technical problems.”

While GRID has not been active at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn since 2022 because Solar Spring Break programs were paused for the pandemic, Cannon has been speaking with other sustainability groups on campus about adopting solar work and leading more sustainability-focused international projects in the future. He says the rewards for interested students are well worth the effort: "Working with GRID Alternatives has deepened my academic learning and shaped me into a leader within the clean energy industry.”

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Story by Shaun Manning. Photos courtesy of Christian Cannon.

Careers or Internships

Experiential Learning

International

Sustainability

Off

Wed, 11/13/2024 - 14:43

Alum Christian Cannon and student Alexis Thompson led GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy, an inter-campus student group providing hands-on experience in renewable energy.

Christian Cannon, left, helps install solar panels on the roof of the Kumal Tower, a disused watchtower in Nepal.

University fellowship aims to create 'dream team of sustainability'

stuxbury — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 16:07:05 +0000

University fellowship aims to create 'dream team of sustainability' stuxbury Wed, 10/23/2024 - 12:07

College of Business senior Anisa Elezi says an internship where she evaluated eco-friendly procedures opened her eyes to the importance of sustainable practices. And now, through a new fellowship at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn, she’ll be able to explore that interest further in a way that will benefit the campus community and beyond.

Elezi is one of four students named as an Environmental Interpretive Center Collegiate Sustainability Fellow. The program, which is a collaboration between the EIC and the Office of the Provost, selected one student from each 51��Ƶ-Dearborn college to improve sustainability practices on campus, both through individual projects and interdisciplinary collaboration.

In addition to Elezi, students are College of Education, Health and Human Services EdD student Diana Mtairek, College of Engineering and Computer Science master’s student Kirill Nartov and College of Arts, Sciences and Letters senior Leah Williams.

Elezi, who’s majoring in digital marketing and public relations, says she wrote about sustainable practices and identified areas for improvement when it comes to eco-friendly procedures while at chemical firm BASF, where she’s currently a marketing and communications intern. With this new interest, Elezi thought about her time at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn — the other place where she spent the majority of her waking hours.

"I realized that I was getting more into sustainability," Elezi says. "I found it very interesting to see the different eco-friendly things that could be done that may not be incorporated into what we do at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn — yet." That’s when she learned about the EIC fellowship and its goal to develop a central hub for the sustainability efforts across campus.

Professor of Geology Jacob Napieralski, who became the EIC director in 2023, says he’s learned about all of the work toward sustainability that happens across campus — like the Planet Blue Ambassador program, waste reduction initiatives, carbon neutrality efforts, faculty sustainability-focused committee boards and more.

Napieralski wanted a way to amplify these initiatives. “Great things are happening, but it’s not organized in a specific community-facing location,” says Napieralski, who collaborates closely with 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Sustainability Coordinator, Grace Maves. “We want to work on sustainability initiatives in a way that it becomes part of our DNA at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn.”

With the EIC hosting many community-focused events that showcase the importance of nature and environment independent of the four colleges, Napieralski saw the EIC as the perfect place for a central hub. His aim is to bring together diverse strands of sustainability work and generate new ideas by cross-pollinating the expertise of students from each of 51��Ƶ-Dearborn's colleges.

The students meet at the EIC on Wednesdays to discuss sustainability ideas and initiatives.

"We looked for students who were very interested in learning, understood that they're going to start with a blank slate and brought a lot of tools to the team," Napieralski says. He noted that applicants demonstrated creativity and originality that the application and interview process, with students submitting proposals relating to the use of artificial intelligence for sustainability projects and the synthesis of automotive engineering with computer coding, for instance. “There were moments when interviewing these students that we said to ourselves, ‘We never thought about that,’" Napieralski observes.

In addition to collaborating with the other fellows, Elezi says she’ll focus on marketing the Environmental Interpretive Center and promoting its ongoing events. She says she is also implementing improvements to the EIC website and newsletter to improve traffic and clickthrough rates in an effort to get people engaged in the community- and student-facing environmental programs.

"I think the EIC is an unknown gem of this campus. Just being there a couple of times a week for the past month has made me want to bring more friends here," Elezi says.

Provost Gabriella Scarlatta says Napieralski approached her to discuss the centralized hub and student fellowship idea — and that 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s leadership team supported the efforts and funded the student positions.

"This will allow the EIC to boost its footprints on and off campus, improving effectiveness of sustainability-related efforts at the EIC and across campus, and diversifying the participants that engage in environmental sustainability and equity while supporting and strengthening interdisciplinary collaborations," Scarlatta says.

Napieralski, who works on environmental justice projects like flooding issues in low-income Detroit communities, says the fellowship and hub will also make the work taking place on campus more accessible to the community. The EIC brings thousands of community members to campus per year through nature walks, K-12 field trips and more.

“We want to be the go-to pipeline for information and resources. We want to know the priorities at the department- and college-levels and then roll them out at the university-level,” he says. “I see the four colleges as legs and the EIC as the body. Together, we can turn and face the community to show what we are doing and how we can be partners.”

He says the student fellows’ involvement through ideas, advocacy and their college-affiliate work is an essential part of making this happen.

“The four we selected really did stand out in their ability, especially in their past history, their ability to work together collectively and their ideas," Napieralski adds. "Now, we will go from there and build things together."

Story by Sarah Tuxbury and Shaun Manning; Photos by Annie Barker

Nature or Environment

Sustainability

University-wide

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Off

Wed, 10/23/2024 - 16:02

New campuswide initiative brings together sustainability efforts from all four 51��Ƶ-Dearborn colleges.

EIC Sustainability Fellows are, from left, Anisa Elezi, Kirill Nartov, Diana Mtairek and Leah Williams.

The new comprehensive campus plan is really taking shape

lblouin — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 11:54:50 +0000

The new comprehensive campus plan is really taking shape lblouin Mon, 06/24/2024 - 07:54

In summer 2023, the university announced it was creating a new comprehensive campus plan to help guide the near- and mid-term development of campus grounds and infrastructure in ways that complement its strategic plan. Participants who attended a recent presentation about the CCP saw the effort now has some real meat on the bones. The CCP is filled with dozens of projects that will reshape how we work, learn and power the university, ranging from solar and geothermal systems to a plan to bring all four colleges to the main campus by 2027. In case you weren’t able to attend the presentation, we’ve recapped some of the highlights below. You can also view the slide presentation from Executive Director for Facilities Operations Carol Glick.

Doing more in less space

A campus plan is most fundamentally, of course, about how we use space, and as part of the prep work for the CCP, SmithGroup, the university’s architectural partner on the project, conducted a deep analysis of current space utilization to identify opportunities for using campus spaces more effectively. One of the primary near-term goals of this analysis was to determine whether we had enough space to relocate the College of Business and the College of Education, Health and Human Services from the Fairlane Center to the main campus. SmithGroup found that there is plenty of room to accommodate the move, which will see CEHHS complete its relocation to the Administration Building by 2026 and COB to the Social Sciences Building by 2027. Moreover, there is enough space to accommodate enrollment up to 10,000 students (current enrollment is just over 8,000), as well as increased research activities. Optimizing scheduling for our instructional spaces is a big part of how we’ll be able to do more within a consolidated campus footprint. SmithGroup identified that, on average, classroom spaces are being used only about 60% of their available hours, with lab usage rates ranking a bit higher. Large format classrooms, in particular, are sitting empty much of the time, which is not a surprise given that 96% of 51��Ƶ-Dearborn classes are capped at 60 students or less. Classroom spaces are also, on average, only filled to 55% capacity with a target of 70%. The great news is this underutilization likely gives the university a path to avoid any capital-intensive new construction for some time, while providing ample opportunities to reduce our energy consumption and create a denser, more lively atmosphere on campus. Though staff occupy a smaller footprint, the post-COVID work environment, in which many units are using hybrid and remote work schedules, offers another opportunity to do more within our current physical footprint as buildings are renovated.

A new vision for outdoor (and some indoor) spaces

Some of the most exciting features of the CCP involve renovations of outdoor and indoor spaces, with campus grounds set to get the flashiest overhauls. The main entrance of campus is being reimagined to allow a more aesthetic, wide-open view into a new central quad between the Mardigian Library and Renick University Center. The vision for the quad calls for natural plantings, outdoor seating and an overhead canopy, giving it life as an everyday social space as well as a versatile outdoor event space. The long sidewalk running from HPEC to the CASL Building could also see some upgrades, with new plantings, seating areas and outdoor classrooms along its perimeter. Even the parking lots are being rethought, with new rain gardens that make these spaces both more aesthetically pleasing and transform them into valuable flood management tools. Indoors, the multi-year Renick University Center/Mardigian Library renovation is the flagship project, which will consolidate core student and academic services in the central part of campus. The initial phase — a renovation of the RUC’s first floor — is currently underway with work scheduled to be completed in early 2025. Projects will be completed as funds become available.

The revamped main entrance. (Image courtesy Smith Group)

New spaces, like outdoor classrooms, will border the main campus walkway. (Image courtesy Smith Group)

The CCP calls for rooftop, ground-mounted and parking lot solar arrays. (Image courtesy Smith Group)

Decarbonization takes center stage

We’ve been bringing you stories for a few years about 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s efforts to minimize its carbon footprint through energy efficiency projects, like the ongoing LED lighting retrofit. But if you’ve been waiting for news of some larger-scale projects that go beyond the lower-hanging fruit, you’ll be pretty jazzed about some of the ideas in the CCP. The plan includes large installations of carport, rooftop and/or ground-mounted solar that could reduce the university’s current climate-warming emissions by 30%. On the heating and cooling side, the parking lots could host wells for new ground-source heat pumps — a highly efficient technology that provides both heating and cooling in a single system. To reach our goal of net-zero carbon emissions, Glick estimates the university can achieve a 40% reduction through improvements to existing buildings, another 20% from the new geothermal system, 30% from solar and the remaining 10% from purchasing renewable-based electricity.

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Want more details from the comprehensive campus plan? Check out Glick’s full CCP presentation. Story by Lou Blouin

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Mon, 06/24/2024 - 10:52

Moving everyone to the main campus, a major overhaul of outdoor spaces and on-site renewable energy are some of the notable features in 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s comprehensive campus plan.

The 10-year comprehensive campus plan calls for a new central quad between the Renick University Center and Mardigian Library. Image courtesy Smith Group

Coming to campus: bike-friendly changes

stuxbury — Mon, 20 May 2024 16:26:26 +0000

Coming to campus: bike-friendly changes stuxbury Mon, 05/20/2024 - 12:26

Nearly all of the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn community is committed to sustainability efforts and energy conservation, according to a U-M Sustainable Cultural Indicators Program survey. In the same report, respondents indicated that they knew very little about alternative transportation modes like biking. So 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Bikeable Campus Task Force looked into ways to support biking across 51��Ƶ-Dearborn to help bridge these two areas. “People indicated in the survey, which was from 2021, that they want to support environmental sustainability. We want to help them. But it's important to note that sustainability considers more than just the environment — it connects to human health, mental wellness and safety,” said Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves, who led the task force.

Campus bike-related changes coming this summer include:

Wayfinding signage and safety reminders will be placed on multi-use pathways and roadways that the task force identified as the safest campus bike routes
Sharrows, which help riders with wayfinding and safe positioning on roads, will be placed on areas of Fair Lane Drive and Monteith Boulevard to indicate shared roads
Bike racks will be redistributed to better serve often-used gathering spaces and stops along the recommended bike routes. For example, bike racks will be placed in the Chancellor’s Pond area.

The task force also made recommendations for the future, including adding a designated bike lane crossing through campus and along the campus portion of the Rouge River Gateway Trail.“Our leadership is committed to being a bike-friendly campus, and that kind of support is what makes sustainability achievable,” Maves says. “Yes, we are a commuter campus. But there are still ways to utilize alternative transportation methods, and make those modes accessible and safe. We want to create changes that support our campus’ needs.” She said a new survey will be sent to the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn community in fall 2024 to track changes in ridership and campus sustainability culture.

Maves hopes these changes will boost ridership on campus, better support the bike-riding events on campus, like the Chancellor’s Town and Gown bike ride and walk, and add safety features for the riders who currently bike to and from campus for classes and work.

Bike routes map

Human Resources Coordinator Jessica Calderón, who is also a student, said she is looking forward to seeing these changes on campus. To save money, reduce the carbon footprint and exercise, Calderón occasionally bikes to campus.

Coming from Oakwood Boulevard near Southfield, it takes Calderón nearly an hour on the days she’s commuted on her bright blue Aggressor Pro GT. She said she is thankful for the opportunity to ride — attending the Chancellor’s Town and Gown annual bike ride in the fall showed her how to navigate the city and end up on campus — and appreciates the work the task force has done to continue the biking education and momentum on campus.

“Sometimes you feel planted in your seat while in class or at work. It feels good to get up and explore our beautiful campus,” she says. “There’s shade from the trees. It’s scenic. And the people are friendly. It’s another great neighborhood to ride my bike in. I appreciate the efforts leadership is making to be more bike friendly. These safety routes will benefit faculty, staff and our students. Some people in our community don’t have the funds set aside for a vehicle — but they do have a bike.”

In addition to helping mobility, Maves says the changes this summer are a step in the right direction to reduce 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions — which include actions like business travel and commuting — and support a culture of sustainability.

“If there is not a demand, changes often don’t happen. I’m glad the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn community shared that they wanted to be involved in sustainable efforts — that helped move this forward,” Maves says. “Our goal is to create a culture of sustainability on campus, and if individuals continue to express interest, more initiatives like the Bikeable Campus Project will come out of that. As a starting point, I encourage everyone to become Planet Blue Ambassadors, to build a foundation for taking action on campus and beyond.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury. 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Bikeable Campus Task Force members include Landscape and Grounds Manager Steve Bernard, Lead Business Officer for Business Affairs Marc Brigolin, Police Sergeant Kaitlin Deslatte, Executive Director for Facilities Carol Glick, Maves, Police Officer Marty Morales General Services Manager Bonnie Southerland and Bike Dearborn founder Tracy Besek.

Sustainability

Environmental Health and Safety

Facilities Planning

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Mon, 05/20/2024 - 16:25

To support sustainability efforts and promote bike safety, sharrows and new signage will appear this summer.

Bikers travel paths to and from campus. Photo/Grace Maves

Class of Fall 2023: CEHHS graduate Briana Hurt

lblouin — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 14:08:34 +0000

Class of Fall 2023: CEHHS graduate Briana Hurt lblouin Wed, 12/06/2023 - 09:08

Whether it's checking off the last few upper-level classes in a major or completing an internship, senior years are typically more about finishing what you started than discovering new interests. For December graduate Briana Hurt, though, her final undergraduate year at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn has featured a little of both. As planned and on time, she'll be finishing her Health and Human Services degree, leaving her a clear path to a job or a spot in grad school in social work or public health — if that’s still what she wants to do. But as she heads toward the commencement stage, there's been a steady internal debate about the path ahead, mostly as a result of new passions she's discovered in the past year.

Hurt says the initial spark came during a class project in a Health and Human Services course taught by Assistant Professor Finn Bell. The students were charged with conducting a community needs assessment, and Hurt chose to focus on her own and other east side Detroit neighborhoods. Dozens of conversations with friends, relatives and neighbors revealed persistent challenges around food access. It was an eye opening experience, one that led Hurt not only to do a deep dive into the complex relationship between food and health but food and politics. “You get out into the neighborhoods and it’s not hard to see the unequal distribution of resources,” Hurt says. “Some neighborhoods have a Whole Foods Market, and in other neighborhoods, residents have to walk close to a mile to the grocery store, which may or may not have quality produce.” Hurt learned about how this phenomenon of “food deserts” — or what some academics and activists call a system of “food apartheid” — leads to systemic health disparities and long-lasting impacts on residents' and neighborhoods’ socioeconomic well-being. The following summer, Hurt traveled deeper down the food politics rabbit hole with Bell, working as a research assistant in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program. Her work focused on collecting oral histories from BIPOC farmers and gardeners in the Ypsilanti area.

During her senior year, Hurt discovered a passion for agriculture. She interned with Keep Growing Detroit, a nonprofit that operates several urban farms in the city and runs a variety of educational programs. (Photo courtesy Briana Hurt)

In a matter of months, Hurt says she was transformed from a person who’d never grown anything but house plants to someone who cared deeply about agriculture and its potential to improve communities. And the very next term, her final at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn, she set herself up for another transformative experience. Hurt enrolled in Semester in Detroit, a program run by 51��Ƶ-Ann Arbor that’s open to students on all three campuses, which allows students to live, learn and work in the city alongside community leaders doing grassroots work. It may seem like a strange choice for a Detroit native who’d lived her entire life in the city. But Hurt says it didn’t take long to discover how much she didn’t know about Detroit — and just how inspiring and complex it could be. She learned about the rich history of Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, a vibrant, predominantly Black residential and commercial district that was razed for a mid-century interstate. She learned about Detroit’s significant role in the Underground Railroad, and also the deep racial and socioeconomic divides that fueled the 1967 uprising in the city. She was especially inspired by the life of Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American writer and activist who moved to Detroit in the 1950s and became, along with her husband and fellow activist James Boggs, an intellectual force in multiple social justice movements.

“I think the biggest shocker, outside of learning all this history, is why it took so long for me to learn it,” Hurt says. “I’ve lived here my whole life, went to school here, but it took until my senior year of college to discover any of this.” Hurt’s still mulling over why that might be. She thinks part of it has to do with people’s tendencies to want simple narratives — to define Detroit as “The Motor City,” or more recently, as a “revitalization” story. “But the real story is so much deeper and I’ve personally developed a lot of inspiration and appreciation from learning that history,” she says. “I think I was one of those people who would say that they were ‘proud’ to be from Detroit but maybe didn’t know what that meant as much as I do now. Now, I feel like I can articulate why. I have the reasons, and I can share that knowledge with others so maybe they can see the city the way I do.”

Most recently, Hurt got an opportunity to knit together her bolstered love for her hometown with her new interest in agriculture. As part of the Semester in Detroit program, Hurt is doing an internship with Keep Growing Detroit, a nonprofit that operates several urban farms and educational programs to support the organization’s goal of making Detroit a “food sovereign” city. Her work has focused on coordinating volunteers and essential farm chores like harvesting and weeding. Through that experience, she’s discovered the incomparable taste of a fresh-picked heirloom tomato, the joy of “getting lost” in a cucamelon bush and her intense phobia of bugs.

Read about 51��Ƶ-Dearborn student Tepfirah Rushdan, former co-director of Keep Growing Detroit and the City of Detroit’s first director of urban agriculture.

So what’s next for Hurt? That’s the question of the moment. Ever since she chose her Health and Human Services major at the end of her first year, she says the plan was to relocate after graduation, preferably somewhere without cold winters, and get a job in the public health or social work field. That’s still on the table, as is grad school in either discipline. But now she’s also seriously considering sticking closer to home, maybe even Detroit, and pursuing something related to agriculture. She has her eye on the organic agriculture program at Michigan State University, and would love to continue working with the farmers, historians and community organizations that have taken her under their wing this past year.

"In the past year, I’ve just been embraced by people and the community in a way that’s totally surprised me and it’s changed the way I think about things,” she says. "Recently, I kind of shared some of the inner conflict I’ve been feeling with Julia Putnam, the principal at the (James and) Grace Lee Boggs school, and she shared this idea from the poet Antonio Machado that ‘you make the path by walking it.’ That really stuck with me. Everything in your life can’t be preplanned. So that’s what I’m trying to focus on now: Taking my steps, following what I’m passionate about and being open to whatever happens next.”

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Story by Lou Blouin

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

Health and Human Services

Off

Wed, 12/06/2023 - 14:08

A few pleasant senior year surprises have ignited the December graduate’s interest in urban agriculture, Detroit history and social justice. Could a last-minute career pivot be on the horizon?

Graphic by Violet Dashi

Growing the farming movement in Detroit

stuxbury — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 20:46:42 +0000

Growing the farming movement in Detroit stuxbury Mon, 11/06/2023 - 15:46

When thinking of farming, many people may imagine broad fields of crops with grazing animals, well away from the concrete jungle of major cities. But over the last few decades, local food security, sustainability concerns and neighborhood green space movements have created an enthusiasm for urban agriculture, growing food within the smaller areas available within city limits, including vacant lots, gardens and balconies.

Tepfirah "Tee" Rushdan is helping push these movements forward. The urban and regional studies major holds leadership roles in three local farming- and food justice-focused nonprofits and was recently appointed the City of Detroit's first director of urban agriculture, a sign of the growing importance of these efforts to the city's vitality. Appointed to the role this fall, Rushdan will help shape city policy regarding urban farming and serve as a liaison to the urban farming community.

The value of a government position for urban agriculture, Rushdan says, comes from the unique nature of the practice. "Farming in a city is totally different than farming in a rural area," she says. "And farmers are left to navigate complicated city functions that are, frankly, not necessarily meant for farmers."

Rushdan, a Detroit resident, says she first came to gardening both through a desire to beautify her neighborhood, while also achieving a degree of self-reliance by growing her own food. The blackout of 2003, in which 50 million people across large parts of the U.S., including Detroit, lost power for several days, gave Rushdan a new sense of how the systems we rely on can break down. "I didn't grow up with a green thumb or anything like that," she says. "I got to a point in my conscious awareness that I understood that the way that food comes to our table is vulnerable. As far as food goes, nothing is produced right inside the city.”

Being a "young and slightly revolutionary minded" person at the time, Rushdan decided to act. "I thought I was really doing something to counter the negative impacts of systemic racism and things like that. But then that blackout really showed me that I was doing nothing but talking," she recalls. "That was an awakening point for me where I was like, I want to participate in my own food." Rushdan says her first attempt at gardening – planting some carrot seeds in her backyard – was "horrible." But, she adds, “I was learning.”

Eventually, Rushdan started a community garden on her block, and she also began participating in other beautification projects for a neighborhood that had been hit hard by the housing crisis. "We were just trying to make the neighborhood look good for our family and for the children on the block,” she says. “And I also was on this sufficiency kick."

From there, Rushdan took on a farming apprenticeship and began her professional career in farming and agriculture advocacy. Referencing the Drake song "Started from the Bottom," she explains that she eventually rose to the role of director at Greening of Detroit – a nonprofit focused on tree planting and job training across the city – before founding the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund and serving as co-chair of Black to the Land Coalition, positions she continues to hold. She also assumed the position of co-director of Keep Growing Detroit, another nonprofit focused on local food sovereignty, which had her meeting and interacting with key figures in Detroit, and taught her how to navigate the city bureaucracy.

Rushdan's path to becoming Detroit's first director of urban agriculture arose directly from this advocacy. She says that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's Land Value Tax Plan, unveiled at the Mackinac Policy Conference in May 2023, held a number of implications for farmers she felt were not being taken into consideration. Rushdan arranged private meetings with the mayor and his staff to craft an exemption for farmers, as well as addressing questions about water and land access. "I said, ‘A lot of cities – Philly, New York – have installed directors of urban agriculture," Rushdan explains. "’Let's get somebody in the city that's focused on that.’ I didn't know it was going to be me."

Rushdan was also surprised at how quickly the mayor acted. "I'm thinking this is something that he would think about down the road," she says. "And then a couple of weeks later, I got a call from the mayor's office. 'Would you be interested?'"

Rushdan says the knowledge she’s gaining through the Urban and Regional Studies programs will help support her work in Detroit. "It's great to have professors to talk to about current issues," she says, noting that she’s “not a traditional policy person." "It's great to have people there to kind of talk things out — how is this supposed to go? how can this be helpful?"

Rushdan says a city like Detroit requires a concerted effort to repurpose vacant land, including working with community members who are already engaged in reclamation efforts. And she’s proud to live in a city that’s created a position to lead these efforts. "We should be figuring out how to iron out the system to make it easier and also figure out what support we can provide these projects,” she says.

Article by Shaun Manning

Sustainability

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Metropolitan Impact

Off

Mon, 11/06/2023 - 20:45

51��Ƶ-Dearborn student Tepfirah "Tee" Rushdan, Detroit's first director of urban agriculture, is working to grow community efforts toward food sustainability.

51��Ƶ-Dearborn student Tepfirah "Tee" Rushdan is the City of Detroit's first director of urban agriculture.

Campus got some big infrastructure updates this summer

lblouin — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 17:15:30 +0000

Campus got some big infrastructure updates this summer lblouin Mon, 08/21/2023 - 13:15

Summer is the facilities team's time to shine, even if no one’s looking. Taking advantage of the lower population density on campus, crews typically dig into dozens of projects, big and small, that would be too dusty, dirty and noisy for the heart of the school year. This summer was no exception, and in fact, Executive Director for Facilities Operations Carol Glick says this was a particularly big season for critical infrastructure projects, including a new roof for part of the Renick University Center and a major stormwater management project that’s helping keep campus’ most vulnerable buildings flood-free. We’ve rounded up some of the headline improvements below, plus a few teasers for a big project that’s jumping into the design phase this fall.

LED lighting, a new roof for the RUC and more

Compared to past years, Glick says many of this summer’s upgrades aren’t particularly showy. But they’re important nonetheless, especially in the context of some of the university’s long-term goals. For example, 51��Ƶ-Dearborn is currently planning a major renovation of the Renick University Center (more on that below), but before that project gets underway, Glick wanted to address the building’s aging roof, which has been on the deferred maintenance list for several years. This summer, crews replaced half the roof on the RUC, which will clear the way for interior renovations. The facilities teams also completed work on a years-long lighting project, which replaced old lighting fixtures and lamps with highly efficient LEDs in almost every campus building. To Glick’s point, maybe new lights don’t sound real flashy. But the savings — and environmental impact — have been huge. Also on the sustainability front, Glick says we’ve begun design work to update the cooling system in the library. The current absorption chiller runs on steam, which is produced with natural gas. After a retrofit, the chiller will run on electricity, lowering the carbon intensity of the system. It will also use a technology called thermal energy storage, which harnesses non-peak-time electricity to economically create and store thermal energy at night for use later during the heat of the day.

New stormwater infrastructure for the Fieldhouse and CASL Building

Along with an effort to reduce the campus’ dependence on fossil fuels, flooding is probably the other big way climate change is currently impacting 51��Ƶ-Dearborn. With our proximity to the Rouge River and flat topography, the campus is already vulnerable to flooding, and the more intense storms brought on by climate change are only increasing our risk. A prime example: In June 2021, a historic precipitation event dumped six inches of rain in 24 hours — the third 100-year-storm in the last 10 years — leading to major flooding in the Fieldhouse and CASL Building. As a result, Glick’s team redesigned the stormwater mitigation system around these buildings, starting with the Fieldhouse, which was a particularly tricky challenge given that the gym is, like a basement, well below grade. Led by project manager Emily Hamilton, crews completed a new pump system which collects excess water underneath the gym floor and then transfers it to large pipes in the nearby parking lot. As a last line of defense, crews also installed an emergency barrier system, which features quick-to-install locking metal panels to keep water from getting through the most vulnerable exterior doors. The CASL Building is getting the flood prevention treatment next, though Glick says that’s a far easier project. It will mainly involve enlarging several stormwater pipes that led to bottlenecks during the 2021 flood.

An overhaul for the campus recycling program

Recycling is likely one of the most ubiquitous sustainability activities, but it’s also one of the most problematic, especially when it comes to plastics. Single-stream recycling — where you throw all your recycling in one bin — is convenient for the consumer, but it introduces major issues downstream. Recyclable items often get contaminated, different materials have to be separated from each other and non-recyclables have to be removed. The sad reality is that much of what you put in the recycle bin actually ends up in the landfill. “We don’t just want to say we’re recycling and then just count the number of bags that we’re putting into our recycling containers,” Glick says. “We really want to understand how much is actually being recycled and diverted from the waste stream.” This summer, Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves led an audit and redesign of the campus recycling system, which among other things, yielded new, easier-to-understand signage indicating what can go in the recycling bin and what should go in the trash. You might find some of the tips surprising, like the fact that compostable plastics actually shouldn’t be put in with recyclables (though there are other ways to deal with these items). It might be painful to throw them away, but this will help us reduce contamination, which yields recycling that can actually be recycled. Look for the new “what goes where” signage this fall.

New light pole banners

One non-infrastructure project to look out for this fall: New light pole banners that are going up this week. The banners feature the university’s new brand tagline “Dreams in Practice,” which was developed as part of a branding research campaign completed in 2022. The photos on the banners highlight diverse examples of practice-based learning, a campuswide initiative you can read about in the new issue of Legacy magazine. Other banners feature the latest class of Difference Makers and student-athletes.

What’s on deck

While this summer’s updates might not have been super glamorous, what’s coming next is. Glick says this fall, her team is beginning the design process for the major renovation of the Renick University Center and Mardigian Library, the flagship project of the new comprehensive campus plan which we wrote about earlier this summer. The goal is to transform the RUC and library into a central hub for all core student and academic services. Both buildings will also get several new social spaces where students, faculty and staff can hang out, work and collaborate. The plan also calls for a transformation of the underutilized space between the buildings into a parklike setting for studying, socializing, relaxing, eating, tabling and community events.

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Story by Lou Blouin

Nature or Environment

Sustainability

University-wide

Facilities Operations

Off

Mon, 08/21/2023 - 17:15

A stormwater upgrade to protect key buildings from flooding, a new-look recycling program and more LED lighting retrofits were among the updates facilities teams hustled to complete this summer.

In June 2021, a 100-year storm flooded the CASL Building atrium, pictured here. This summer, facilities crews were hard at work on upgrades to the stormwater system that will protect the CASL Building and the Fieldhouse from future flooding.