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Story category: environment
Making the UI's Footprint Smaller
Story air date: Thursday, October 09, 2008
Everyone is spending much more on energy these days, and the University of Illinois is no exception. Curbing the cost is just one goal of a new Office of Sustainability on the Urbana campus. It’s meant to draft and supervise new conservation efforts, but also to reduce the amount of pollution the University creates – whether it’s exhaust from Abbott Power Plant or old computers and other electronic waste. The office’s first director is Richard Warner, a wildlife ecology professor and formerly an administrator in the College of ACES. He tells AM 580’s Tom Rogers that his first priority is simply to take stock of all the programs already in place.
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Story categories:
energy • environment • water resources • University of IllinoisThe Water We Rely On: A Series
Story air date: Thursday, September 25, 2008
Bill Hammack has been doing a lot of thinking about east-central Illinois’ water supply. You may know him as WILL’s “Engineer Guy,” bringing complex scientific issues closer to home. All this week, Bill is taking a look at how we use water, how much we have and how we manage it for the future. The different ways we use water at home may seem obvious – but in Part 4, Bill finds some ways we may never have suspected.
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Part 1: Bill Hammack begins the first part of his journey not far from his front door:
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Part 2: Bill Hammack treks through the new Illinois-American well field near Bondville in Champaign County and asks whether these wells will suck dry the Mahomet Aquifer. To get a closer look at the situation, he pays a visit to a house right near where the well field is supposed to be drilled:
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Part 3: Bill Hammack examines what it may take to use the area’s massive underground water supply -- the Mahomet Aquifer – responsibly:
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Story categories:
business • economy • environment • water resources • government • science • urban planningMore, Cleaner Water
Story air date: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Experts predict that in the next 20 to 30 years, a growing United States will need 30 to 60 percent more water. Growth will be even more explosive in other parts of the world, and the need for clean, usable water may someday be a staggering political issue. AM 580’s Tom Rogers spoke with University of Illinois professor Mark Shannon, who's watching that potential crisis unfold.
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Story categories:
environment • water resources • politics • urban planningThe Business of "Organic"
Story air date: Monday, March 17, 2008
Eating organic food is not only considered healthy -- some companies believe selling it can be very profitable. Once limited to farmers' markets and small shops, organic food is now sold by some of America's largest companies. Organic milk, meat, fruits and vegetables are earning some retailers millions of dollars, others a lot less. AM 580's Terrell Starr talked with retailers of all sizes to discuss the competitiveness of this growing industry.
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Story categories:
business • economy • environment • health • lifestyleFutureGen's Future -- Elsewhere?
Story air date: Monday, March 10, 2008
With the proposed FutureGen power plant on hiatus, it’s unclear which path so-called clean coal research will take next. FutureGen was to turn coal into hydrogen before burning it to generate electricity, and to inject the resulting carbon dioxide deep into the ground – all at one single plant near Mattoon. But as AM 580’s Tom Rogers reports, other projects using portions of that technology are already taking root.
