The Anita Purves Nature Center is the latest building in Champaign-Urbana to go solar. Solar panels are being installed this week on the nature center, located on the north end of Urbana’s Crystal Lake Park.

The Champaign County Board voted 15 to 2 Thursday night to allow construction of a huge new solar panel farm on a site east of Sidney.  

Solar panels power some homes in central Illinois, and supplement the electricity for other buildings and facilities. Now, a brewery and taproom in Urbana plans to make solar panels its primary source of electricity.

On the 21st: The solar panels on one man's Champaign home generate enough electricity for the house and the cars - and feed the grid. Illinois towns and residents are turning toward the sun for power and we talked about howmuch they are saving. Also, a STEM mentorship program helps high school students from across the state get connected with mentors in academia and industry.

The opening ceremony came one week after the nearly 21 acre facility began supplying roughtly 2% of electricity used by the University of Illinois Urbana campus.