By: Matthew Schmieding
Uncovering hidden sustainability engineering in and around UW-Madison
Sustainability in Madison starts one foot underground on an acre of land in Eagle Heights. Here, the UW-Madison Dining Farm in the Eagle Heights Community Garden serves as a testing ground for sustainable engineering projects. One such project is an agrivoltaics senior design project, facilitated by the Office of Sustainability, where students are constructing solar arrays to coexist with crops on the farm.
According to Malorie Garbe, Sustainability Coordinator for University Housing at UW-Madison, the photovoltaic array will “be a way to grow crops right alongside energy generation. The energy will charge devices that we might need to do reporting or communication related to the farm.”
These small-scale solar arrays will work in a symbiotic relationship with the neighboring plants, sharing the land and providing necessary shade to sustainably produce the crop needed to support the greater Madison community.
Garbe also stresses the importance of the people contributing to these projects:
“It’s really cool that there are these experts on campus, and students who have an interest in this work.”
– Malorie Garbe
Extending these efforts beyond the farm field, UW-Madison has implemented sustainable alternatives to deliver food to its students.
Coined “last-mile delivery,” meals are often delivered through driver services like Uber Eats or DoorDash. However, one sustainable alternative to last-mile delivery is Starship robots. Featuring wireless battery charging, self-driving, and autonomous decision making, the robots sustainably deliver food to students, saving on emissions, traffic, and noise pollution.
“The fact that [the robots] are able to navigate to this urban campus in a downtown setting is pretty phenomenal,” says Peter Testory, Director of Dining and Culinary Services – Housing Division. “We’ve had only one instance of a robot dying in the middle of campus that I’m aware of … the technology itself is pretty impressive.”
The robots, which contribute to a decrease in food delivery emissions, are also leaving an impact on the public. Testory explains, “You have to look at success from a sustainability side of things. Are you changing behaviors? Are you bringing awareness? Are you creating a change for the better? [That’s] what sustainability is about.”
As sustainability works its way into campus life, it also roots itself in the city’s army of Fleet vehicles. Over 150 hybrid police cruisers and other city vehicles work the streets of Madison, which has reduced gasoline use by nearly 50% in the program’s initial years.
For two years in the same period, Madison firefighters based out of East side’s Station 8 responded to real calls using a prototype electric fire engine. According to Mahanth Joishy, Fleet Superintendent for the City of Madison, “The best part is that the firefighters that tested it out helped Pierce Manufacturing design the production model.”
The city is expected to receive the first production model fresh off the assembly line once the engine is ready for production.
Surprisingly, even the city’s heavy trucking diesel fleet contributes to Madison’s sustainability. Over the past half-decade, a special variant of diesel — biodiesel — has been fueling city trucks. It features up to 20% waste cooking oil or soybean plants, further decreasing overall oil consumption.
Madison is playing a pivotal role in its use of this fuel, being the first and only government fleet in Wisconsin to use B20 for all diesel vehicles. However, “it’s not just about emissions and ecology … it’s about the economy as well,” says Joishy. “The electric fire truck has to be awesome. Then cities will buy them.”
These hidden sustainability projects underline Madison’s commitment to sustainability. Even hidden below the soil, inside the tanks of vehicles, and navigating the streets of the city, sustainable projects continue to further Madison’s environmental agenda.