IIT Students To Do Energy Audit of Soldier Field Parking Facility

Pictured from left: Dan Medrano, Chenqi Bao, Yuanbin Wang, Fengrui Yang, Dr. Dan Tomal, Jeff Johnson, David Jarma, Nikhil Bhasker

IIT’s Spring ’13 IPRO 338, Techno-Economic Analysis of Electrical Smart Grid Technology Solutions, led by INTM’s Dr. Dan Tomal, is moving to Soldier Field. In this project IIT students will conduct a green energy audit of Chicago’s Soldier Field parking facility, the only NFL stadium to be LEED-EB certified in the U.S. Their recommendations will be entered in the National Green Energy Challenge, sponsored by the National Electrical Contractors' Association (NECA). For the NECA Challenge, student teams identify a facility in their community in need of energy efficiency improvements, conduct an energy audit of the building's power & lighting systems, and design a preliminary plan for an energy retrofit.

In a longstanding partnership between IIT and Electrical Contractors' Association/City of Chicago, Dr. Tomal’s IPRO teams have conducted energy audits of IIT buildings and developed proposals using Smart Technologies to help IIT implement cost-effective green energy plans. The quality of the students’ and faculty’s work led to IIT receiving this opportunity at Soldier Field for Spring 2013.