dChicago Construction News staff writer
The Green Era Campus, a new hub for clean energy and sustainability, officially opened last week in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood. The site is the Midwest’s first self-sustaining anaerobic digester, which will convert food waste into renewable energy and nutrient-rich compost.
“We’ve built more than a facility; we’ve built a model for a sustainable future,” said Jason Feldman, CEO of Green Era. “It’s a closed-loop system that benefits both people and the planet.”Located on a former brownfield site, the campus was built with $3 million in funding from the State of Illinois’ Rebuild Illinois infrastructure program.
The anaerobic digester has diverted 40,000 tons of food waste from landfills, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In partnership with Mariano’s, one million pounds of food waste have been recycled into renewable energy, producing 65,000 MMBtus of carbon-negative renewable natural gas—enough to power thousands of homes.
In addition, it will support urban farming, workforce development and sustainability education. It includes a new STEM and Workforce Training Hub in collaboration with Simeon Career Academy, as well as a Community Education Center that features classrooms, a teaching kitchen, and public engagement spaces.
The Green Era Campus recently earned the 2024 Illinois Clean Energy Champion Award for its leadership in clean energy innovation and job creation. It also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Argonne National Laboratory to collaborate on sustainability, renewable energy, and food equity research.
