Top: Food waste is digested at the Green Era Campus and biogas is conditioned (above) and will be injected into the natural gas pipeline. Images courtesy Argonne National Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the Green Era Campus in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in June to join forces to pursue research opportunities in sustainability in agriculture, renewable energy generation, food equity and access. Several years in the making, “this MOU links Argonne researchers with a community partner deeply involved in community engagement and research efforts aligning with Argonne’s science pursuits,” according to a press release about the MOU. The Green Era Campus houses a 35,000-square-foot anaerobic digester system on its 9-acre campus and an urban farm with space dedicated to community-driven programming. Green Era Campus is a partnership between Green Era Sustainability, Urban Growers Collective and Green Era Educational NFP. Argonne and Green Era will apply jointly for funding opportunities to advance collaborative research projects to address climate change “at the nexus of water, energy, and food” and support workforce development and community engagement initiatives. “This partnership is the first established by Argonne’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE),” said Argonne Laboratory Director Paul Kearns. “It’s momentous and ambitious as a formal collaborative research partnership with a community-based organization doing historic things in Chicago.” Noted Erika Allen, CEO of Urban Growers Collective and co-owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners: “The holistic approach of the Green Era Campus combines community education, food access and climate resiliency to bring a collective vision to life. The partnership will allow us to engage in and model non-extractive research toward people and the environment while listening, uplifting, and investing in our communities.”