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Projects Updates for Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

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  1. Final Report submitted to SSC - LED Upgrades 104 & 222

    Rooms 104 and 222 of the Illini Union are both utilized extensively throughout the day. Each room maintains a high level of foot traffic and visibility within the building. An assessment team concluded that transitioning the old lighting fixtures to LED would have an overwhelmingly positive impact on energy consumption and unnecessary waste. The overarching goal of this project is to promote sustainability from within the Illini Union. The smaller scope of this project is to reduce carbon emissions and save energy by utilizing LED lighting fixtures within rooms 104 and 222 in the Illini Union. The lighting levels generated by the new LED fixtures are more than adequate for the usage, and end users and staff have been very satisfied.

  2. 18F Semesterly Report - Student-led census of the Trelease Woods Forest Dynamics Plot

    1. Purchase of Census Materials (06/30/18): We have purchased all the equipment and materials needed for the census. Some additional small purchases may be needed near the completion of the census (nails, tags, replacement tape measurements and flagging tape) due to wear and tear.
    2. Recruitment of undergraduate student census workers (08/14/18). We recruited 34 undergraduate students from SIB, NRES, AHS and Animal Sciences to work on the census. Students spent 4-8 hours a week tagging, mapping and identifying trees. So far, we have recruited 33 students to work on the census during Spring semester 2019. About half will be returning students and will both work on the census and do independent research projects in Trelease related to the census.
    3. Student orientation and training (08/21/18): Training was completed as planned. In addition we gave students quizzes on the census methods and spent time in the field with the students throughout the semester.
    4. Development of project website (10/15/18): We have initiated the website. We will continue to build content for the website during the first part of the Spring semester whilst it is too cold to do the census.
    5. Completion of the first 12 ha of census (11/9/18): We started the census at the south side of Trelease woods, which has very high stem densities. This has slowed down progress through the plot. We have now completed around 4 ha. We will resume work when temperatures warm later in the Spring semester. We anticipate requesting additional funds this summer from LAS and ACES to allow students to work on the census over the summer break.
  3. 18F Semesterly Report - InSPIRE

    We have finished our final solar energy system design and have gained approval from an ECE professor (Philip Krein) as well as an electrical engineer in F&S (Joseph Y. Youakim). We are waiting on the parts for the final solar energy system to be purchased by our faculty sponsor. Our structural design nearly has approval from F&S and we are compiling a list of items to purchase.

    Attached Files: 
  4. 18F Semesterly Report - Bee Campus USA Signage

    The Fall 2018 semester was used as a planning stage for the Bee Campus signage project. On November 15th, the Bee Campus USA committee met to discuss the content and design on each of the permanent signs. Additionally, we discussed locations to consider for placing the signage. During Spring 2019, I plan to have the locations of the signage approved by March. Purchasing and orders should be completed by April.  

  5. 18F Semesterly Report - Hives for Beekeeping Club

    We have bought the bees and hives, installed the bees, and built the fence around the hives. The bees were not established enough to take much honey from them so we stayed on the safe side and allowed the bees to keep all their honey for overwintering. Recently we bought two more hives and are hoping to split our current hives to have a total of 4 hives at the sustainable farm. As the bees now have foundation built up they should start producing more honey and brood than last year, and we are expecting to be able to harvest ample honey next Fall.

  6. 18F Semesterly Report - BIF Rooftop Solar

     

    The BIF project was initially scheduled to begin in January 2018, but was on hold until F&S and the College received word from the state regarding the general contractor award.  The kickoff meeting took place in March 2018 and a planning meeting followed in April. 

     

    On Monday, May 21st, construction kicked off and is expected to be complete summer 2019.  Thus far, the following work has been completed (64% complete):  removal of rooftop garden; insallation of steel, metal, and concrete decking; roof membrane installed; installation of roof drain lines; installation of exterior and interior walls;  window and ductwork installation; HVAC updates/upgrades; above ceiling mechanicals and sprinkler lines installed; GWB taping and sanding with painting underway. 

     

     

  7. SSC funds Eco Illini Supermileage

    Eco Illini Supermileage is a Registered Student Organization that designs and builds a prototype gasoline vehicle. Their focus is to make a vehicle as fuel efficient as possible and to compete in competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon (SEM) and SAE Supermileage. In years past, they have competed in the internal combustion category, the largest category at Shell, but will compete in the electrics categories to improve fuel efficiency. The Shell Eco Marathon competition has been growing every year, with 100 teams from 10 countries and 1,200 students competing last year. The prototype category has few design restrictions to allow students to experiment with extreme fuel efficiency. The winning mileage is around 3,000 mpg each year with the American record being 4,100 mpg. This funding directly contributes to the materials required for the students to build and compete in the SEM.

  8. SSC funds Davenport Hall carbon garden

    This garden will engage and train undergraduates in carbon reduction measures, as it will be maintained by undergraduate students in the Brinkworth lab and in the Department of Anthropology. These efforts include composting lab members’ food waste and developing a "Carbon Garden" on campus. The students will place two large no-till, pollinator garden plots on the Southeast side of Davenport Hall in the disused space between the building and the adjacent parking lot. These plots, ringed in decomposed gravel and manually watered from a rain barrel, will hold native flowering plants and grasses. Signage explaining the garden's purpose and use will educate students on ways in which they can reduce their carbon use in their work and home lives.

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