Still slow but have had a few people in looking for bikes or B-a-Bs but no sales on either. With the warmer weather this week, we’ll likely be busier. I’ve got a half dozen bikes to safety check while the weather is cooperating.

Last week and today we made some more headway on the abandoned bike pile. Still coordinating with some other groups to take some of the junky bikes off our hands.

Tonight is the Bike Project Monthly Meeting.

The numbers:

Visitors: 23
Sales: $82
Membership: 1 for $30
Tire/tube: 1 for $6

At this past Friday's Illinii Lights Out event, 3953 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $601.43 in energy costs. This also prevented 5.8 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 660 gallons of gasoline being consumed. That's a huge impact!

The meeting covered several key updates and discussions on sustainability initiatives. The Chair provided updates on the Green Training Program survey, seeking feedback on student engagement strategies. The Vice Chair discussed efforts for a greener campus, including outreach to Greek Life. The Clerk emphasized the importance of in-person meetings and marketing materials. Guest speakers highlighted upcoming events like Sustainapalooza and Illinifest, stressing the logistical challenges and opportunities for student involvement. Discussions included promotional outreach, sustainability projects such as Greener Chapters yard signs and low-maintenance greenery at ISR, and the importance of connecting sustainability efforts across campus. Additionally, engagement team members offered support for these initiatives, and an approved course for next semester was announced. Adam encouraged members to consider speaking at the sustainability film festival.

25 lbs of common milkweed seed was dispersed by F&S Grounds. The attached pdf shows a map of places where this seed was dispersed.

Uneventful over here. Slow and cold. Plodding away at bikes and wheels to have a good supply of both come the busy times. This week I’ll meet some TBP volunteers to clean out the barn more, as it’ll be March soon.

The numbers:

Visitors: 19
Sales: $281.50
Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $100
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 1 for $4

Dart Container at 1505 E. Main St., Urbana, accepts expanded polystyrene (EPS), more commonly known by its brand name Styrofoam, for recycling. Departments are encouraged to take EPS there to recycle this bulky material. By doing so, we can reduce the volume of waste sent from campus to landfills and avoid the harmful environmental impacts of that practice. There is no charge to drop off EPS at Dart for recycling.

There is currently no central funding source to pay for transportion of EPS to Dart, so departments need to arrange transport independently.

The drop-off location is in a fenced-in area of the Dart parking lot and may be accessed 24 hours a day. Dart accepts foam packaging (except for packaging peanuts), foam cups, foam egg cartons, foam meat trays, foam ice chests, and other foam products that fall within these guidelines:

• Make sure foam has the #6 chasing arrows symbol on it.
• Deposit foam in a clear or translucent bag (large bags are provided at the drop-off site).
• Rinse or wipe foodservice containers free from food.
• Remove straws, lids, tape or any other non-foam material.
• Do not include foam-packaging peanuts.

From fall 2015 until summer 2017, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) ran the Styrecycle program in partnership with Community Resource Inc. (CRI). Ownership of CRI changed in July 2017, and the new owner was not able to continue the program.

The iCAP Education team met on Teams from 4-5 PM on Monday February 10th. First we reviewed materials for the Green Career Forum, then we identified the progress and next steps for establishing the Sustainability Gen-Ed Requirement, then we introduced the possibility of a Suatainability Exit Survey, and lastly we closed by delegating research tasks for the 2025 AASHE stars report. The meeting minutes are attached.

The iCAP Transportation Team had our first meeting of the spring semester on Monday, Feb. 10th.

There were a lot of exciting updates - the 2025 Campus Bike Plan has been published, student's research projects are progressing as they look into systems and infrastructures other universities have in place to encourage active and less environmentally impactful methods of transit, and we are working on finalizing the Campus Transportation Survey to send out in the next couple of weeks.

The Land and Water team had their monthly meeting on February 7th, 2025, on Teams at 9:00 am. This was the first meeting with the team's new interim chair, Jonathon Mosley. The meeting minutes and notes are attached. 

The Energy Team had their February meeting on Thursday, Feb. 6th, from 2:00 - 3:00 PM. We discussed updates on the solar rooftop project, focusing on the Krannert Art Museum as a potential installation site. The team also explored funding opportunities, including the Illinois Climate Bank’s new loan program for energy efficiency projects. Additional topics included occupant engagement initiatives, lab energy optimization, and potential participation in the Engineering Open House. The meeting minutes are attached!

Our next meeting is March 13th, 2:00 - 3:00 PM.

A our last Friday's Illini Lights Out event, a total of 1329 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $202 in energy costs. This also prevented 1.5 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 169 gallons of gasoline being consumed. 

We have been surprisingly busy here at CBC so far this year. We’ve sold a few bikes thus far and seen a couple Build-a-Bikes head out the door—all good things!

Over the weekend, TBP volunteers and I tackled the abandoned bikes in the barn. Made some good progress and had almost a dozen folks on hand helping to sort/strip/move bikes out. Will have to take a few more cracks at it before we completely empty the space but got a good start. Great to see so many volunteers come out—many hands make light work!
 

The numbers (1/22 – 1/31):

Visitors: 73
Sales: 1,371
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $610
Bikes (B-a-B): 3 for $180
Memberships: 15 for $450
Tires/tubes: 4 for $19.50

The meeting covered updates on the Greener Campus (GC) initiative, including efforts to promote office certification and introduce decals for visibility. There was discussion on engaging Greek Life in sustainability efforts, with suggested contacts for outreach. The Sustainapalooza committee, represented by Kathrine Bruce and Liesl Schrag, provided an event overview and discussed promotional efforts such as digital signage, outreach to department heads, and MTD bus advertisements. Laurinda introduced a wildlife-centered gardening project under the Illinois Prairie Garden initiative, presenting engagement opportunities like prairie conservation and plant sales. Additional sustainability events were highlighted, including a short film event during Earth Week. Action items included Brigid coordinating scheduling and outreach, Quinn working on GC decals and office engagement, and all members providing feedback on marketing materials, brainstorming engagement strategies, and filling out a scheduling poll.

Angela Kent is leading a research team that is developing a new type of corn that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while also maintaining crop yield. The Department of Energy recently announced new ARPA-E funding for the project. 

Professor Yun Yi provided an update on the building energy modeling project:

With the help of students, I created initial energy models for three campus buildings: Newmark Civil Engineering, Bevier Hall, and Allen Hall. The students were able to build detailed models of the HVAC systems for each building. The next step is to calibrate these models using actual meter data. While the students made good progress, the calibration still requires some advanced fine-tuning.

I’m planning to hire a student to focus on this calibration work. As we discussed, your help in hiring an assistant for the semester would be greatly appreciated. This would be a 25% appointment for a master’s student, with compensation similar to last semester.

The attached PDF contains performance metrics for ZipCar usage on campus for January 2025.

An article was published on the F&S website and announcement will be sent out soon regarding the approval of the 2024 Bicycle Plan: https://fs.illinois.edu/News/new-campus-bicycle-plan-approved-and-publis....

The 2024 Campus Bicycle Master Plan was approved by the Chancellor's Capital Review Committee (CCRC) on Thursday, December 19, 2024. This plan will be published on the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign Master Planning website and an announcement will be sent out in January 2025. See attached the final document as approved by the CCRC.