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Design Workshop (DW) presented the 11 Prototype projects to the CLMP Core Committee for their review on March 22, 2022. Please see attached the draft of their presentation.
The CLMP Core Committee will send their comments to Sarthak and Stacey about the prototype projects.
Terry Guen’s practice has brought ecology back to communities through high-profile technical projects in landscape and urban design. TGDA is a nationally recognized designer of urban public spaces and ecological landscapes. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, TGDA designed landscapes for Ikenberry Commons and the recently completed Siebel Center for Design.
March 3, 5:30–6:45 pm • 134 Temple Buell Hall (Plym Auditorium), 611 E. Lorado Taft Drive, Champaign, IL.
Conor O'Shea • Department of Landscape Architecture
This opportunity is available online.
Stanley H. White Lecture: Terry Guen, Principal and Founder, TGDA
Join Piatt County Master Gardener Kent McFarland as he explains the importance of having a Mason Bee House in your garden, and walks you through the steps of building one using recycled and natural materials. Registration is required; $15/person, includes all materials.
March 26, 10–11 am • Registration Deadline: 3/18/22 • Greenhouse Auditorium at Allerton Park & Retreat Center
Olivia Warren • Allerton Park & Retreat Center
SSC received semester report for Fall 2021 for Identifying the Campus Benefits of a Large-Scale Prairie Experiment project on 1/23/2022. Please see attached.
From: White, Morgan
To: Moore, Meredith Kaye
Hi Meredith,
Where on the portal do you think BeeSpotter belongs? I'm thinking it should be in the Resilience theme, but I'm not sure whether it should be under one of the other projects or just under the main one.
Morgan
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From: Moore, Meredith Kaye
To: White, Morgan
Hi Morgan,
That’s a good question. In my opinion, it doesn’t seem to fit well with any of the other projects under the resilience theme page. So unless we want to create a new project “support local pollinator projects” (or something of the sort) with the intention of adding additional pollinator projects, I vote for now let’s make it a project under the main theme. Does that make sense?
Thanks,
Meredith
Link to proposal:
https://uillinoisedu-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/fandsamaloto2_ad_u...
Link to BeeSpotter:
F&S completed the renewal of our recognition as a Green Power Partner through the US Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partners of our scale now have to use renewable power for seven percent of their annual consumption. Fortunately, the FY21 green power supply for FY21 was 9%, which is a +1.72% increase from the FY19 supply of 7.28%. See attached file.
Overview submitted:
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is proud of its sustainability initiatives and success in achieving Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) goals (https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/). The iCAP is the university’s strategic plan to meet the Climate Leadership Commitments, including being carbon neutral as soon as possible and building resilience to climate change in the local community.
The Urbana campus on-site renewable energy portfolio meets more than 12 percent of annual electricity needs (https://fs.illinois.edu/services/utilities-energy/production/renewable-e...). UIUC’s Solar Farm 2.0 was energized in January 2021, producing 20,000 MWh/year. Combined with Solar Farm 1.0 and other rooftop and ground-mounted solar installations, the Urbana campus generates more than 27,000 MWh/year, ranking UIUC third amongst U.S. universities in on-site clean power production. Incorporating renewable energy continues to be a focus of new facility construction and major renovation projects. Most notably, the innovative Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Building features 970 rooftop panels. Since production started in April 2019, 11 percent of all power supplied to the ECE Building has been from the array, while additional output is reserved for research and educational activities. In September 2016, the university also signed a ten-year wind power purchase agreement for 25 million kWh/year and the rights to the environmental attributes.
The University of Illinois has two submittals that are recognized as finalists for the 2021 Sustainability Awards:
More information can be found at https://www.aashe.org/news/meet-the-2021-sustainability-award-finalists/.
What do giant grasses, micro grids, deep wells, and hydrogen-powered buses all have in common? They are all part of a clean energy future that is being imagined, created, and tested here at UIUC. The breadth of our energy research portfolio, across all of the campus and the broader C-U community, is truly impressive. Here are just a few examples:
Solar Farm 2.0 will soon be home to a newly awarded, $10M project led by Madhu Khanna to optimize the design of "Agrivoltaics," or fields with both crops and solar panels to maintain crop production, produce renewable energy, and increase farm profitability. A few miles to the east, the Energy Farm boasts extensive test plots to study how to grow and use plants as biofuel. The farm is using a biomass boiler to replace propane as the fuel source for its main research greenhouse. The Energy Farm is also home to one of dozens of geothermal wells on campus that are helping scientists like Yu-Feng Lin develop better geothermal systems, while on the north side of campus, the new Campus Instructional Facility is heated and cooled with a state-of-the art geothermal system. Nuclear power is expected to play an important role in meeting our campus ICAP goals, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hosted a hearing last week to seek input on our plans to site a next-generation, micronuclear reactor near the Abbott Power Plant. Integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid presents unique challenges, and Illinois power system researchers, including Alejandro Domínguez-García, are working to develop microgrid technology to address issues of reliability and resilience. Meanwhile, researchers such as Petros Sofronis are working on a bold new vision for national leadership in the emerging hydrogen economy. (It might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but the CUMTD just launched two hydrogen-powered, zero-emission buses—the first in the state!)
There is only one way I can wrap up a message about our campus energy research: The future looks bright, indeed!
Sincerely,
Susan
The link was updated for the primary Bee Campus USA page and some adjustments were made to links that were not responsive. The following links were added in the Bee City/Campus USA main page:
http://beecampususa.web.illinois.edu/
https://www.facebook.com/Bee-Campus-USA-at-UIUC-228849297661692/
https://www.beecityusa.org/what-is-a-bee-campus.html
On October 18, 2021, the Campus Landscape Master Plan - Core Planning Committee Charge Letter was sent out to its members.
In this document, Ehab Kamara, the Interim Executive director of Facilities and Services, outlines the responsibilities of committee members and background information for this project.
See the attached file to read the charge letter.
The pdf attached below contains data that was submitted on the panels and inverters in Solar Farm 2.0.
SSC received a semesterly report for Spring 2021 for the Benefits of a Large-Scale Prairie Experiment project on 9/9/2021. Please see attached.
This is a list of projects that need students to work on. It will be updated periodically by sustainability staff members, the last update was 9/16/21:
This project is a collaboration with the Illinois State Section of the American Planning Association; we have been asked to create a community land use and revitalization plan for a small town in Kankakee County. It is a rural community, predominantly people of color, originally settled by folks leaving the South during the Great Migration. There are many layers to the story, but it is ultimately a story of environmental equity as The Nature Conservancy and Field Museum have been collaborating with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire land to create the Black Oak Savana nature preserve. The majority of residents are opposed to this preserve, primarily because land has been purchased via tax sale and foreclosure, therefore taking land out of Black ownership. This also further burdens remaining property owners because the nature preserve land becomes tax exempt, shifting the property taxes that are no longer paid on nature preserve property to a smaller and smaller portion of land owners.
Students interested in this project could assist with GIS analysis and help identify opportunities to balance environmental sustainability goals and land preservation with social and economic sustainability goals and to identify economic opportunities that accomplish all three. Contact Lacey Rains Lowe at lacey.rains <at> champaignil.gov.
Expand on existing statistical analysis with ArcGIS and spreadsheets of potential race/income disparities in provision of street trees, sidewalks, urban heat, parks, bus stops, etc. Data sets provided. Contact is Scott Tess at srtess <at> urbanaillinois.us.
LIVESTOCK FACILITY DECOMMISSIONING at the Imported Swine Research Laboratory - The push to expand the UI Research Park will require decommissioning of the waste lagoons associated with the Imported Swine Research Laboratory (ISRL). This presents an nice opportunity for a class to develop and design a decommissioning plan with associated costs and timeline. Colleen Ruhter is the point of contact, cruhter <at> illinois.edu.
If you have a project idea, please contact us at sustainability@illinois.edu, or submit it through the iCAP Portal Suggestions page.
SSC received a semesterly report for Spring 2021 for the NSRC Composting project on 9/9/2021. Please see attached.
This is a list of projects that need students to work on. It will be updated periodically by sustainability staff members, the last update was 8/30/21:
Joyce Mast is working with Patricia Franke to refine the ECE energy displays to include the effect of local weather on the solar panels. F&S Utilities and Energy Services is connecting Joyce with the contact people at Hawkeye Energy Solutions, who incorporated real-time energy data in the ECE energy dashboard, using campus data provided by F&S.
Brent Lewis and representatives from the LA firm that will be coordinating the Campus Landscape Master Plan visited various sites on campus in preparation for the planning process to begin. The contract is currently pending state approval.
Sol Systems is looking to present at the AASHE’s Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education (GCSHE) sometime from October 12-14 through their request for abstracts on Emerging Issues in the field.
Sol Systems is looking to present on our work expanding the impact of renewable energy projects that would certainly focus on things we did for the U of I project, namely the inclusion of pollinator habitats, zero waste construction and the work with students for their Sustainability Minor Capstone projects.
A 24" by 36" Bee Campus USA sign will be installed at the corner of Florida Avenue and Orchard Street, by the Florida-Orchard prairie, near Orchard Downs and the Presidents’ House.
The sign includes information about Bee Campus USA, local pollinators, the creation of the prairie zone, and more!
See the attached file to view a digital rendition of the signage.
“Chuck: You mentioned recently the patio had some weeds that needed to be cleaned up. I took these photos today. The areas in the photo are student garden areas. I did see someone in one of the garden areas southeast of LAR last week. I am not clear if she was there to work in the garden or perhaps for other research work.
John: Would you be able to assist (organize some student help perhaps) with weeding in the patio gardens? Could you also include the student garden plantings at the main east entry to the building as well as the smaller gardens each side of the drive at Lincoln Ave.? These are the first areas people will encounter at move in.”
-Wayne Bugaj (07/27/2021)
“Hello All,
Yesterday I did some cleanup along with Sara Mason, a former LAR LLC member who graduated last year. We pulled weeds by the small beds near the wheelchair ramp and did some trimming in the front beds including the one near Lincoln Ave. Two other former LLC students from 2016 and 17 helped a couple times this summer with some very basic weeding. The people who started this maintain an interest, but most have let town. The virus and “student priorities” have kept the regular LLC students from doing anything in the plantings for about 2 seasons. Hopefully that will change this year. Basically the plantings are mostly doing well. They need some weeding and thinning. A couple spots on the S side of the front steps and SW side of the building have areas where one or two species have taken over. Some replanting would probably be good there, but is not critical.
The main goal of providing pollinator resources is definitely being met.
Chris Murphy told me in the spring that he hoped to get a faculty member to oversee a few students who could get credit for maintaining the plantings.
Anyway things look better now. We took out 2.5 35 gallon cans of weeds.
I hope this helps”
-John Marlin (07/29/2021)
