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  1. Weekly Update: Reduced hours, Working Bikes this week

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, While my jury duty service was still in effect, we had reduced hours as needed last week but were able to open fully Wed – Fri. It was the first week of noticeably fewer folks through the doors. As such, we got a few bikes on the sales floor and a dozen or so moved over from storage.

    Tomorrow we will host Working Bikes for our donation event. This is the first one since Nov 2019. We’ll have around 200 bikes to donate and hopefully will have a few folks available to help out and make it go quicker. They’ll be providing pizza for us, too. This event will halve the number of bikes left in storage. The Bike Project and I will sort through the remaining bikes in the coming weeks.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 43
    Sales: $475.50
    Build-a-Bikes: 2 for $100
    Memberships: 4 for $120

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  3. CIF Geothermal Exchange Borefield Information Resources

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)

    Below is an email from Andrew Stumpf regarding the CIF's Geothermal Exhange Borefield.

    From: Stumpf, Andrew J <astumpf at illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, October 24, 2022 9:39 AM
    Subject: Re: CEE190 Instructor meeting

     

    Hi Eric,

     

    Yes. The report is available on IDEALS https://hdl.handle.net/2142/111796, so publicly available. Correct, John has been doing further study on the CIF building. He has been working with me on the research… his PhD exam is next Monday, so pretty busy. I’ve only had a brief tour of the mechanicals when it was first built, so I can’t really comment about the system inside. Dr. Tugce Baser in CEE tbaser at illinois.edu I believe received a more detailed tour, so you might want to reach out to her. Here is some information about the mechanicals published for an ASHRAE award the building received.

     

    Best,

    Andy

     

    Attached Files: 

  4. Agri-Voltic PPA

    Associated Project(s): 
    Agrivoltaics: Crop Production and Solar Panels on the Same Land

    Below is an email from Tony Spurlock:

    Ben,

     

    Attached is a summary of UIUC’s response to Legal Concerns with PEI entering into the PPA related to the Agri-voltaics project.

     

    Mike,

     

    We do not see any hard cost savings from having PEI do the PPA as opposed to University Purchasing, but we would expect PEI to be able to get it done more efficiently its greater flexibility and expertise in procuring energy commodities.  The timing for this project is critical to be able to do the research as planned.

     

    Regards,

     

    Tony

    Attached Files: 

  5. Weekly Update: Strong Towns, Bike Summit, potentially postponing Working Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was a busy one. We had Strong Towns talk on Tuesday and the Illinois Bike Summit on Wednesday. Got in some good networking, heard some interesting talks/discussions, and got buzzed by two MTD buses on my bike commute there and then one car on my ride back to the Bike Center. Oh, the irony.

    The cooler weather has curtailed our visitors, but we’ve had a few volunteers, too—always nice.

    Grabbed some bikes from the warehouse last week and will continue to do so as I can this week. I have jury duty potentially all this week and next week, which majorly mucks up my plans for setting up with Working Bikes since I can’t plan past day-to-day. Likely will have to bump that to early November unless circumstances change.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 42
    Sales: $266
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 3 for $20

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  6. Campus Sustainability Celebration - 10/17/22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Energy iCAP Team
    Education iCAP Team
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan

    The 2022 Campus Sustainability Celebration was a huge success! Thank you to all who participated! The PowerPoint presentation is attached, and the agenda for the event was as follows:

    • 3-3:15 PM – Welcome
      • Jennifer Fraterrigo, on behalf of Director Madhu Khanna (iSEE)
      • Chancellor Jones
      • Vice Chancellor Susan Martinis (OVCRI)
    • 3:15 – 3:30 PM – Holistic initiatives
      • Plastic reduction (Jen)
      • Clean energy/Solar Farm 3 (Morgan)
      • Greener Campus Program (Meredith)
    • 3:30 – 4:40 PM – iCAP Team presentations
      • Energy
      • Transportation
      • Land and Water
      • Zero Waste
      • Education
      • Engagement
      • Resilience
    • 4:40 – 5 PM – Student groups (SSLC, SSC) – Jack Reicherts and Maiah Caise
      • Closing remarks by Jennifer Fraterrigo (on behalf of Madhu Khanna)
    • 5 – 6 PM – Celebration - refreshments, roundtable forum with each iCAP Team, student tabling session  
    Attached Files: 

  7. Campus Sustainability Month Activities - Oct 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Campus Sustainability Month - Waste Reduction Challenge
    Clean up campus
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    TED Talk: Eco Edition Series
    Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS)

    One of our favorite times of the year is almost here… Campus Sustainability Month! Below is a highlight of major events and programs happening this October, though check out the iSEE Sustainability Calendar for the full list. This is the perfect time to take action and show your support for environmental consciousness (and the Illinois Climate Action Plan!). I look forward to seeing you across campus!

     

    • Plastic Reduction Challenge: Are you up to the challenge? From October 3–30, we provide the resources and point system to help you track your plastic use each week and find sustainable alternatives. The point system and fillable grid are attached, and additional information will be sent out prior to the start of the challenge. Take part with this fun and interactive community, and earn the chance to win a sustainability prize pack. It is easy to make a positive impact! Sign up here for the challenge.
       
    • Clothing Swap: This is the perfect opportunity to donate your clothing items and update your wardrobe! Join iSEE, SECS, and SSLC for this reduce/reuse event at the Channing Murray Foundation on Tuesday, October 11. Drop off clothes at Channing Murray the day before, or during the event itself from 10AM – 3PM.  All are welcome to drop off and/or participate (it’s free!).
       
    • Green Quad Day: Come check out the variety of student, staff, faculty, and community-led environmental groups on Thursday, October 13 from 11AM – 3PM at the Anniversary Plaza (cement area between the Quad and Union). This is a great opportunity to talk with and learn about the many sustainability efforts on campus. The rain date is October 17. If you are interested in representing your organization at a table, sign up here.
       
    • Water Taste Test: It’s 2022 – why are we still drinking from plastic bottles? Let’s put our tap water to the test and see, blindly, which water we prefer. Check out the iSEE table at Green Quad Day (above) and see if you can taste a difference between bottled water and tap! In the meantime, take our drinking water behavior survey (and win a chance for a $50 gift card).
       
    • Illini Lights Out: Join us to shut off lights in buildings around campus to save energy and reduce the environmental impact of our massive university! Meet at 5:30PM in the lobby of the Foreign Language Building on Friday, October 14 to receive brief instructions before heading out to turn off lights in assigned buildings. Come back to FLB (roughly 6:30) when you are done to turn in your clipboard, get a snack, and pat yourself on the back for helping to save so much energy! Register here, and come by yourself or bring a friend!
       
    • Campus Sustainability Celebration: All are welcome to attend this annual event on Monday, October 17 from 3-6PM at NCSA (auditorium and lobby), 1205 W. Clark St., Urbana. The first two hours will be spent in the Auditorium, where we will hear from campus sustainability leaders and from the iCAP Teams. Following the presentations (5-6 PM), each iCAP Team will have a table in the lobby/atrium area for roundtable discussion, suggestions, and a Q&A. Student environmental groups will have tables set up and together, we will enjoy conversation, light refreshments, and cake!
       
    • Trash Cleanup: Help keep our campus beautiful! On Wednesday, October 19, meet at Alma Mater at 4PM and join us to collect trash and recycling around campus until 5:30PM.
       
    • TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series: Tune in to this edition of iSEE’s ongoing Zoom series on Wednesday, October 26 from 7 – 8PM. Our host this month is Lucy Nifong, a senior in Agricultural and Consumer Economics, iSEE Communications Intern, and Vice Chair Internal of the Student Sustainability Committee. Participants will view a prerecorded TED Talk, followed by a guided discussion and roundtable on Campus Sustainability Month! Sign up here.
       
    • Sustainability BINGO: Fill out the iSEE board (attached) for a chance to win prizes! The board (PDF) includes sustainability-related activities and initiatives you can do across campus during Sustainability Month (Oct. 1-31). Make sure you document and let us know which actions you completed using the Google Form to be eligible for the prize drawing.
       
    • Have you gotten your office, event, or Greek chapter certified as Green yet? It’s easy to be sustainable! Get certified and be recognized!

  9. Information on moving bees around for commercial agriculture

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Information about how commercial bee keeping functions and its impact to overall bee populations was inquired about by Brent Lewis, Landscape Architect. Below is the response from Adam Donzel, an Assistant Professor in Entomology. 

    'Hi Brent,

     

    Yeah, there is work on that.  Here are links to couple studies about it:

     

    https://www.nature.com/articles/srep32023

    https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/article/22/1/17/6523145

     

    Basically, yes, there are some stresses involved with migratory beekeeping but sedentary colonies can also have similar issues. In some scenarios, migratory colonies could be healthier as they are moved to areas with good nutritional resources all the time, while those left in place have to deal with times of low food availability. In reality, though, migratory colonies do undergo a lot of stress as they are used to pollinate crops and a lot goes into that - the stress of confinement, heat, exposure to agrochemicals, etc. From a beekeeping perspective, this is calculated into the fees charged for pollination (to some extent at least). Right now, beekeepers charge about $200/hive to pollinate almonds for example (the most lucrative pollination event). Big beekeepers manage 20,000-50,000 hives!  "Small" commercial beekeepers usually have 2-5000.

     

    Migratory beekeeping uses about 85% of the managed colonies in the USA (incredible!). One big issue with this is that, if a new pest or pathogen is introduced, it will be spread throughout the country very fast. And in big pollination events, like almonds, hives are concentrated at very high densities, which does present a lot of opportunities for spreading diseases. They do mitigate this to some extent, however, as there are health checks required to move bees across state lines, and almond growers usually require checks of colonies to make sure they are healthy.

     

    Hope this helps - always happy to answer questions when I can!"

     

     

  11. Resilience iCAP Team October 2022 Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Urban Biodiversity Master Plan

    The Resilience iCAP Team had its second monthly online meeting on Monday, October 10th from 11:00 - 12:00 PM. The team worked on the Campus Sustainability Celebration slides, got updates on Urban Biodiversity Master Plan, talked about sustainability and resilience challenges at Urbana and Savoy areas, and shared announcements on upcoming sustainability events! Meeting minutes are attached. 

     

     

    Attached Files: 

  14. Weekly Update: Strong Towns, Bike Summit, Working Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Big week of events! On Tuesday, Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns is speaking at the Illinois Terminal and I’ll attend to see how our work as bike advocates and a non-profit can help bolster a strong and vibrant community. And Wednesday is the Illinois Bike Summit at the I-hotel. I’ll be there all day and reducing hours at the Bike Center to account for that. Accordingly, we’ll be open 4 – 6p on that day. I never fail to learn something at this yearly event and am happy to see it back here on campus.

    I’ll be counting/organizing bikes for donation as well this week. Hope to have the Donation Day set by end of the week and so we can begin rallying for some support/help. WB has already agreed to pay for Manolo’s!

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 51

    Sales: $1,214.50

    Memberships: 17 for $510
    Tire/tubes: 8 for $94

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  15. MASSMAIL Inaugural Campus Landscape Master Plan 10/6/22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP)

    The follow is a MassMail sent by Dr. Ehab Kamarah.

    MASSMAIL - Inaugural Campus Landscape Master Plan
    October 6, 2022 2:59 PM

    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign landscape contributes powerfully to the character of the campus and its excellence as a land grant institution with global impact. Through thoughtful planning and design guidance, the first-ever Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP) ensures our treasured landscape will thrive for many years.

    The CLMP will shape the vision of a future outdoor environment that will protect natural heritage, strengthen ecosystems, enhance shared experiences and learning opportunities, and provide a welcoming experience for students, faculty, staff, alums, community members, and guests.

    An executive summary of the CLMP and a video of the plan's concepts and designs are available on the Facilities & Services website. We strongly encourage you to share these items with others to help them know about this inaugural effort. The plan builds on concepts developed in the Campus Master Plan and Resilient Landscape Strategy and implements sustainability objectives established in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) to meet the Climate Leadership Commitments, including being carbon neutral as soon as possible and building resilience to climate change in our community.

    Thank you to all contributors who helped develop the CLMP: core committee members, unit stakeholders, and the many individuals who guided us and provided feedback during the various input sessions and public forum. We also want to thank the plan consultants, Design Workshop and their project team, for their hard work and dedication throughout the process.

    As you read the CLMP and view the district recommendations, please remember the plan will be a living document that immediately serves as a foundation to help guide the projects and initiatives that will shape the future of our campus. Ongoing collaborations and partnerships are critical to preserving, maintaining, and improving our campus landscape moving forward. If you have suggestions or questions, please contact University Landscape Architect Brent Lewis bcl@illinois.edu.

    We are excited to begin incorporating the CLMP strategies into ongoing work and turn these ideas into reality.

    Sincerely,


    Dr. Ehab Kamarah
    Associate Vice Chancellor and Executive Director, Facilities & Services

  16. Land and Water iCAP Meeting 10/4/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP)
    Cover Crops on South Farms
    Let It Flow
    Benefits of a Large-Scale Prairie Experiment

    On October 4th, the Land and Water iCAP team met to make final edits on the Campus Sustainability Celebration slides, review the Campus Landscape Master Plan, and discuss regenerative agriculture research on the South Farms.

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  17. Urban Biodiversity Master Plan Student Support

    Associated Project(s): 
    Urban Biodiversity Master Plan
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Education iCAP Team
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Energy iCAP Team

    Biodiversity Plan intern Gabriel Harper-Hagen is looking for students and student groups to help him develop two iNaturalist surveys for the project. Here is the detailed explanation from Gabe:

    The survey will act as a pilot for future surveying around campus and the broader community. We will have two surveys: one focused on animals and one focused on plants. This is because of the different methods of surveying each. The surveys will benefit from as many students that would be interested in this for either one (Or both). The survey will attempt to efficiently gather data about the diversity of plant and animal species found on campus to create a baseline for what is present and to help identify gaps on the campus where diversity may be lacking. If successful, I hope to expand the model to other parts of the community including the park districts to have larger community based BioBlitz seasonally to keep track of the diversity in the area and measure success of the biodiversity plan. 

     

    As far as students can help, we need enough people to survey the area efficiently in a reasonable amount of time. The student groups and individual students would be helping in an initial survey that focuses only on the campus. My thought is that a date will be set for each of the two surveys where the participants can join to go over brief instructions on identifying plants with iNaturalist, adding them to the project, and explaining the purpose of surveying. iNaturalist allows for specific project data to be collected within a region which is then peer reviewed. Ideally, there will be some experts (students or professors if appropriate) that join for each survey to help with logistics and identification. I hope this will not only be a useful database for our campus to utilize, but also a fun learning experience. 

     

    All iCAP students and environmental student groups are encouraged to participate. If interested, please email Gabe (harperh2@illinois.edu) and Resilience iCAP Team clerk Asli Topuzlu (aslit2@illinois.edu). 

  18. Weekly Update: Slower times, Business Hours, Sorting abandoned bicycles

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Slower times here at the Bike Center (in terms of visitors). We’re almost slow enough that we can reinstate the First Visit Free policy. Not quite there, as we’ll have lulls but pick back up again.

    It was discovered that the CBC Google Business hours were not updated when we moved to M – F, which explains why we we’ve been so slow on Tues/Thurs. That has since been corrected so we’ll see if that impacts visit numbers this week.

    Last week I started sorting bikes at the warehouse for shipment/donation. We’ll be saving even more bikes than usual as we’re critically low on consumable parts like tires.

    We managed to rehab a Huffy to an acceptable degree. The frame was in good shape and we piloted a new freewheel system that should hopefully help keep those types of bikes rideable for longer. That bike sold in about 20 minutes. Demand for cheap bikes is evergreen.

    This week I’ll do more sorting at the warehouse and coordinating the donation, an interview or two, and otherwise business-as-usual.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 78
    Sales: $479.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $70
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $58

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  19. Metric for EV charging stations - Suggestion by Ria

    Associated Project(s): 
    Install Public Use Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
    Use Electric Vehicles (EV)

    Hi Morgan,

    The proposed metrics (i.e., number of level 2 chargers) are certainly interesting. Could we also track the chargers' utilization? My group can help with such an analysis as needed. I am happy to discuss opportunities for a more comprehensive assessment of shared charging use by the university fleet and other passenger vehicles in the university. Effective charging sharing and management schemes will play an important role as electric vehicle adoption and use grow. Thanks in advance!

    Best regards,

    Ria

    -- 

    Eleftheria (Ria) Kontou, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Civil and Environmental Engineering

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    publish.illinois.edu/kontou/home

    New publication: Evacuation route planning for alternative fuel vehicles https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2022.103837

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