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Project Updates for collection: Living Lab Facilities / Programs

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  1. Visualization of the impact of CIF geothermal

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

    “In summary, there will be 2 slides taking turns to be displayed on the digital screen in CIF. The first slide is primarily composed of the 3D GSHP system schematic (Ground loops, heat pump and building) and the key parameters & features. The second slide shows the results from building energy modeling, including annual outdoor temperature variations, heating/cooing loads and other energy consumptions. This may [help] visualize the impact of CIF geothermal and give public a better understanding on the renewable resources.”

    -John Zhao (11/14/2022)

    PhD. Candidate

    Research Assistant

    Agricultural & Biological Engineering

    Research field: Ground Source HVAC System/Subsurface Heat Transfer

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Attached Files: 

  2. New Greener Campus Programs Certifications

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Green Event Program
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)

    Congratulations to the newest recipients of our Green Office and Green Event Certifications! 

    Green Office Gold Certification:

    Visit Champaign County-Certified January 2022 (with notably 38 sustainable actions pursued!)

     

    Green Event Certifications:

    University Housing Gender Inclusivity Training-Certified January 2022

    Campus Recreation/Instructional Kitchen Winter Virtual Canned Food Drive-Certified January 2022

    CU at Home One Winter Night-Certified January 2022

      Thank you to each of our participants, keep up the great work!

  3. Equipment purchased at ICRT

    Associated Project(s): 
    Building Envelope Pilot Project

    The Building Envelope Pilot Project funded the following equipment, purchased at ICRT.  This invoice was paid on I8563811 dated 12/13/21. 

    • $123.90 TEC Fog Puffer Kit
    • $168.00 BD Panel
    • $6121.50 Mpls BD
    • $344.15 freight
    • $6757.55 Total

  5. Weekly Update: Shop reopening this week

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week we were open by appointment only. We logged 6 appointments and sold 1 bike.

    This week we will reopen to our usual M/W/F hours. Staff are eager to get back to work. We’ll have to run some refreshers for folks as I’m sure they’ve forgotten some stuff. We’ll do some inventory and build some bikes while we’re at it. We’ve got a couple other events coming up that we’ll have to prep for this week as well.

    The numbers:

    • Visitors: 6
    • Sale: $231.50
    • Bike: 1 for $200
    • Misc: $31.50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  7. update from Nidia

    Associated Project(s): 
    Creating Adaptable Autonomous Systems for Energy-Efficient Buildings
    • Received approval for SSC funding - got the letter and sent it back to SSC, signed. 
    • Nora requested the CFOP from OBFS
    • Nidia wants to talk with Paul about it - 
      • funding for technical engineering for F&S
      • Nidia's appointment
      • $75k for purchasing and installing the submetering
    • Morgan emailed Rob Roman to request a meeting about how to move forward in the best path.

  8. Spring 2022 Semester Goals

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS)
    Earth Month
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan
    Fossil Fuels Divestment - Support Letter
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

    Co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring are excited to embark upon their second semester as SSLC leadership together. The primary goals of the semester include: 

     

    • Bolster collaboration between environmental RSOs on UIUC campus. The SSLC hopes to work with Student Affairs to incentivize participation with the SSLC, using the University of California Berkely’s Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) as a template. Weekly board meetings and monthly full meetings will continue per usual.

    • Bolster collaboration between other Illinois schools like University of Illinois Chicago, University of Illinois Springfield, and Illinois State University. Both SECS and ISG may play significant roles in this relationship-building. The SSLC has already been in contact with Illinois State.

    • Host Earth Month events. The SSLC already began communication with the Illini Union Green Team last semester to begin planning events like Green Quad Day and a movie night on the Quad. Organizations like SECS, Red Bison, and iSEE that have been historically active in Earth Month events will be essential in these processes. 

    • Write SSLC bylaws. The Council has not previously had bylaws, and they are absolutely essential to moving forward in an organized and successful fashion. 

    • Continue to monitor the fight for divestment from fossil fuels. This iCAP Objective has caused copious political strife between students and administrators. Because divestment continues to be a hot topic, the SSLC will continue to listen to student concerns. 

     

  9. Fall 2021 Semester Summary

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Bevier Café Herb Garden
    Bevier Café’s - Aquaponics System Demonstration Unit
    Sustainable Student Farm
    Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan
    Fossil Fuels Divestment - Support Letter
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Sustainability Council

    The SSLC underwent many changes under the new leadership of co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring. The board experimented with the mission and niche of the SSLC, ultimately establishing that the organization shall act as a medium of communication between student groups and the administration. The organization will also be the primary host of the annual Student Sustainability Summit in October, touting – among other interdisciplinary events – Green Quad Day, Sustainable Student Research Symposium, and Tuesday Talks at Bevier Cafe. 

     

    This Summit was the Council’s most noteworthy accomplishment this semester. The SSLC collaborated with: Red Bison, Outdoor Adventure Club, the Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, the Sustainable Student Farm, the Pilot Processing Plant, Grand Prairie Friends, the F&S Solar House, Stop Line 3 CU, Students for Environmental Concerns, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Student Sustainability Committee. This myriad of events had varying levels of attendance. The SSLC leadership learned two primary lessons from the inaugural Student Sustainability Summit: first, quality over quantity in terms of events; and second, planning well ahead of time is absolutely essential in order to adequately advertise each event. If you attended or co-hosted any Summit event, and you would like to let the SSLC board know your feedback, please fill out this form. The current SSLC leadership looks forward to how future leadership will expand upon the Summit. 

     

    Another noteworthy accomplishment of the SSLC this semester was action following the publication of the Campus Admin Manual’s Expressive Activity Policy draft. Students were largely emotional about the policy’s stringent punishment for demonstrations on campus, so the SSLC – in conjunction with SECs and the SSC – wrote a letter to Chancellor Jones demanding that the policy more closely align with the student body’s needs. As of January 2022, the SSLC has received no reply from the Office of the Chancellor.  

     

    Co-presidents Maria Maring and Owen Jennings spoke at the Campus Sustainability Celebration and Sustainability Council meeting, respectively, on the topic of divestment. Though SSLC leadership was merely prompted to give basic updates at these meetings, they utilized the face-to-face opportunity with campus administrators to voice student concerns about completing iCAP Objective 9.1: Fully divest from fossil fuel companies by FY25. 

     

    In a first, the SSLC and general members participated in the Homecoming Parade. Roughly a dozen students marched with divestment-related signs. The SSLC hopes to expand Homecoming attendance next year. 

     

    The SSLC revived its dormant Facebook account (@sslcuiuc) and newly established an Instagram account (@uiuc_sslc). On the latter, the SSLC made 40 posts and gained 227 followers. The Facebook account has 93 followers; engagement on this platform is much less. The SSLC also made a linktree and a Google calendar to which other RSOs can sync. That way, all events from all different orgs are all conveniently on one calendar. This joint calendar is still undergoing troubleshooting, and it is not yet available for public viewing. 

     

    Amidst these new endeavors, the SSLC held full membership meetings roughly once a month, as did the previous leadership. One recurring issue was lack of attendance and engagement. Leadership held many conversations with both general members and staff advisors about how to increase the efficacy of the Council, but no good solution was found. The SSLC will continue to hold these monthly meetings and brainstorm about how to increase engagement throughout the upcoming spring semester. 

     

    The SSLC board met weekly. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact the Council at sslc-chair@mx-illinois.edu. 

  12. BeeSpotter Project Page Proposal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    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

     

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    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:

    https://beespotter.org/

  13. Tree Campus USA application approved at the state level

    Associated Project(s): 
    Tree Campus Higher Education

    The University of Illinois’ Tree Campus USA application has been approved at the state level! From there, the Arbor Day Foundation will receive our application for review and for final approval. Each year, the Campus Tree Advisory Committee submits a Tree Care Plan to the foundation to uphold our Tree Campus USA status. 

     

    Below are some kind words from Mike Brunk, from the Illinois DNR, after reviewing the Tree Care Plan that included the various projects on the horizon and the progress made throughout 2021.

     

    “Excellent Plan and some challenging and productive Service Learning projects.  The south Arboretum is a big project, and the LA internships for creating greenspace designs and selecting tree locations sounds like it is fun especially knowing that there is funding support for the installation of their plans.

    …And the new canopy study looks like it will create some interesting information for you to plan with.”

  15. Article Accepted in Groundwater

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois Geothermal Coalition

    From: cs-author@wiley.com <cs-author@wiley.com>
    Sent: Monday, December 27, 2021 6:15 PM
    To: Lin, Yu-Feng <yflin at illinois.edu>
    Subject: In Production: Your article accepted in Groundwater

     

    Dear YU-FENG F. LIN,

    Article ID: GWAT13159
    Article DOI: 10.1111/gwat.13159
    Internal Article ID: 17279842
    Article: Coupling a borehole thermal model and MT3DMS to simulate dynamic ground source heat pump efficiency
    Journal: Groundwater

    Congratulations on the acceptance of your article for publication in Groundwater.

    Your article has been received and the production process is now underway. We look forward to working with you and publishing your article. Using Wiley Author Services, you can track your article’s progress.


    Please click below to login - if you are using a different email address than this one, you will need to manually assign this article to your Dashboard (see How do I assign a missing article to My Dashboard?):

    Link to Author Services: https://authorservices.wiley.com/index.html#article/17279842?campaign=email_invitation-new

    If applicable, a list of available actions will appear below – check out your Author Services Dashboard for all actions related to your articles.

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  16. Geothermal @ CIF Inquiry

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

    John Zhao, PhD. Candidate, reached out to Dr. Stumpf with a question regarding the CIF's geothermal capacity. Specifically, the question was, "The description of this project https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/geothermal-campus-instructional-facility-cif  says:'The optimized geothermal exchange system will supply the CIF building with approximately 135 tons of heating and cooling capacity, equivalent to almost 65% of the total building energy demand.' I am checking if the GSHP only covers the 65% of the building space conditioning, or the heating/cooling account for 65% of the total electricity consumption (considering lighting, and etc.)?"

    Dr Stumpf replied explaining that the 135 tons is 65% of the building's energy demand and the GSHPS (ground source heat pump) covers this portion. The GSHPS is primarily used to offset energy for making chilled water since the building is cooling dominated. The other 35% is for electricity (making hot water, running HVAC system, geothermal and water pumps, etc.)

    Zhao met with Eric Vetter (in charge of the CIF) and got the following heat pump capacity information:

    Manufacturer: ClimaCool Corporation

    Cooling Capacity: 141 Ton /  1,692 MBH

    Heating Capacity: 2,222 MBH

    Electricity Input: At full capacity rated 100.4 - 144.3 kW.

  17. A Visual Story of Illinois' New Champion Carolina Silverbell

    Associated Project(s): 
    Tree Campus Higher Education

    From: Hayek, Jay C <jhayek at illinois.edu>
    To: White, Morgan <mbwhite at illinois.edu>; Lewis, Brent C <bcl at illinois.edu>; McSweeney, Kevin <mcsween at illinois.edu>; Soltis, Sinead (FandS) <fandsssolti2 at mx.uillinois.edu>
    Subject: A Visual Story of Illinois' New Champion Carolina Silverbell (Not for Public Consumption Yet)

     

    Morning Everyone:

     

    Below is an ArcGIS StoryMap project that I’ve been working on recently.  I haven’t made it totally “public” yet as I’m asking for feedback on how it loads and looks on your computers/devices.

     

    Title: A Visual Story of Illinois' New Champion Carolina Silverbell

     

    URL: https://go.illinois.edu/presidents-silverbell

     

    Best regards,

    Jay C. Hayek, Extension Forestry Specialist

    SAWW Certified Chainsaw Safety Trainer

    Chairman; IL Forestry Development Council

    Dept. of Natural Resources & Env. Sciences

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    Office: (217) 244-0534

    Email: jhayek at illinois.edu

    Web: https://extension.illinois.edu/forestry

      

     instagram    linkedin   facebook  

    signature_1239093234

     

    Standard US Mailing Address

    W-521 Turner Hall (MC-047)

    1102 S. Goodwin Ave.

    Urbana, IL 61801

     

    Packages: UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL

    W-512A Turner Hall (MC-047)

    1102 S. Goodwin Ave.

    Urbana, IL 61801

     

  20. Weekly Update: Kids' Bike Giveaway event; Outdoor bike pump; CBC closing for winter break

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, The Kid’s Bike Giveaway event was held on Saturday afternoon. We gave away 60 bikes and still have 20 left. Ideally, we would’ve given them all away, but no one left disappointed, which is very much worth the extra time and effort of moving 20 bikes back into the shop. We had 7 people volunteering, so it was quick work. We’ll put the word out this week that anyone who didn’t get a bike is welcome to stop by the Urbana Bike Project during open hours (Wed/Thurs 6:30 – 9; Sat/Sun by appointment) to pick out a bike from our leftovers. Depending on volunteer availability off-hours pick-ups might be doable, too.

    Thanks to everyone who helped with the event and helped spread the word! We were able to give away 15 more bikes than we did last year.

    Last week I was finally able to fully rebuild the outdoor bike pump with new and heavier duty parts that should last the winter. So far no one’s tried to drive their car up to the pump and air their car tires like they did when the station was by the curb on Pennsylvania. 

    This week I’ll turn our attentions to refurbishing. We should have a half dozen bikes on the sales floor by Friday. We’ve worked through the easy fixes and are left with the fun stuff: dusty, old 3 speeds, 10 speed Schwinns and the like. Now we can start in earnest building up our stock for the spring rush—although, with the unseasonably warm temps this week, we may be too busy to make much headway. A good problem to have.

    We’re closing for Winter Break after Friday. Reopening date is TBD.

    The numbers:

    Visitors:
    Sales: $71*
    Memberships: 1 for $30
    Tires/tubes: 3 for $13

    *We’ve reinstated the First Visit Free policy which deflates our sales numbers compared to our mandated memberships for the summer/fall.

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

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