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Discussed progress with biogas presentation, contacts for additional information for presentation, steps toward drafting a biogas recommendation (i.e. multi-SWATeam meeting), timeline for presentation and recommendation completion. Also discussed the potential for the iWG to put forward this recommendation as opposed to SWATeam(s).
Discussed inter-SWATeam collaboration on future biogas recommendation, reviewed and edited presentation regarding biogas production and use. Shared data on dining hall food waste to biogas potential and routes to acquire life cycle cost analyses and additional data for biogas presentation (e.g. fertilizer potential of AD digestate).
All, Looking back to the week before Thanksgiving break, it was about average for this time of year. Not a whole lot to report. Still throwing stuff away as we see fit. Bikes are getting built. One of the student staff put in her resignation as she’s received an internship with iSEE. Always nice to see success for the students here!
This week we’ll host our Fix-a-Flat class on Friday, Dec 6th at 11am here at the Bike Center. Likely to be poorly attended since it’s December. Otherwise, it’s more of the same: building bikes, cleaning shop, throwing stuff away.
The numbers:
Visitors: 66
Sales: $231.50
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 9 for $75
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
See attached file.
See attached for the iWG Meeting Minutes from 11/22/2019.
The files for the Dump and Run 2020 Step 2 Application (SSC) are attached below.
I've attached a file containing the summary of expenses and revenue (2016-2019) for Dump and Run below.
David and I met on November 20, 2019 for our first meeting following his Biogas on Campus email on November 13th. David received an email from Doug Wolters from the College of ACES, and Doug said that he will discuss this project with his Dean. David had not heard from anyone else.
We discussed how to proceed with this project. I will try to get in touch with Lance Schideman to get his opinion on this subject. I introduced David to the SWATeam Clerk of the Transportation and Zero Waste SWATeam, Julija Sakutyte. I will talk to the Transportation SWATeam about a possible collaboration opportunity with the Energy SWATeam and Zero Waste SWATeam. David will also talk to the Energy SWATeam about this possible collaboration.
I have set up a biweekly meeting with David, and a monthly meeting with Meredith Moore for this project.
Agenda includes: iCAP 2020 timeline, Clean Energy planning, and Zero Waste planning
All, Last week was a big press week. We landed on the cover of the Daily Illini on Thursday and then when we did our shipping event on Friday with Working Bikes WCIA showed up! https://www.wcia.com/news/bike-project-helps-people-in-need/
Good press all around!
The shipping event went just about as well as it’s ever gone in my tenure. To start we had 200 fewer bikes to deal with, then Working Bikes provided twice as many staff as they have before, and to cap it off we had good turnout between my staff and volunteers. Unfortunately, volunteer and staff availability isn’t something I can count on every year.
For this week, today and tomorrow we’ll have LAS students in to volunteer. Other than that, it’s business as usual. We’re getting into finer and finer details of culling and organizing, getting into some deep cleaning, which I regret isn’t my strong suit but man does it make a difference. Next week we’ll be closed for Thanksgiving break.
Also, a big thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the weekend.
The numbers:
Visitors: 40
Sales: $527
Bike (refurb): 1 or $150
Bike (B-a-B): 1 for $80
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 10 for $53
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
See the attached file for suggested content for the Florida-Orchard Pollinator Signage.
This document includes information about plants, animals, and pollinators related to the prairie.
Following is an email sent by David Rivera-Kohr regarding Biogas on-campus to several faculty and staff at the U of I.
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Hello,
My name is David Rivera-Kohr and I’m a student member of the Energy SWATeam. I want to propose using biogas for energy on campus. Since burning biogas for energy is effectively carbon neutral, this would bring us closer to our iCAP goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Biogas is a huge untapped resource for energy production at the U of I. Rather than utilize the methane from animal manure and carcasses and food waste, we allow much of it to escape into the atmosphere. The Sanitary District currently uses municipal waste, restaurant grease, industrial food processing waste and campus dining hall food waste as feedstocks for its own anaerobic digester to produce biogas which is burned to generate 25-30% of the facility's energy. However, the Sanitary District does not want to dedicate digestion capacity to manure due to the need to accommodate growth of the local area (i.e. anticipated growth of student population). Furthermore, the Sanitary District is not a UIUC facility, therefore its use of biogas does not alleviate campus energy demand or contribute to our net-zero emissions objective.
I have a few ideas for biogas production on campus I would like feedback on:
1. Add a biogas siphoning system to the manure storage tanks at the Beef & Sheep Farm.
2. Conduct a study to determine which UIUC facility produces the most methane from animal waste and construct an anaerobic digester there. The 2014 Anaerobic Digester Feasibility Study indicated the Swine Farms collectively had the highest methane output; Miles Redden told me the Beef & Sheep farm is the highest manure-producing farcilty, though ionophore feeding of beef cattle decreases methane output. It may be worthwhile to determine which single facility has the highest methane output in 2019-2020.
Additionally, there are a few options in consideration for how to best use the biogas:
1. Burn it on-site in existing natural gas furnaces to meet facility heat demands. This could be used in conjunction with the deep direct-use (DDU) geothermal system that is being studied for the ACES Legacy corridor—the brine solution from the DDU system will bring the facility's hot water to ~110 degrees F and the biogas furnace could increase that temperature to 130 degrees. There would likely be a considerable excess of biogas, which could either be burned on-site to generate electricity for distribution to the local grid (which is less efficient than combined heat & power), transported to nearby facilities to burn in their furnaces, or...
2. Upgrade the biogas (all or only the excess from idea #1) to pipeline-quality methane and inject it into the pipeline for use at Abbott Power Plant. There is a supply pipeline that runs through the ACES corridor where this methane could be injected.
3. Use upgraded biogas for compressed natural gas (CNG) to power F&S vehicle fleets.
The 2014 Feasibility Study also discussed constructing a pressurized pipeline to deliver waste from multiple facilities to the site of the anaerobic digester. This may be worthwhile if the biogas is to be used on a larger scale i.e. at Abbott Power Plant or some combination of the previous ideas.
Life-cycle cost analysis of the above options should be studied to determine the most cost-effective and, more importantly, the lowest emissions option. If you can, please let me know which of these options for biogas production and use sound most feasible, or if better ideas come to mind.
Finally, we need the support and expertise of faculty and staff to advance this proposal. If you are interested in backing or contributing to this proposal, or you know someone else who may be, please let me know. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you!
--
Best,
David A. Rivera-Kohr
Undergraduate Student
University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Biochemistry
Dr. Rutilio Fratti's Lab
David Rivera-Kohr shared this great news today:
ACES has decided to support the biogas initiative! This is a huge step in the right direction. I’ve made decent progress on the presentation (though I need more information before it’s complete) and deciding which options to write the recommendation for is an important future step. An anaerobic digester is best in terms of energy production and waste disposal, but it ultimately comes down to what the University will fund. The Zero Waste SWATeam is very supportive of this idea and if I can collect evidence that a digester alleviates the burden on agricultural land and water consumption, the Land & Water team will also be on board. Thank you all for your help thus far, let’s make this happen! Communication with our Associated Dean for Research Germàn Bollero and the College of ACES is supportive of this proposal. As it moves forward, we will need to work together to determine the level of involvement that ACES faculty/staff are willing and able to provide.
All, Last week was uneventful. Without traffic during hours we were afforded a lot of quality sorting/scrapping time.
On Wednesday I met with F&S, Urbana/Champaign, and CCB to discuss Bike Month/BTWD planning and to reflect on this year’s Light The Night. We’ve set the date for Bike To Work Day as Friday, May 1st.
Thursday was our Fix-a-Flat class that was a no-show unfortunately. However, it’s pretty much winter so attendance was expected to be low.
Big news for this week is that we’ll be hosting Working Bikes again this year to help us alleviate our abandoned bikes problem. They’ll be down this Friday from about 11am – 2pm packing up bikes to take back with them to Chicago. TBP and I will be there on Wednesday to clear out the good ones. I’ve got a couple staffers who said they’re available to help but I’ll put the word out with TBP to see if we can stir up some more volunteers. The more the merrier!
The numbers:
Visitors: 67
Sales: 171.50
Bike (B-a-B): 2 for $65
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tire/tubes: 1 for $5
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
See attached file.
Hello ECIP winners,
When the Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP) was launched in 2013, it included financial awards that distributed some of the centrally managed campus utility funds back to the winning buildings. The calculation system was based on placement (first place to fourth place) in the awards program and the award category (occupant action or energy advancement). You can see the calculation in the attached fact sheet from 2016, if you are interested. With the Integrated and Value-Centered Budget (IVCB) reform, we transitioned this year, and we are closing out the initial phase one of the ECIP.
Some of the original award funding has not yet been allocated to an associated facility improvement project. If you have remaining funds and have not yet committed to a specific project, please do so as soon as possible. All ECIP award funds must be committed by the end of this fiscal year, so please let us know your plans.
Now in phase two, the ECIP awards include a plaque and the associated prestige, and no additional monetary awards (see attached revised fact sheet). Instead, your colleges will benefit directly from the energy savings. Additionally, to increase the visibility of the great progress all of you have made, we are collaborating with the Illinois Solar Decathlon’s Concept Team (incoming freshmen, learning about building systems and sustainability). They will be completing a simple Building-Level Energy Report card for the 50+ ECIP winners this fall. In the spring, I will send those reports to you with an opportunity to connect with the Concept Team members.
Later this week, I will send a follow up email to the FY19 winners with images to help you spread awareness of this award. Congratulations again to all of you, and thank you very much for your past and ongoing contributions to the campus sustainability and energy efficiency efforts.
Sincerely,
Morgan
All, Last week was productive! We continued counting everything and made some real progress cleaning up here at the shop. I’ll be doing a walk-through this week with TBP on what to keep and not keep. I went to the bike barn and counted bikes: We’ve got 277 to donate to Working Bikes and 56 to keep. Those numbers are rough counts and not exact. Things are relatively organized over there now. Once we set a date for them coming down I’ll move all the bikes we want to keep out of there. Fingers crossed for an easier go of it this time around!
This Thursday we have our Fix-a-Flat class at 11am. Doubtful turnout will be great. It is November, after all.
On Saturday the Bike Project is hosting a bicycle food drive. All donations go to Eastern Illinois Foodbank, and we’ll be promoting that over here at the Bike Center. It’s a fun event I’ve participated in for years.
This week we’ll keep paring down our stock and keep cleaning up in advance of our TBD move!
The numbers:
Visitors: 61
Sales: $527
Bike (refurb): 1 for $170
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 10 for $53
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
All, Steady week, surprisingly. We even had a waiting list one day. Generally, though, things have slowed down. We’re still getting our inventory tallied up. We’ve got 6 bikes for sale with a few more to come.
Last week I counted and moved bikes around at the warehouse. I’ll be doing more of that this week with the help of some of my student staff. I have reached out to Working Bikes about coming down to collect our unusable bikes. I’ll have a better idea of just how many bikes that’ll be after this week.
This week we’ll be keeping on with the inventory/pitching junk, organizing the parts we keep, building up the good bikes, and the aforementioned warehouse bike fun.
The numbers:
Sales: $318
Memberships: 5 for $150
Tires/tubes: 8 for $30
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
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All, Despite the cooler weather the shop was still relatively busy all week. On Thursday or Friday we even had a waiting list.
In other news, we achieved Silver status for our Bicycle Friendly University! Congrats to all those involved.
Last Thursday night we had our What To Wear class at ARC. It went well. 3 people stopped by and we covered all there is to riding in colder weather. Thankfully the people who came already had well-equipped bikes for the muck and suck of the winter elements so it was mostly talking details of clothing choice and how much salt/snow/ice can impair the function of your bike. Fun times!
Also of note was our 3(!) Build-a-Bikes completed last week, two of which were done on Thursday. When that program works, it is empowering like none other. Unfortunately, it’s a big hill to climb.
Elsewhere, I’ve been having Staff and volunteers count our used and new parts to compile a master list of inventory. It’s tedious but important to be able to figure how much stuff we’ll be moving the new CBC.
Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the weekend.
This week we’ll continue to purge and pare down our inventory, build bikes, and keep plugging away at prep for our move.
The numbers:
Visitors: 96
Sales: $616.25
Memberships: 8 for $240
Bikes (refurb): 0
Bikes (B-a-B): 3 for $266
Tires/tubes: 17 for $76
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
