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Project Updates for collection: Living Lab Facilities / Programs

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  5. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Encourage Active Transportation

    All, last Tuesday was BIKE TO WORK DAY! It was great! Great weather, great turnout, great conversation, great blindingly bright Vision Zero t shirts. I even sold some tubes and lights here at the Bike Center during the event and helped with some minor tune-ups. Peak times—no surprise—was 8:30 – 9am. After that a few stragglers hung around until  l0.

     

    On Saturday we had the Bike Rodeo at the ARC parking lot. While we didn’t have the huge turnout we were hoping for, the event ran really smoothly and we were able to educate and teach a lot about bike safety and bike-handling skills. Nothing beats showing a kid who’s barely taller than a bike pump how to air up their tires. Needless to say, that was a team effort.


    This week will be a major shop clean and purge as we’ve received another 8 or so bikes from Champaign Cycle that are on-the-whole quality bikes that need somewhere to be stored. And last week with the doors open a lot of leaves and debris got blown into the shop, so that’ll all need cleaning up as well.

     

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 70
    Sales: $828.60
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $160
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tube: 16 for $89

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  6. Trans008 Mode Share Survey recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Multi-Modal Transportation Study
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team Recommendations Summary
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

    The Transportation SWATeam submitted a recommendation, to the iWG, stating, "iSEE should facilitate and fund, if any funds required, an updated University District transportation mode-share study. The previous circulation study was conducted by the transportation group in the Regional Planning Commission (RPC), CUUATS. This was conducted in 2011. This recommendation is for the Transportation SWATeam to create survey questions and, with the help of iSEE, distribute the survey across campus."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Trans008 Mode Share Survey, complete with comments from all the Transportation SWATeam members.

    Attached Files: 

  7. Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management
    Facility Standards

    The Water and Stormwater SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG, stating, "The Facilities and Services Standards for Parking and for Stormwater Systems should be revised to include a greater emphasis on sustainable design Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) for stormwater management. This revision will align these standards with the newly adopted 2017 Campus Master Plan."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots, complete with comments from all the Water and Stormwater SWATeam members.

    Attached Files: 

  8. Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    The Water and Stormwater SWATeam submitted a recommendation, to the iWG, stating, "The appropriate campus units (Parking, Facilities and Services) should begin the process of implementing the award winning green stormwater redesign for parking Lot F4."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4, complete with comments from all the Water and Stormwater SWATeam members.

    Also, attached are the two supporting documents as submitted by the SWATeam.

    Attached Files: 

  12. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, it’s almost BIKE MONTH! Tomorrow is BTWD! Student staff and I will be running the event, which promises—at this point—to be fantastic weath er.

     

    Last week was slightly abridged since I took Monday off. Hours ran smoothly without me. The remaining days were a healthy amount of busy but skewed towards slow overall. This week looks to be warmer.

    I taught a class at ARC on Tuesday night. 10 people showed up, one of whom came to the Bike Center the next day and declared, “Your class inspired me to try to repair my own bike”. Couldn’t have hoped for a better result!

     

    On Friday I interviewed two new student workers that I will be hiring. They’re both freshman, which provides me with ample time to mold them into expert bicycle helpers--and they were willing to stick it out through some tough, frustrating hub repairs I had them do. Elsewhere on the staffing front, Leah will be leaving us for the greener pastures of Cunningham Children’s Home in the next week or two. Shean will follow sometime after graduation, I believe. They’ve both been great employees; they’ll be missed around here.

     

    Numbers:

    Sales: $296.50
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Tire/tube: 6 for $50

    No B-a-B or refurbished sales

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  14. SSC Funding Agreement - Eco Olympics

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Eco-Olympics

    SSC approved a $200 micro grant to Eco-Olympics for digital signage in the residential halls. These signs will display progress and energy savings.

    "Eco-Olympics is an energy saving competition between the dorms. Residents sign up for teams which then participate in activities led by hall captains to earn points. Energy use also translates into points, and less energy used means more points. At the end of the three week competition, the team with the most points is declared the winner and members of that team receive a prize."

    Attached Files: 

  15. SSLC Seeks Vice President

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)

    We are looking for a UIUC student who is passionate, excited, and driven to work towards solutions to environmental issues here on campus and in the greater CU community to serve as the Vice President of SSLC for 2018-2019! This student should be willing to help organize and facilitate the networking and collaboration of the members and RSOs represented on this council, which may include tasks such as:

    1. Leading and contributing to open discussions on ideas and potential events to promote sustainable initiatives.
    2. Providing insightful thoughts about how to best encourage collaboration between sustainability RSOs on campus.
    3. Representing the student voice to university administration through committee meetings.

    Specific duties of the Vice President may include:

    1. Taking notes of prominent ideas discussed at meetings.
    2. Following up with Council members regarding their ideas and events.
    3. Leading Council meetings in the absence of the President.
    4. Managing the Council listserv.
    5. Co-planning and co-implementing programming, such as guest speakers, for Council development.

    Prior involvement with the sustainability community on campus is encouraged but not required. While this position is unpaid, course credit (ENVS 491) is available.

    Qualifications:

    • UIUC undergraduate or graduate student
    • A desire to make our community more sustainable
    • Communication & interpersonal skills
    • Self-motivated & organized
    • Problem-solver and service-oriented
    • Passion for supporting student leaders and student organizations
    Attached Files: 

  16. steam use at greenhouses

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Energy Farm

    The Deep Direct Use geothermal project has completed a preliminary assessment of steam use for greenhouses on UIUC campus. Steam usage in the greenhouses at Turner Hall and Plant Sciences building were compared with Lincoln Hall (pre and post renovations) for the period 2013-2018.

     

    Generally, the steam use in greenhouses is 3-5 times higher (mmBTU per square foot) than in an academic building. Together, the greenhouses have produced ~25MT CO2/MWh) over the 5-year period.

  17. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was oddly, strangely, very slow and quiet here despite the wonderful weather for most of the week. I was amped up for the deluge of people but it is snowing right now, so I can’t blame ‘em. On Friday we had a moderately well-attended Friday Ride semi-hosted by SECS. It was more of a trial run for next Friday’s Earth Week ride. The route, as planned, is deeply off-campus, which I always like.

    As for this week: Tonight I am teaching a class at the ARC on basic maintenance (ABC Quick Checks, bike vocabulary, etc). I will be taking Friday and next Monday (23rd) off and letting student workers run open hours. I’ll bring them in for a brief manager training this week but they already know everything except a few minor details. Otherwise, per usual, I’ll build bikes and organize.

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 52
    Sales: $742.50

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $370
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $101
    Memberships: 3 for $125 (2 reg; 1 family)

    Thanks!

    - Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. iWG meeting minutes April 9th, 2018

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Solar Farm 2.0
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Sustainability Council
    ECBS Recommendations Summary
    Green Lab Program
    Bike Sharing
    iSEE Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) Projects
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate
    Geothermal on Campus
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Topical iCAP Teams

    Attached are the meeting minutes from the iWG meeting that was held on April 9th, 2018.

    Attached Files: 

  20. Archived Description from the Support Pollinators (Bee Campus USA) project

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    The campus recognizes that we need to support the pollinator population on campus.  Potential solutions include creating "Pollinator Pockets" in strategic locations throughout the campus grounds, and encouraging the use of native plants in appropriate landscape locations.

    The F&S Landscape Architect is working with campus stakeholders and subject matter experts to develop sustainable landscape solutions that support pollinator populations.

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