Study Request
Study request to ISTC (attached).
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Study request to ISTC (attached).
In "The Impact of School Buildings on Student Health and Performance: A Call for Research" by Lindsay Baker and Harvey Bernstein (2012), authors note research results and needs about green schools.
What do we know today? In some areas, we have strong evidence to support the notion that school buildings impact student health and their ability to learn, and we know exactly how to ensure that the impacts are positive. For example, we know how to build classrooms that minimize background noise and allow voices to be heard clearly, which will allow students to hear their teachers and protect their aural health. We have clear evidence that certain aspects of school buildings have an impact on student health and learning, such as:
What do we need to find out? While there have been studies on the impact of environments on children—and the benefits of green buildings more broadly—more research is needed. Some of the larger research questions are:
The Sustainable Student Farm, a program of the Student Sustainability Committee, and in cooperation with the Illini Union, will begin its weekly Farm Stand on the Quad on Thursday (May 23). The Farm Stand is open every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., selling fresh produce grown on campus. The Farm Stand is located on the south side of the Illini Union.
James Roedl has been hired as the new Campus Bicycle Shop Manager, replacing Ken Sutto. James' first day of work is May 28, 2013. Ken's last day is June 14, 2013, giving the two managers roughly 3 weeks of overlap for training and orientation. The shop will remain open during regular hours, Monday-Thursday, 2-6pm and Friday, 2-5:30pm. The Campus Bicycle Shop Manager reports to the Sustainability Coordinator in Facilities & Services (Morgan Johnston), and is funded jointly by the University and The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign. James can be contacted at jmroedl@illinois.edu.
F&S requested $30,266 funding from the SSC for the Campus Bicycle Shop for fiscal year 2014. The funding was awarded, contingent on not requesting additional funding in future years.
According to the funding award letter, "Because SSC grants are intended as seed or bridge funding, this grant was approved with the understanding that this project will not seek SSC funding in future years."
Instep sent a letter to the University confirming that the Energy Dashboard is an innovative project. The letter is attached.
In 2013, the Student Sustainability Committee received this project suggestion: "Community gardens built on the farmlands at Orchard Downs would benefit direct participants, households, and the community. Main participants in the project would be university students, local residents, and children from an after-school program nearby. The participants would not only benefit from the food produced, but the agricultural knowledge, environmental consciousness, and community interaction associate with working on a community farm.
The gardens will be designed in a biointensive way, meaning they will be organic agricultural plots that focus on yielding maximal produce on a small plot and maintaining the quality of the soil. The gardens may be implemented in greenhouses, hoop houses, or outdoors depending on the seasonal limitations decided upon in the final designs of the garden.
Students can register to do volunteer work at the community garden that would be counted toward course credit. Students and their relatives can also request plot to farm on, from which they can use the produce themselves or sell it to school organizer of the program."
Housing Services has already established community gardens, which have been in effect since at least the 1990s.
Amanda Lietz met with Stephanie Lage and Morgan Johnston to discuss the next steps for the Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI). They are looking into the possibility of purchasing an all-inclusive bioreactor trailer which would handle the entire reaction needed to change the waste vegetable oil into biodiesel and soap. The IBI students are going to identify the exact trailer specifications they are looking for and work with F&S to identify an appropriate location for the trailer.
The ECI and SSC identified the following list as the building priorities for the metter upgrades.
1) Residence Halls: Allen/LAR, FAR/PAR, ISR, SDRP
2) Illini Union
3) ARC
4) CRCE
5) Siebel Center
6) BIF
7) Loomis Lab
8) English
9) Psychology
We received the invoice for the software and license for the Energy Dashboard project through August 31. The next licensing period will be from September 1 through December 31. Beginning January 1, 2013 licensing will be on an annual track. The software for the Energy Dashboard from Instep will cost $40,000, with the discount given to the University. The annual support for the Dashboard will be $6,750.
Facilities & Services created a list of existing and planned Solar installations on campus:
a. Installed:
i. #1206 BIF – Approx. 3,700-4,000 s.f. on a building roof.
b. Active:
i. Approx. 20”x20” panel for a fixed speed radar detector near lot E-15.
ii. Approx. 20”x20” panel to power lights for pedestrian crossing on Springfield Avenue. Lights have been removed due to maintenance issues. Panel remains.
iii. Approx. 20”x20” panel for a mobile speed radar detector on Lincoln Avenue.
iv. Approx. 20”x20” panel for an electric tractor/mower charger. Item is off the grid. Location?
c. In Planning:
i. #0052 KCPA
ii. #0409 Electrical and Computer Engineering along with #1094 NCPD
iii. South solar farm
iv. Housing
v. #0118 ARC - Solar Thermal
vi. Residence Hall #3
vii. College of Engineering discussing something at MNTL with grant funds.
During summer 2012, the UI worked with The Bike Project to update the Facility Use Agreement, and clarify the collaborative relationship between the two entities.
The central question posed to Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) is as follows: what would be the economic impact of replacing 10% of the university’s coal intake with wood chips? After extensive research, analysis, and calculation it is the opinion of IBC that the cogeneration of energy with coal and wood chips is not economically feasible. The initiative has been deemed not economically feasible because wood chips are more expensive on the basis of energy content, transportation costs will increase due to biomass, and infrastructure modification expenses necessary for the operational changes are significant.
Teresa Tousignant will be the Student Sustainability Committee's representative for this project during spring 2013.
In 2012, F&S hired Illinois Business Consulting to evaluate the following question for Abbott Power Plant: "Can the overall carbon footprint be decreased by using 10% of biomass in place of 10% of coal?" The report and executive summary are attached here.
The Student Sustainability Committee approved the Solar Farm funding of $1.05M over the course of three years.
The American College and University Presidents' Climate Committment picked up the UI Solar Farm project on twitter.
Channel 3 news shared the story of the UI Solar Farm on TV and on the Illinois homepage website.
Channel 15 news interviewed Morgan Johnston about the UI Solar Farm. The news report showed on Channel 15 on Friday, November 09.
The News-Gazette had an article about the Board of Trustees approval of the Solar Farm.