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Project Updates for collection: Living Lab Facilities / Programs

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  1. F&S internal meeting to address EV charging stations

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

    Jack Dempsey, Pete Varney, Michelle Winters, Pam Voitik, and Morgan Johnston met to discuss options for supporting EV charging stations for public use on campus.  It is unethical to allow UI resources to be used for personal needs, so the UI power cannot be freely distributed to Electric Vehicle owners.  A public charging station will need to include a payment mechanism.  Michelle Winters and Morgan Johnston will work on a plan for implementing public EV charging stations on campus.

  3. The Impact of School Buildings on Student Health and Performance: A Call for Research

    Associated Project(s): 
    Facility Standards

    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:

    • When deprived of natural light, studies have shown that children’s melatonin cycles are disrupted, thus likely having an impact on their alertness during school (Figueiro & Rea, 2010).
    • Teachers report higher levels of comfort in their classrooms when they have access to thermal controls like thermostats or operable windows (Heschong, 2003, and Lackney, 2001).
    • According to researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, when ventilation rates are at or below minimum standards (roughly 15 cfm per student), an associated decrease of 5%–10% occurs in certain aspects of student performance tests (LBNL IAQ Resource Bank).
    • In recent studies, when ventilation rates were lowered from 17 cfm/person to 10 cfm/person researchers saw a 15% increase in symptom prevalence for Sick Building Syndrome (ibid).

    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:

    • When prioritization is necessary, which building projects can be expected to have larger impacts on facility quality and student health?
    • What are the impacts of high-performance school buildings, above and beyond an adequate (and potentially new) school building?
    • How do high-performance design features interact with each other? Relationships such as those between daylighting and acoustical design are understood less in terms of how they interact than in isolation.

  4. Farm Stand on the Quad begins Thursday

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainable Student Farm

    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.

  5. New Shop Manager Hired for Campus Bicycle Shop

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    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. 

  6. Funding request submitted to SSC for FY14

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    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."

    Attached Files: 

  8. suggestion for community gardens

    Associated Project(s): 
    Orchard Downs Community Gardens

    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.

  9. IBI team considering trailer for equipment location

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI)

    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.

  10. Building Priorities

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Dashboard Project

    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

  11. InStep Licensing

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Dashboard Project

    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.

  12. Solar Installations - preliminary list

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Power on Campus

    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. 

     

  14. Illinois Business Consulting report - economic analysis

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass co-firing pilot at Abbott Power Plant

    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.

    Attached Files: 

  16. Illinois Business Consulting report - carbon impact

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass co-firing pilot at Abbott Power Plant

    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.

    Attached Files: 

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