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The Campus Bicycle Shop is changing its name! The word "shop" simply didn't reflect the educational and mode-shift mission of this fantastic bicycling resource. The new name is Campus Bike Center, and we appreciate your support spreading awareness of this change.
Presentations were given by Global Environmental Brigades and USGBC (UIUC chapter).
Global Brigades overview:
USGBC Projects:
Fellow Big Ten CCN participants,
OSU is hoping to benchmark our results against our peer institutions, not for marketing, but as an internal measurement. Lucid was kind enough to provide our website hits when we asked them to. I’d like to share with the group this information in hopes that you’ll share yours with us.
We had 8 halls competing with a combined 5000 or so residents. Results of our website hits are in the attached CSV file. Competition dates were 2/10-3/3. This is our first year, and we’re hoping to do better in the future, of course.
White Roofs Better Than Dark, Vegetated Roofs, LBNL Study Finds
BERKELEY, Calif.—Compared to traditional dark-colored roofs and green or “vegetated” roofs, white roofs offer greater ability to lower temperatures that lead to the urban heat island effect, and they do it at less cost, according to a recent report. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report states that building owners “concerned with global warming should choose white roofs, which are three times more effective than green roofs at cooling the globe.” The authors analyzed 22 commercial flat roof projects in the U.S. and performed a 50-year life-cycle cost analysis. They assumed a 20-year service life for black roofs and white roofs, and 40 years for green roofs. Compared to black roofs, the report says, white roofs save $25/m2 ($2.30/ft2) and green roofs have an additional cost of $71/m2 ($6.60/ft2). The authors also concluded that black roofs should be prohibited in some areas. “We strongly recommend building code policies that phase out dark-colored roofs in warm climates to protect against their adverse public health externalities,” the report states.
Read more
Excerpt: However, unlike white roofs, green roofs do not offset climate change. White roofs are more reflective than green roofs, reflecting roughly three times more sunlight back into the atmosphere and therefore absorbing less sunlight at earth’s surface. By absorbing less sunlight than either green or black roofs, white roofs offset a portion of the warming effect from greenhouse gas emissions.
“Both white and green roofs do a good job at cooling the building and cooling the air in the city, but white roofs are three times more effective at countering climate change than green roofs,” said Rosenfeld.
Mike,
As we discussed on the phone, our Electricians have visited with the folks at Spurlock and secured a preliminary scope of work (see attached). Because of the complex existing lighting system in the building our Electricians will require some assistance from our In-House Engineering staff. I understand that Spurlock has been allotted $22K for this work. I am going to ask Robert to give us an estimate of the Engineering charges and if they exceed 10% of the budget we will discuss scaling back some of the scope with the folks at Spurlock. The AiM project is 2693 and the Engineering estimate work order is 10282137.
Thanks,
Thomas Doud
Construction Superintendent
Construction Services Division
University of Illinois, Facilities and Services
217-244-3686
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the most established technologies for processing waste organics. This study investigated the feasibility of installing an Anaerobic Digester to produce renewable energy from available streams of organic waste (feedstock) within the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. This study assumed that one on-site digester would be installed in the University’s South Farms. The best digester and energy conversion options were explored while considering UIUC’s existing resources and operations, as well as the goals stated in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP).
Three student groups presented information about their group, including mission statements, group function on campus, and future plans.
The greenhouse is built, the bin is constructed, bedding logistics are in place, and food waste collection should begin the week after spring break. Ramp up to about 150-200 lbs of food waste processing per week should be complete in about 4-5 months. For this bin and the way it fits into the SSF management plan, we’d never process more than 250-300# of actual food waste a week. This would make for a max range of 7,000-14,000 lbs of food waste processed per year (47 weeks, we wouldn’t collect waste during Christmas and Spring Break).
If there is any confusion about this PILOT vermicomposting project I’d like to clarify it here, because I have gotten a few requests from outside sources about taking in outside food waste (word spreads quickly). This particular unit is only meant as a pilot demonstration to prove this can be done on a larger (potential campus wide) scale. This 5x16 unit we have is an example of one part of what could be a much larger facility. However, if this is successful I would like to see that facility be something that the SSF does not manage, and ideally in another specifically built piece of infrastructure to house a larger scale process. The greenhouse also serves as our transplant production house. Between the existing unit and managing the transplant production system, the SSF has more than it can already incorporate into its existing management.
That being said, once the system is up and running, we’d love to showcase this to any number of relevant parties and incorporate the data into any Zero Waste policy the campus has. As well as any other sustainability metrics the campus tracks.
Hello Ofelia,
It would be great if you would do some research into the most effective conservation tips, and select the best based on that research. However, if you do not have time, I would like to see these three: turn your computers off at night, consolidate coffee makers and mini-fridges, and as always turn off the lights.
Thanks,
Morgan
-----Original Message-----
From: Ofelia Rodriguez
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 5:33 PM
To: Johnston, Morgan B
Subject: Illini Energy Website
Hello Morgan,
I am working on the Illini Energy website and am in charge of having energy saving tips. I wanted to ask for your opinion on what type of information would be useful or would be best to have on the website. We have a long list of energy saving tips, but wanted to focus on top 3 tips to put not the website.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
Ofelia Rodriguez
Collin has been involved in this project from the very beginning, so he should be involved in any further discussions on this project. I really want to ensure proper code compliance on this since it was not originally built nor inspected to verify adherence to the International Residential Code or the NEC. We are trying to renovate it to be considered to be a code-compliant single family residence. - Craig Grant
ECO-OLYMPICS is an energy competition between 20+ residence halls on campus.
Our goal is to engage, educate, and motivate students/employees/professors to change their behavior, and have a good time while doing it.
Eco-Olympics is part of a nationwide program called Campus Conservation Nationals 2014, as well as a mini Big Ten competition FMI: www.competetoreduce.org/ccn. Trophies and prizes will be given to the successful halls.
What you can do to help:
You and your team members play a critical role in this incredible opportunity to make a difference in campus energy usage.
This is the inaugural competition, so we will be creating a yearly tradition to leave behind and impact future students here at UIUC. The participants will also be able to include this on their resume as leadership, volunteering, team building and/or group participation.
There will be meetings in March leading up to the competition that is scheduled for March 30-April 22, these meetings will train participants, go over the guidelines, and assign buildings to each team.
Thank you for your interest and participation in Eco Olympics, a Great opportunity making a difference locally and globally.
If you have any question I can be reached at gfoote2@illinois.edu
Competition Director
Paul Foote
Business students worked on a fictitious energy dashboard company and created the attached marketing plan. This document includes insight about potential behavior change strategies for the campus.
Clayton Glazik 3/5/2014
Since we were little our parents have told us to turn off the lights after we leave a room. That is just what the Christopher Hall residents at the University of Illinois did in 2013. By shutting the lights off in rooms not in use, switching their lights to compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, as well as other sustainable practices, the building was able to cut back its energy usage by 30.6% from the previous year.
The campus Facilities & Services (F&S) hosted a reception at Christopher Hall on February 14 to celebrate the building’s accomplishment in the F&S Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP). A campus-wide sustainability effort, ECIP provides building upgrades to facilities that produce top energy conservation results in energy advancement and occupant action categories. ECIP calculates how much money the buildings are saving in energy reduction and gives it back to the building to pay for upgrades.
Christopher Hall, which houses the Family Resiliency Center (FRC), the Autism Program (TAP), several classrooms, faculty and staff offices, and a family research home, saved nearly $22,000. According to FRC Director Barbara Fiese, a building committee recommended investing the funds in a bike rack since so many people cycle to work, as well as other items that can further reduce energy usage.
In 2010, the University of Illinois published a climate action plan that set aggressive timeliness for reducing energy consumption on campus. Currently, there are more than 300 such active projects, which can be tracked at http://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/projects.
“At the end of the day, if we really want to meet ICAP goals, we have to do more,” says Al Stratman, F&S executive director. “That is why we came up with ECIP, which mirrors the campus goals.”
At the award ceremony, faculty and students pledged to continue reducing energy in their lifestyles by taking public transportation, using natural light in their offices rather than electricity, and shopping more at local food markets instead of commercial grocery stores. With their current sustainable practices and these recent pledges, Christopher Hall will continue slashing their energy consumption, making the Illinois campus a greener place.
(from Family Resiliency Center news http://illinois.edu/lb/article/3493/82438)
The first formal meeting with the Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC) under iSEE's guidance was an introductory meeting about iSEE and the proposed iCAP SWATeams.
The meeting was called by and coordinated by:
The key points discussed included an overview of iSEE's goals and structure, education and outreach plans, and an overview of the SWATeams.
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This draft report was prepared by Associate Director for Campus Sustainabilty Ben McCall at iSEE, and comments were provided by Morgan White from F&S.
The primary objective of this project-based learning course is to develop critical thinking and engineering problem solving skills by identifying and proposing solutions to current civil and/or environmental engineering problems facing the University of Illinois campus community. The class also includes several site visits to local engineering infrastructure facilities and multiple discussion driven case studies, which expose and deepen students understanding of current engineering facility operations and challenges. Additionally, students will understand more intimately what civil and environmental engineers do as well as the various fields of specialization and prepare them for opportunities for summer internships. Through working on a team project, reviewing other team projects, and receiving feedback from the course instructors, students will also develop necessary professional skills such as communication (written and oral) and project management. The course is primarily for sophomores and junior transfer students with a focus of engaging them into the broad spectra of challenges and contemporary issues in civil and environmental engineering, especially with regard to sustainability, design, and multi-disciplinary teamwork.
_____________________________________________
From: Dempsey, John Garrett
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 11:01 AM
To: Roesler, Jeffery Raphael; Mestre, Jose; Johnston, Morgan B; Schideman, Lance Charles; Schmidt, Arthur R; Liu, Liang Y; Somaratna, Jeevaka I
Cc: Stratman, Allan; Andrechak, Michael J; Wise, Phyllis M; Adesida, Ilesanmi
Subject: RE: CEE398
I want to thank each of you for allowing me to be part of the first offering of CEE398. I have learned so much from each of you and developed an real appreciation for the work faculty do. I only wish I had made the connection between F&S and the academy earlier.
Jeff’s presentation yesterday about the second offering this fall and the discussion surrounding it demonstrated just how far he has brought the concept in such a short time. There is no doubt that with Liang’s leadership, Jeff’s hard work, Al’s support and Morgan’s involvement this CEE initiative will continue to blossom. In fact, during a conversation with Ben McCall yesterday, it appears that what you have done is directly translatable to a course being developed by Prof. Madhu Khanna for iSEE. I have asked Morgan to introduce her to the team when appropriate.
As my time here is short, I need to focus on some remaining projects so I will not be attending the bi-weekly course planning meeting, but leave you in Morgan’s capable hands. Again, thanks for letting me be a part of this.
Robby Bauer and Morgan Johnston reviewed the status of the real-time energy meter installations, funded by the SSC and campus. The original plan was to install real-time electric, steam, and chiled water meters in the Housing facilities in support of the Campus Conservation Nationals. The electric meters are all installed, but we are recommending that the steam and chilled water meters be put on hold indefinitely in favor of installing electric meters in additional buildings.
Ben McCall, Adam Dornford, and Craig Grant met today to discuss the IBI needs. Ben wrote this summary, after the meeting:
I think the students will probably investigate the options in more detail now, and we may come back to you with some more detailed questions as we converge on things.
