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At the PWR SWAT Team meeting on March 15th, the team debated over the message in the new Ethics Compliance Message concerning recycling standards and rules. The team decided that two videos should be created, one with base instructions for recycling, the other for explaining the commonly misunderstood paper policy. The team will look more into the paper policy draft and suggest a new paper policy for the campus.
All, Happy Monday! Last week was a steady busy one. We routinely had peaks of busyness and fallow valleys. We had 97 visitors through the doors, including staff. We grossed $951.50. We sold two bikes for $335; one build-a-bike for $61; and 4 memberships for $120.
Overall, last week I was met with a little more enthusiasm for the space than I regularly receive upon explaining the cost structure and mission of the CBC to new visitors. That was nice. Our for-sale bike count after last week sits at 14 for-sale bikes. I keep trying to grow that number up into the 20s but people keep buying them. That’s not a bad thing, I suppose.
Additionally, the two Departmental Share bikes need parts that are on-order so that project will be delayed, unfortunately.
Our numbers for B-a-Bs last year was quite low and as such I will begin photographing—with permission—all those who complete build-a-bikes and posting them on social media, which will serve two important functions: advertising for CBC and its most education-intensive program; and having a picture of owner and bicycle in the event of a stolen or lost bike.
This week I am going to cull a few more unbuiildable bikes from the pile and concentrate heavily on ramping up the for-sale numbers since this week of cold, snowy weather should keep the shoppers at bay. I will additionally focus on drop-bar bicycles, since I’ve noticed people requesting and looking for those more than the about-town cruisers and flat-bar bikes we have for sale, irrespective of how well-suited they are to campus riding.
Sincerely,
Jake Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
A main component of the 2010 iCAP is to engage the outside community in working to create a more sustainable campus. The University of Illinois is working to enhance its engagement activities in the arena of sustainability. Champaign County Network (CCNet) is an effort to engage the campus and the surrounding community in a shared discourse on the critical sustainability and climate issues ahead. The University's Office of Corporate Relations is working to enhance collaborations with corporations in sustainability activities.
The iCAP provides an opportunity to engage the outside community in a dialogue on the University’s role in helping to resolve community climate responses. For example, the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC) is designed to provide assistance to public and private interests in reducing and conserving their operational energy use in buildings. This type of information is an important step in developing meaningful solutions to climate change.
ECONS003 Conservation Budget Recommendation was transmitted to the Office of the Provost on March 6, 2017. The Council discussed the recommendation at this meeting.
Following the completion of the iWG Assessment, the EGen003 PPA Term recommendation was transmitted to the Sustainability Council.
See iWG Assessment of EGen003 PPA Term here.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen003 PPA Term here.
Updates on BIF Greywater Meter, Increase Cooling Tower COC, and Design Center Greywater Piping recommendations. Discussion on the development of water use dashboard.
The estimated cost of $2-3/Carbon Credit has been approved by Director of iSEE Evan DeLucia and Interim Executive Director of F&S Helen Coleman for buying 10,000 additional carbon offsets, when purchasing the 103,000 replacement offsets from the carbon credits sold from 2015. The additional carbon offsets will be used as the initial inventory for a new Virtual Storeroom for carbon offsets being developed by iSEE for on campus users.
An email of approval is attached below.
The State Purchasing Officer recommends a single quantity for the Request for Proposals for buying Carbon Offsets. F&S and iSEE are considering the use of Carbon Credit (CCs) sales funding for the start-up inventory of 10,000 CCs for the Virtual Storeroom for Offsets.
Revolving Loan Fund Selection Committee,
The time is almost here to select another round of projects for the Revolving Loan Fund. For this upcoming selection we have approximately $1,000,000 to allocate. However, due to a timing issue I am appealing to the committee to decide on a Retro-Commissioning project in advance of the formal selection meeting. The reason for requesting Retro-Commissioning at Memorial Stadium early is due to a deadline associated with the availability of DCEO grant dollars. If expenditures and savings are realized prior to May 31, 2017, DIA could receive $100,000 in grant money from DCEO. Our meeting for project selection is targeted for the first week of May 2017 which does not give us enough time to qualify for the grant.
Below is project specific information that would normally be presented at the project selection meeting. We don’t necessarily need to score this project, all we need is a majority decision (yes or no) to approve this project. If accepted, the committee would be considering $800,000 for allocation at the targeted May selection meeting.
Project Name: Memorial Stadium Retro-Commissioning
Project type: Retro-Commissioning
Buildings: Memorial Stadium
Energy Cost Savings: $300,000 /year
Funding Request: $200,000
Project Cost: $500,000 (DIA will contribute $200,000 and DCEO grant contribution will be $100,000)
Payback Period: Approximately 2 Years
General Description of Work:
Provide temperature control upgrades & retro-commissioning services for the west and north portions of the stadium. During preliminary work, many noteworthy items have been identified. Several HVAC equipment scheduling improvements have been made already.
Project Owners: Brett Stillwell (Athletics) / Karl Helmink (F&S)
Project Execution Contact: Brett Stillwell (Athletics) / Karl Helmink (F&S)
Criteria:
1- Payback Period: The payback period is approximately 2 years.
2- Reduction of Greenhouse Gas: Greenhouse gases will be reduced by 3,491,227 lbs due to conservation of electricity, chilled water, and steam.
3- Fund Size Impact: While grant dollars are available for this particular submission, the grant will not be used to increase the Revolving Loan Fund balance.
4- Visibility: Memorial Stadium is an iconic building for Athletics on campus. The energy savings could be indirectly visible in that it could pay for other items that Athletics desires. There is a large amount of diversity in the usage of the space.
5- Project Coordination: Coordination items need to be considered as the south end zone & east grandstand project approaches. There are temporary plans to be considered prior to the arrival of this particular project.
Other Pertinent Information:
It is proposed that Athletics provide $200k for this project. Eileen Westervelt, via DCEO funding, has provided a building energy study which has identified large energy savings in this building of over $300,000 per year. It is suggested that to secure the $100K DCEO grant, $150K needs to be spent by May 31, 2017 and evidence will need to be presented that the indicated energy is being saved.
The campus has realized a significant amount of utility savings due to the efforts made by the Retro-Commissioning teams and the expectation would be no different at Memorial Stadium. The data the Retro-Commissioning group has provided for this application predicts a very positive outcome which is consistent with most of their projects throughout campus.
The reason for the expedited decision is to take advantage of the possible DCEO funds that will likely not be available in the future. Thanks again for your participation in this selection process and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
I ask that you please reply with your individual yes or no votes before February 10, 2017.
Thanks again,
Josh Whitson
Review of pending recommendations: BIF Greywater, Increase Cooling Tower COC, Design Center Greywater Piping. Discussion on possible edits to the SWAT/iWG process. Student members will submit proposal to Student Sustainability Commision for apermanent meter to measure BIF greywater use. The Water SWATeam will meet every other week and will have a joint meeting with the Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam this semester.
There were nine projects approved by the Revolving Loan Fund selection committee, see attached image.
F&S Director of Sustainability, Morgan Johnston, asked the ALUFS SWATeam for their input regarding the forthcoming "Low Mow Zone" sign updates. She said, "I would like to talk with you about the “No Mow Zones” on campus and our efforts to better name them as “Low Mow Zones.” Brent and Ryan Welch are working on updating the locations in a map form and our F&S communicators (primarily Steve Breitwieser) are developing a message about the updated words and locations.
As part of this effort, we are also going to be updating the signs, and I am hoping to get your help with taking a look at the specific sign locations (once we have the updated map). We need a volunteer to visit each Low Mow Zone and note the
The SWATeam chair, Brent Lewis, indicated she would be included in the first spring semester meeting.
Morgan Johnston and Shawna Grady met to discuss the potential uses for the Transportation Building's ECIP funding award ($10,000). Options included additional recycling bins, LED lamps, power strips, battery recycling containers, and potentially a waste characterization study for the building (if available through ISTC).
The EGEN SWATeam held their first meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
Krannert Center has identified several projects to tackle with the ECIP award funding:
The dollar amounts listed are approximations. Any additional funds not used for these items would be allocated to expanding the stock of replacement LED bulbs.
Logan’s final paper. Pretty fun.
Highlights:
And, lastly, “In my opinion, the benefits are so numerous [for bike fleets] that the University should be aggressively funding and initiating bicycle fleets on campus.”
~per Lily Wilcock
The LEED transportation credit for encouraging low emission vehicles can be obtained if there are dedicated spaces for low-emission vehicles near the building in question. In general, the University is not adding new parking spaces for new buildings, so it is difficult to achieve this LEED point. One method is to add a Zipcar space for the building, and another is to add an Electric Vehicle charging station. Grant Colella, a Project Manager at F&S, suggested a long-term plan to change all of the campus fleet to low emission vehicles, so the dedicated service vehicle spaces would also be low emission vehicle spaces.
At the ECBS SWATeam meeting the report from student capstone project on attitudes toward fume hood energy conservation was discussed. There is a need to sign up the labs for the Freezer Challenge project before January 15, 2017. The last in the fall semester, the Illini Lights Out project is expected on December 9. The Status of Green Labs recommendation was discussed.
iSEE is working with the Purchasing Division to publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) to purchase carbon offsets. These will include replacement offsets for the 2015 Carbon Credits (CCs) sold, and an option to purchase an additional 10,000 CCs to start an internal virtual storeroom for voluntary departmental offsets.
