Wind turbine funding commitment
In August 2010, Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) committed $500,000 to fund the wind turbine project.
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In August 2010, Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) committed $500,000 to fund the wind turbine project.
In July 2010, Morgan Johnston provided a status update on the wind turbine project.
This proposal looks to contribute to the campus wide effort of promoting more sustainable landscaping by creating a Prairie Garden comprised of plant species characteristic to east-central Illinois to surround the Deloitte Auditorium in the courtyard of the Business Instructional Facility (BIF). The Prairie Garden will provide carbon sequestration benefits, aid in management of water runoff, increase biodiversity, and reduce the use of carbon-intensive maintenance equipment. Replacing the current overgrown sedge meadow with low-height, low-growth, native sustainable botanicals will lead to less management needs and greater student engagement with increased access and aesthetics. The Prairie Garden will be highly visible to the thousands of weekly visitors to the BIF, sending a message about the importance of and commitment to sustainable practices. Such education will be furthered through informational signage and orientation of new students. The College of Business and College of Business Class of 2010 will provide the remaining $10,540 expense of creating the Prairie Garden. Further, the College of Business will assume responsibility for ensuring the success and continued maintenance of the project, and the grant will be paid back to the Committee if the project is inadequately maintained and the restoration effort is abandoned in the next five years. The improvements to the Business Instructional Facility courtyard will provide highly visible, tangible evidence of the campus commitment to responsible sustainable behavior. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $10,000.
Program Background:
The Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) is tasked with the allocation of the proceeds of two student environmental fees – the Clean Energy Technology Fee and the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee, to improve the sustainability of our campus. The committee has established a program to make funds available for efficiency projects that will be later returned for reinvestment in future projects.
Committee funds will be made available to the Office of Sustainability which will carry out an inter-departmental transfer to the Receiving campus unit. The Receiving unit agrees to return the transfer to the Office of Sustainability, in installments, as described on the next page, for reuse by the SSC.
Project Description:
The Illini Union seeks funding to retro-commission the Illini Union Bookstore building, and to install Occupancy Sensors in the Illini Union building. The Illini Union Bookstore building contains both academic and auxiliary units, and the SSC loan will allow for complete retro-commissioning of the building. Retro-commissioning is expected to cost $113,000; the RCx process identifies defective components within the HVAC systems, reconfiguring and controlling them to function more efficiently, decreasing wear and tear and extending their service life by 20 years (as part of a regular preventative maintenance program), as well as reducing building energy consumption.
The SSC loan will also provide $67,000 to install lighting occupancy sensors in the Illini Union, in food service preparation areas, restrooms, office areas and meeting rooms, which will reduce energy and lighting use.
Terms:
The Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of the Office of Sustainability transferring an amount of $180,000 to the Illini Union completion of this work. These funds are to be drawn from the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee account managed by the SSC, as needed to complete the project. All funds requested from the SSC must be expended before 30th September 2010, else the unit must apply for an extension.
The Illini Union agrees to return the funds provided by carrying out annual transfers to the Office of Sustainability due on the 15th of August of each year in the following manner:
$20,000 – Due 15th August 2011
$40,000 – Due 15th August 2012
$40,000 – Due 15th August 2013
$40,000 – Due 15th August 2014
$40,000 – Due 15th August 2015
The Office of Sustainability will direct them back to the Committee’s account. The Illini Union will provide a close-out report about the project after installation. The Illini Union will also appropriately publicize the Committee’s support of these projects.
All funds provided by this transfer will be used in a manner consistent with University of Illinois policies and procedures.
This proposal looks to install occupancy sensors in classrooms, hallways, restrooms, lounges, and other public areas in twenty heavily used campus buildings, chosen according to the number of student contact hours. This project will reduce energy usage by 30% in affected areas, saving the campus approximately $18,000 per year in energy costs (based on a $0.0689/kWh rate), and reduce emissions by nearly 440,000 lbs of CO2 equivalent. This highly visible effort is expected to increase student and community awareness of the impact of reducing lighting usage. These sensors will serve as a lasting and permanent public statement of campus commitment to responsible sustainable behavior. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $50,000.
In May 2010, the News-Gazette published the article "UI promises to stop coal use by 2017, take other steps to lower energy use".
The 2010 iCAP executive summary included this commitment:
"The University will establish a dedicated, centrally coordinated funding pool for energy conservation projects within the next three years. This “clean energy” fund will allow for both internal (student fees, faculty contributions, staff contributions, energy savings reinvestment, capital programs), and external (programs, rebates, donations, outside investors) participation. It will be established as a capital infusion and coordination mechanism aimed at physical energy and energy cost reductions that also allows for the sustained maintenance of these investments."
In May 2010, iCAP was completed with the following goals (for the wind project):
In April 2010, Suhail Barot of Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) wrote a letter to Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation (ICECF) to approve a final 1-year grant extension to build the wind turbine at South Farm location.
From: Wegel, Carl V (Facilities & Services)
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 3:31 PM
To: Dempsey, John G (Facilities & Services)
Subject: FW: Waste Reduction Plan 2010
Jack,
I asked Tracy to proceed. We should be good for another 5 years.
Carl
From: Osby, Tracy L (Facilities & Services)
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 5:35 PM
To: Wegel, Carl V (Facilities & Services)
Subject: Waste Reduction Plan 2010
Carl,
I have made the adjustments that were recommended and Tim has adjusted the numbers as needed. Unless notified differently, tomorrow Wednesday 3/31/10, I will proceed to send an e-version to:
David E. Smith, Manager
Illinois College Assistance Program for Recycling and Waste reduction (I-CAP)
Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
620 East Adams - CIPS 5
Springfield, IL 62701 - 1615
I will also have to send via U.S. mail an original and three copies (signed), as it is required according to the guidelines. Thanks
Tracy Osby
Facilities and Services
Coordinator Of Campus Waste Management (Interim)
Waste Transfer Station
10 E. St. Mary's Road
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 244 - 7283
tosby@illinois.edu
Is your farm sustainable? How can you make your farm sustainable? The Illinois Farm Sustainability Calculator can help you figure out these things out. And it's pretty easy to use. See the list of tabs on the bottom of your screen? Navigate through them by using the grey buttons at the top of the sheets or by hitting ctrl+page down (cmd+page down on macs) In each sheet, fill each white box with data from your farm. Be sure to make a selection in all of the white drop-down boxes too. If you don't know something, leave the default number or the default selection in place. If your farm does not have ten separate fields, leave the extra field sheets unchanged. Same goes for any extra ruminant, swine, and poultry sheets.
Previous composting study “U08067 Dairy Cattle Composting Facility” reviewed options for full scale complete composting of animal, food, agriculture, and landscape waste. Study was cancelled before completion because ACES ran into budget issues and the whole Dairy program was slated for potential reduction or elimination.
Lowering the sashes on laboratory chemical fume hoods (CFHs) can result in significant energy cost savings by reducing the volume of room air that has to be heated or cooled. This project will evaluate the resources, components, and best practices required to develop a model shut the sash program and implement it campus-wide for variable air volume (VAV) CFHs. If successful, the project could generate over $250,200 in annual cost savings. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the full requested amount of $4,400.
The goal of this project is to install lighting sensors in classrooms in several University instructional buildings (e.g. the Armory, the Foreign Language Building and Loomis). The sensors will switch off the lights in these areas, after 30 minutes of inactivity, which will reduce lighting consumption by ~30%. Additionally, having these retrofits take place at the same time as additional lighting upgrades will reduce overall installation costs. Given the reduction in lighting and electricity usage, the high visibility to students of the target areas and student interest in this technology, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the full requested amount of $50,000.
In late January 2009, students wrote a letter to the Governor, Pat Quinn, requesting him for support and assistance in the campus wind farm project. This letter addressed the need of wind generation capacity on campus and requesting the governor to persuade the Chancellor to bring the wind power to the campus.
In January 2009, the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS) wrote letters to the university administration (trustees, Chancellor and Provost’s offices, deans and assistant deans, department heads, faculty and senate faculty) asking for support for the campus wind farm project.
Student Sustainable Committee (SSC) commits to an additional $200,000 that raises the total student contribution to $500,000.
The first Retro-Commissioning (RCx) team was created in August of 2007. Due to their significant success in saving energy, a second team was started in January of 2009.
Following the cancellation of the wind turbine project on South farms, the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS) wrote a complaint letter to the Chancellor Richard Herman. SSC and SECS expressed their disappointment about the decision as well as the timing of the decision. They were also upset because the university didn't discuss or consult with the student stakeholders in this decision.
Following cancellation of the wind project, the students were angry about autocratic and secretive behaviour of the university administration regarding cancellation. They were disheartened and upset with the timing of the decision because the decision came during the finals week when the students were pre-occupied and under stress with exams. Students felt that university's choice of cancelling the project during the finals week was to avoid any response or protest from the students.
However, following the finals week, students protested the decision of cancelling the wind turbine project.