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Project Updates for collection: Student Sustainability Committee Funded Projects

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  1. Certified Greener Campus Programs Workshop

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan

    iSEE hosted our first “Certified Greener Campus Program Workshop” to guide U of I organizations in certifying as “green,” even while unusual conditions add complexity to campus’s daily operations. The online workshop included a program overview, steps to certification, FAQs, and an open discussion about overcoming common barriers to sustainability.

    If you were unable to attend Thursday’s workshop, you can still take steps to advocate for sustainable practices in your unit! I invite you to:

  2. Weekly Update: CBC Fix-it staion operational

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Not a whole lot to report: The Bike Center Fix It pump is operational and I’ll be meeting this week about marketing to get the word out. I got an email not 12 hours after visiting the new Flagg Hall covered bike parking asking if it was operational, funnily enough. Parking tagged the bike that was locked up out front of the Bike Center. It was probably a donation but doing our due diligence on that.

    This week student staff will start and we’ll work through some more bike builds.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 6
    Sales: $59
    Memberships: 1 for $30
    Misc: $29

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. Weekly Update: Donations, moved from the old place

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Slow week, of course. An uptick in donations of parts/bikes. Got a nice hybrid Giant bike that is already fixed up and ready to sell.

    We are almost totally and completely moved out of our former garage home. It’s actually a lot of square footage in there once you remove all the stuff accumulated over the last 11 years or so!

    This week will be scheduling, semester prep, and more work to get the outdoor bike pump fixed up and operational for the few hearty winter cyclists.  

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 10
    Sales: $196
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $120
    Misc: $16

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  8. equipment installed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at Gable Home
    Energy Models for Campus Facilities

    The geothermal heat pump is now installed at the Gable Home, at the Energy Farm. Professor Yun Yi will create an energy model, and Mark Taylor said, "I can work with one of my RA’s to draw up the system in a 3D model for use in presentations and papers."

    The model is the “QE0930.” 

    Attached Files: 

  9. Bike Month planning meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Independent Student Projects

    The Bike Month planning team met today, with representatives from several areas across Champaign County.

    1) CU Safe Routes to School - planned for May 5 - Urban Planning student is an intern for CU-SRTS. They are also working on a safe routes to parks program.

    2) Champaign County Bikes - Charlie Smyth is the chair of CCB this year.  They will have a new website in a few days.  They still need one more board member for this year.  They talked with Amelia Neptune at the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), and Charlie shared several points about the national outlook.

    3) This group will plan virtual events for the spring, and meet again in February.

  11. Article: Rapid Decline of News Coverage for Pollinators

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas
    Bee Campus USA

    Craig Chamberlain, a Social Sciences Editor for Illinois News Bureau, released an article highlighting the lack of coverage dedicated to bees in mainstream news. Supporting his article with a study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, it was found that the amount of attention dedicated to "pollinator population topics" has significantly declined over several decades.

    Read Chamberlain's article through Illinois News Bureau or the PDF in the attached files!

    Attached Files: 

  12. controls on HVAC units - note

    Associated Project(s): 
    Occupancy and Daylight Sensors

    I would note that the room level controls at the National Soybean Research Center have been upgraded to DDC in the past year.  We plan to do this in the ACES Library in 2021.  We have invested in Turner Hall w/ control upgrades and RCx work. The Ag Engineering building saw a recent project last year to upgrade to DDC controls and replace VAV boxes.  ~Karl Helmink, F&S RCx, january 2021

  13. Weekly Update - Word of mouth, Bike donations

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Pretty slow around these parts—per usual for this time of year.

    A story: A gentleman comes in on Wednesday looking for bikes. We get to talking and he’s volunteered at Working Bikes (the org we give abandoned bikes to) up in Chicago, he knows his way around a wrench. He buys a nice road bike and that was that. An hour later, he brings a friend back; she signs up for a membership. Two days later, same guy is back with another friend; he buys a membership, too. Says they’ll both be back on Monday to work on a bike. Word of mouth really is the best marketing.

    This week I’ll still be processing the donations from the kids bike event that were not kids bikes. We got a lot of adult-sized bikes that aren’t worth saving, unfortunately.
    The numbers:

    Visitors: 11
    Sales: $254
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Misc: $4

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  14. Tests Performed for Illinois Biodiesel Initiative's Quality Control

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

    As provided by Allison Narlock, the current quality control lead for Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI), IBI performs a series of standard tests for every batch. The tests, with the ASTM test number, are the following (in no particular order:)

    • Acid Number: D974
    • Water and Sediment: D2709
    • Flash Point: D93 (D6450), we use the closed cup method
    • Oxidative Stability: D2274
    • Visual Inspection: D4176
    • Cold Soak: D7501
    • Cloud Point: D2500

    For each test, results are recorded to provide information as needed.

     

  15. Call2Recycle FY2020 Report: Collection of Batteries and Cell Phones

    Associated Project(s): 
    Battery Recycling

    The attached files highlight the battery and cell phone collection efforts conducted from 01/01/2020 to 12/31/2020. These reports include valuable information such as the pounds collected, breakdown by chemistry, growth rates, and collected trends over a 3-year time period.

    Attached Files: 

  18. Weekly Update: Happy New Year, Kids bike giveaway

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Happy New Year! The final week of the semester—and the two weeks preceding it—were a whirl of kid bike prep for our event, which took place on December 19th.
    Here’s a story CI Living did on the event:  https://www.wcia.com/ciliving-2/the-bike-project-hosts-kids-bike-giveaway/
    We gave away 40+ bikes in less than half an hour and our community really came through in providing those donations on such a short time frame.
    This week will be a lot of cleaning and organizing—kids bike parts are strewn every which way as we hustled to get the bikes finished—and an inventory once-over to see where we stand on parts and bikes.
    Thanks!
    The numbers:

    Visitors: 7
    Sales: $19

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. Some Coal Plants in Illinois to be shut down

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS)

    From: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-...

    The company also announced its next phase of coal plant closures in Illinois and Ohio with a combined capacity of more than 6.8 GW, by 2027. The plan has the following timeline:

    • End of 2022: Edwards Power plant, Bartonville, Illinois, 585 MW, in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator.
    • End of 2025: Baldwin Power Plant, Baldwin, Illinois, 1,185 MW; Joppa Power Plant, Joppa, Illinois, 1,002 MW (plus 239 MW of gas turbines), both in MISO.
    • End of 2027: Newton Power Plant, Newton, Illinois, 615 MW, in MISO; and Kincaid Power plant, Kincaid, Illinois, 1,108 MW, Miami Fort Power Plant, North Bend, Ohio, 1,020 MW, and Zimmer Power Plant, Moscow, Ohio, 1,300 MW, all three in the PJM Interconnection.

    "These plants, especially those operating in the irreparably dysfunctional MISO market, remain economically challenged," Vistra said in a Sept. 29 statement. "Today's retirement announcements are also prompted by upcoming Environmental Protection Agency filing deadlines, which require either significant capital expenditures for compliance or retirement declarations."

  20. Updated list of needed student projects

    Associated Project(s): 
    Independent Student Projects
    Tree Campus Higher Education
    Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) [ARCHIVED]

    This is a list of projects that need students to work on.  It will be updated periodically by sustainability staff members, the last update was 1/2/21:

    • Tree Canopy Analysis: Work with F&S staff to complete a GIS analysis of the university's tree canopy, in support of the Tree Campus USA designation. This will include comparison to peer institutions and a presentation of the results and methodology to the Tree Campus Advisory Committee. Depending on time availability, it can also include an analysis of the local tree canopy, off campus. Contact Morgan White at mbwhite at illinois.edu.
    • CCNet Website: Work with the Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) leadership team to redesign and publish the CCNet website (old version is online at http://www.champaigncountynet.org/). There is a monthly brown bag sustainability networking event on the Third Thursday of each month, but the website hasn't been updated since 2016. Contact Morgan White at mbwhite at illinois.edu.
    • If you have a project idea, please contact us at sustainability@illinois.edu, or submit it through the iCAP Portal Suggestions page.

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