The SSC approved $60,000 in funding for re-home wall rehab and siding in Fall 2020. The project expires 12/16/2022.

Sol Systems published a blog today sharing information about the collaborations with the UIUC Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows program, the campus-wide minor in sustainability.  

"This past week, two groups of students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presented to Sol Systems regarding their findings through the university’s sustainability minor capstone course. The students conducted an emissions audit for supply chain and land-usage for the university’s second utility-scale solar project, Solar Farm 2.0, a 54-acre, 12.3 MW dc system on the Urbana campus that is being developed by Sol Systems. The presentation and partnership served as part of Sol’s sustainability initiatives and acts as the foundation for building Sol’s framework for future and current solar project developments...."

Read the full post online at https://www.solsystems.com/groundwork-for-solar-sustainability/. 

The Daily Illini published an article about the impacts of covid-19 on the campus sustainability efforts. One key message is that, even with some delays associated with the pandemic, we are still determined to move forward.  The conclusion of the article says: 

Mohamed Attalla, executive director of Facilities and Services, said there are lots of initiatives to reach carbon neutrality in terms of energy and hopes to reach 400,000 metric tons of CO2 this year.

Attalla said the addition of a third solar farm, advances in geothermal energy and research in carbon capture contribute to achieving carbon neutrality and that long-term, COVID-19 should not be a problem.

“Maybe we’re behind a little in implementing some projects, but we’ll be able to catch up,” he said. “I don’t think there will be a long-term impact on the iCAP implementation.”

White also said she doesn’t anticipate any long-term problems with achieving the iCAP goals and believes it’s important for the University to lead by example when it comes to sustainability.

“I really believe that accomplishing the iCAP goals is something we can do, we need to do and we will do,” she said. 

“Climate change isn’t waiting for us,” Edwards said. “(The University is) the laboratory for science, for humanities, for arts …  all those kinds of things show what is possible of humanity.”

“If we’re going to call ourselves leaders, then we need to lead,” he said.

https://dailyillini.com/covid-10/2020/12/08/covid-19-pandemic-impacts-un...

All, Last week was our first one with “regular” open hours again. I’d guess we had about the same number of people coming by as we did under our reservation system but it was certainly less leg work.
Our main push for the next few weeks will be our Kids Bike Giveaway. The particulars:

Date: Saturday, December 19th
Time: 1 – 3p or until we run out of bikes
Location: Urbana Bike Project (202 S Broadway Ave., Urbana)
Details: first come, first served; one bike per kid and they must be present to pick out their bike.

We are still in need of donations but just through emailing our membership we’ve heard from 3 – 4 people with bikes to donate.  WCIA is calling me later today to discuss, so hopefully we’ll get on the news. I’ve done lots of submitting to various media outlets. I’ll be focusing on getting the word out on the need for donations this week and focus on doing the bulk of the refurbishing next week. If successful TBP has expressed interest in making this an annual event. We’ll see!

The numbers:

Visitors: 6
Sales: $165.50

Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 4 for $12

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

The Bike Project is currently accepting donations of all kids’ and teen bikes, regardless of condition, and then refurbishing them to give back to young folks in the community!

Donations can be made at the Urbana Bike Project (202 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana) or at the Campus Bike Center (51 E. Gregory Dr., Champaign).

Please call (217) 469-5126 or email contact@thebikeproject.org to arrange a donation.

Kids' Bike Giveaway Event:

Date: Saturday, December 19th, 2020
Time: 1 pm – 3pm or until we run out of bikes
Location: Urbana Bike Project (202 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana)

Details: first come, first served; one bike per kid, and they must be present to pick out their bike.

All health and safety guidelines will be followed.

F&S Management Engineer, Sushanth Girini, provided an update on the Solar Farm 2.0 construction progress.  One key point is that 65% of the panel installation is complete as of 11/23.

Points regarding the progress: 

• Currently the project is working on installing all the panels on the posts. As of Nov. 23, 2020, Sol Systems completed 258 out of 399 rows of panels, so approximately 65% of panel installation is complete.
• The pads have been poured and all major equipment placed (inverters and transformers), currently working on wiring the whole network. The mechanical in service (construction complete without inspection & commissioning) date is Dec 16th 2020 as per current schedule.
• Received all panels on site, racking equipment and all major equipment such as inverters and transformers, awaiting the switchgear delivery, which is due on 11/30.
• Working with U of I's F&S Waste Management team to achieve a zero waste goal for this project by recycling all the boxes and other materials.
• Every employee who works on site is checked for temperatures before entering the site as a safety precaution against covid-19.

Thank you,

Sushanth Girini