SSC Semesterly Report: Bike and Ped Counters
SSC received semester report for Fall 2021 for Bike and Ped Counters project on 1/18/2022. Please see attached.
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SSC received semester report for Fall 2021 for Bike and Ped Counters project on 1/18/2022. Please see attached.
SSC received the final report on Spring 2022 for Energy Farm LED project on 1/15/22.
The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Thursday, January 27 to finalize the recommendations drafted at the end of last semester, the Water Drinking Behavior Survey and the Water Filter System Tracking. The team also discussed several recommendations they intend to pursue this semester, including: Adopt-a-Highway program, Food Literacy Project, Composting Committee, P Card Training and Sustainable Receipt options. Meeting minutes are attached.
The Energy iCAP team met at 9:00 A.M. on Wednesday, January 26th and discussed updates on recommendation ideas as well as agreed to move forward with the submission of two recommendations to the iCAP Working Group. Progress is currently being made on a feasibility study of CO2 District Heating and Cooling which will be undertaken by a group of engineering students during the Spring Semester, and progress on a new recommendation for Building Envelope Commissioning will take place.
The Team also agreed to move forward with a recommendation that the Office of the Chancellor commission a report on the Safety and Security of a proposed MMR Nuclear Reactor on campus property as well as another recommendation that would seek to charge Facilities & Services with developing a comprehensive energy plan that will bring the University to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Further Details on the meeting can be found in the attached agenda which also contains meeting minutes.
“In summary, there will be 2 slides taking turns to be displayed on the digital screen in CIF. The first slide is primarily composed of the 3D GSHP system schematic (Ground loops, heat pump and building) and the key parameters & features. The second slide shows the results from building energy modeling, including annual outdoor temperature variations, heating/cooing loads and other energy consumptions. This may [help] visualize the impact of CIF geothermal and give public a better understanding on the renewable resources.”
-John Zhao (11/14/2022)
PhD. Candidate
Research Assistant
Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research field: Ground Source HVAC System/Subsurface Heat Transfer
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Congratulations to the newest recipients of our Green Office and Green Event Certifications!
Green Office Gold Certification:
Visit Champaign County-Certified January 2022 (with notably 38 sustainable actions pursued!)
Green Event Certifications:
University Housing Gender Inclusivity Training-Certified January 2022
Campus Recreation/Instructional Kitchen Winter Virtual Canned Food Drive-Certified January 2022
CU at Home One Winter Night-Certified January 2022
Thank you to each of our participants, keep up the great work!
The Landscape Recycling Center tests for temperature, oxygen, and moisture monthly. They test for ph, metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and infectious bacteria in finished compost product annually. As food scrap makes its way through the process and we continue to test the final product, we will be able to observe any changes to these parameters.
The Building Envelope Pilot Project funded the following equipment, purchased at ICRT. This invoice was paid on I8563811 dated 12/13/21.
Bike at Illinois has produced a video on how to lock your bicycle properly to U-loop and ladder racks. Credit: Joanna Raimo (Campus Recreation)
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cENTu-nKes
All, Last week we were open by appointment only. We logged 6 appointments and sold 1 bike.
This week we will reopen to our usual M/W/F hours. Staff are eager to get back to work. We’ll have to run some refreshers for folks as I’m sure they’ve forgotten some stuff. We’ll do some inventory and build some bikes while we’re at it. We’ve got a couple other events coming up that we’ll have to prep for this week as well.
The numbers:
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator
The SSLC underwent many changes under the new leadership of co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring. The board experimented with the mission and niche of the SSLC, ultimately establishing that the organization shall act as a medium of communication between student groups and the administration. The organization will also be the primary host of the annual Student Sustainability Summit in October, touting – among other interdisciplinary events – Green Quad Day, Sustainable Student Research Symposium, and Tuesday Talks at Bevier Cafe.
This Summit was the Council’s most noteworthy accomplishment this semester. The SSLC collaborated with: Red Bison, Outdoor Adventure Club, the Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, the Sustainable Student Farm, the Pilot Processing Plant, Grand Prairie Friends, the F&S Solar House, Stop Line 3 CU, Students for Environmental Concerns, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Student Sustainability Committee. This myriad of events had varying levels of attendance. The SSLC leadership learned two primary lessons from the inaugural Student Sustainability Summit: first, quality over quantity in terms of events; and second, planning well ahead of time is absolutely essential in order to adequately advertise each event. If you attended or co-hosted any Summit event, and you would like to let the SSLC board know your feedback, please fill out this form. The current SSLC leadership looks forward to how future leadership will expand upon the Summit.
Another noteworthy accomplishment of the SSLC this semester was action following the publication of the Campus Admin Manual’s Expressive Activity Policy draft. Students were largely emotional about the policy’s stringent punishment for demonstrations on campus, so the SSLC – in conjunction with SECs and the SSC – wrote a letter to Chancellor Jones demanding that the policy more closely align with the student body’s needs. As of January 2022, the SSLC has received no reply from the Office of the Chancellor.
Co-presidents Maria Maring and Owen Jennings spoke at the Campus Sustainability Celebration and Sustainability Council meeting, respectively, on the topic of divestment. Though SSLC leadership was merely prompted to give basic updates at these meetings, they utilized the face-to-face opportunity with campus administrators to voice student concerns about completing iCAP Objective 9.1: Fully divest from fossil fuel companies by FY25.
In a first, the SSLC and general members participated in the Homecoming Parade. Roughly a dozen students marched with divestment-related signs. The SSLC hopes to expand Homecoming attendance next year.
The SSLC revived its dormant Facebook account (@sslcuiuc) and newly established an Instagram account (@uiuc_sslc). On the latter, the SSLC made 40 posts and gained 227 followers. The Facebook account has 93 followers; engagement on this platform is much less. The SSLC also made a linktree and a Google calendar to which other RSOs can sync. That way, all events from all different orgs are all conveniently on one calendar. This joint calendar is still undergoing troubleshooting, and it is not yet available for public viewing.
Amidst these new endeavors, the SSLC held full membership meetings roughly once a month, as did the previous leadership. One recurring issue was lack of attendance and engagement. Leadership held many conversations with both general members and staff advisors about how to increase the efficacy of the Council, but no good solution was found. The SSLC will continue to hold these monthly meetings and brainstorm about how to increase engagement throughout the upcoming spring semester.
The SSLC board met weekly. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact the Council at sslc-chair@mx-illinois.edu.
SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for Diversion of Non-Recycable Plastics Using Pyrolysis Process Fuels for Campus on 12/29/21. Please see attached.
In the SSC-funded project, "Classroom LED Upgrades", incandescent lighting was replaced with LED lighting in 74 General Assignment classrooms in 27 buildings across campus.
The final report for this project was submitted on June 11, 2021, along with supplementary documents of a Semesterly Report (21SP) and a Cost Calculations Spreadsheet.
See the attached files to view these documents.
Iris Lee prepared the attached report on Southern Arboretum Woodland (SAW) plantings for the 2021 Tree Care Plan.
SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for Joint Pollinator Garden and Composting Systems to Offset Environmental Impact and Reinforce Responsible Stewardship in Research on 12/17/2021. Please see attached.
SSC received a semesterly report for Fall 2021 for the Eco Illini Supermileage project on 12/16/2021. Please see attached.
SSC received a semesterly report for Fall 2021 for the vermiCUlture project on 12/12/2021. Please see attached.
Congratulations to our newest Green Chapter Certification! Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity received gold certification status as of December 2021. They committed to twenty-one actions that further their sustainability initiatives. They notably had forty-nine chapter members commit to using reusable water bottles instead of drinking bottled water. Twenty-four members also pledged to use active transportation for local travel.
Keep up the great work!
All, The Kid’s Bike Giveaway event was held on Saturday afternoon. We gave away 60 bikes and still have 20 left. Ideally, we would’ve given them all away, but no one left disappointed, which is very much worth the extra time and effort of moving 20 bikes back into the shop. We had 7 people volunteering, so it was quick work. We’ll put the word out this week that anyone who didn’t get a bike is welcome to stop by the Urbana Bike Project during open hours (Wed/Thurs 6:30 – 9; Sat/Sun by appointment) to pick out a bike from our leftovers. Depending on volunteer availability off-hours pick-ups might be doable, too.
Thanks to everyone who helped with the event and helped spread the word! We were able to give away 15 more bikes than we did last year.
Last week I was finally able to fully rebuild the outdoor bike pump with new and heavier duty parts that should last the winter. So far no one’s tried to drive their car up to the pump and air their car tires like they did when the station was by the curb on Pennsylvania.
This week I’ll turn our attentions to refurbishing. We should have a half dozen bikes on the sales floor by Friday. We’ve worked through the easy fixes and are left with the fun stuff: dusty, old 3 speeds, 10 speed Schwinns and the like. Now we can start in earnest building up our stock for the spring rush—although, with the unseasonably warm temps this week, we may be too busy to make much headway. A good problem to have.
We’re closing for Winter Break after Friday. Reopening date is TBD.
The numbers:
Visitors:
Sales: $71*
Memberships: 1 for $30
Tires/tubes: 3 for $13
*We’ve reinstated the First Visit Free policy which deflates our sales numbers compared to our mandated memberships for the summer/fall.
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator
All, Finished last week strong as the relative warmth of Friday resulted in a busy afternoon for early December.
We’re in the home stretch for the KBG. That’ll be this upcoming Saturday. At last count we’ve got ~60 bikes between both CBC and Urbana TBP so we’re on pace to do better than last year, assuming we get as many folks showing up.
We’re also in the home stretch of the semester with only two weeks to go.
The numbers:
Visitors: 26
Sales: $285.80
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
Memberships: 2 for $60
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator