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Project Updates for collection: Student Sustainability Committee Funded Projects

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  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Light the Night
    Bicycle Education

    All, we had 88 visitors last week—and that includes being closed on Monday and Thursday! We grossed $1,145.30; sold 19 memberships for $570; one bike for $120; and one build-a-bike for $40.

    Last week was eventful. We had The Illinois Bike Summit, Light The Night, and on Friday I counted all the bikes in the warehouse: 517! Light the Night was very successful, installing 1188 lights (or 594 sets) at Alma Mater; numbers on the Illinois/Lincoln location are to-be-determined.


    In tandem with Working Bikes, we’ve set the date for the Bike Warehouse to be emptied: October 7th. I will coordinate with Parking to insure we have access on that date.

    I also set up a Facebook account to promote events and better connect with the cycling community.

    This week I will work on building new bikes that I acquired from the warehouse, continue to organize for the Bike Warehouse event, and persist on the Sisyphean task of organizing inventory and streamlining volunteer tasks to make better use of everyone’s time.

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    Hello all, last week we had a gross sales total of 2,049.50. We sold 31 memberships for a total of $930. We sold 3 refurbished bikes for $360 and one build-a-bike for $80.

    We’ve had a decent stream of volunteers at the campus bike center this past week, which has been welcome. Lily and I also attended the Illinois Bike Summit on Monday. It was an informative and empowering event to see so many like-minded people working for better biking in Illinois. We are continuing to prep and promote for Light The Night on Thursday.

    This coming week we will host LTN, Lily is hosting Bicycling 101 and attending Urbana BPAC, which was eventful. I will continue inventory and the building of bikes as well continue to work on arranging for the bike warehouse exodus.
     

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  3. ECBS SWATeam meeting minutes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Conservation and Building Standards (ECBS) SWATeam
    Green Lab Program
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)
    2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan (2015 iCAP)

    At the ECBS SWATeam initial meeting Marian Huhman was elected as a new chair. Recruting more proposals for education of other students about energy conservation was discussed.  The "Illini Lights Out" Program pilot last semester was very successful and should be a year-long program. Engaging the whole campus for the "Green Labs" Program is needed. More funding for energy conservation was discussed. The completion of 2015 iCAP tasks poster templete is expected by September 23.

    Attached Files: 

  5. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    Hello all, first, the numbers: We had 78 visitors last week that signed our digital guestbook. We had $1,062.83 in gross sales; 15 memberships totaling $450; and a single build-a-bike for $120.

    Things of note: The Bike Project voted at the last meeting to implement a two week trial policy of no-free-visits for the Campus Bike Center, which netted us a lot more memberships than we otherwise would’ve had. But it also served to quickly inform people that the CBC is a cooperative, investable space not a free university-provided service.

    This past week I began reorganizing the shop, built up for-sale bikes, and organized a staff orientation meeting set for this evening.

    This week I will build more bikes, continue to arrange and organize the space, finalize a student workers’ schedule for this semester, and begin to coordinate with Parking and Working Bikes on a shipment of bikes bound for Lesotho and Botswana.

    Jake Benjamin

    Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. Article about Billion Dollar Green Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    Billion Dollar Green Challenge
    Revolving Loan Fund (RLF)
    Issue Press Releases and Sustainability Reports

    The Chicago Tribune included a mention of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as one of two schools in Illinois that have joined the Billion Dollar Green Challenge.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/ct-nvs-north-centra...

    Attached Files: 

  8. Student solar efforts renewing for fall 2016

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    Niharika Kishore, masters in Urban Planning (MUP) student, and Corey Weil, sophomore in Electrical and Computer Engineering, are working with Morgan Johnston on the iSEE objective for on-campus solar.  Niharika will continue her efforts for promoting rooftop solar to meet the iCAP objective for 12,500 MWh/year of on-campus solar energy generation as part of a MUP capstone project this year.  Corey will volunteer in various efforts to support the development of solar solutions for campus, from the Net Zero Energy ECE efforts to advocating for solar energy funding.

  9. News Gazette Mailbag question about Solar Farm

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 1.0

    http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-08-26/toms-mailbag-aug-26-20...

    UI solar farm
     

    “The solar panel field located near the corner of Windsor Road and First Street has become overgrown with tall weeds. Do the panels still work with that much foliage under and above them? Also, would hiring sheep or goats to ‘mow’ the weeds be harmful to the sheep or goat (heat from the panels)?”

    The Solar Farm on the University of Illinois campus was implemented as a power purchase and land lease agreement with Phoenix Solar South Farms, LLC, said Steve Breitwieser of the UI’s Facilities & Services Department.

    “The agreements designate Phoenix as responsible for all maintenance of the Solar Farm during the 10-year contract, and this includes vegetation control.

    “A contractor hired by Phoenix was on site in mid-June, and they are performing additional weed control activities this week.”

    When the agreement with Phoenix ends, Breitwieser said, the UI will assume Solar Farm maintenance responsibilities.

    And — how about this? — preliminary discussions have begun with research faculty regarding the use of sheep or low-height food crops in the future, he said.

    Meanwhile, neighboring plant growth has not impacted solar production, said Breitwieser.

    Solar array data can be viewedat: http://go.illinois.edu/solar.

  10. FY 17 SSC funding for Zero Waste Coordination

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Decrease Wasteful Practices through Behavior Change
    Increase Recycling Rates
    Recycling for the Quad
    Implement Solutions for Special Recyclables

    The SSC funding for Zero Waste Coordination ($64,862) covers four different recycling efforts.

    1)      Campus-wide infrastructure, $29,750: Expanding the “Dual bins on the Quad” to north of Green and eastward to Goodwin Avenue, in collaboration with F&S Superintendent of Grounds Ryan Welch.  Ryan’s Grounds workers are mapping the existing bins, as a first step.  All of this funding is for the physical infrastructure (bins and lids, etc.).

    2)      Campus-wide education, $1,032: The key message of personal responsibility for waste management needs to be communicated through multiple channels on campus, in order to effect the culture shift that we deeply need on campus.  F&S will create educational materials to explain the recycling options available to the campus community, to reduce confusion.  The funding is based on 8 presentations throughout campus and development of educational materials (which will be used in future years as well).  All materials will thank SSC for their funding support.

    3)      Building specific solutions, $30,520: Per the completed Waste Characterization Studies, there are various changes that can be implemented in the studied buildings to improve waste diversion.  These changes need to be approved and implemented in coordination with building occupants, so there is a need for a staff coordinator to work with the individual units.  The funding is based on two weeks of staff time per building, for eight buildings.

    4)      Special recyclables expansion $3,560: There are new programs available for interested units on campus to recycle nitrile gloves, styrofoam, alkaline batteries, and glass.  Unfortunately, very few units are aware of these opportunities.  We are requested funding for student employees to reach out directly to potential participants and help them incorporate the applicable programs.

  15. F&S design meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Speech and Hearing Rooftop Solar PVs

    Brian Finet shared a preliminary sketched layout for the Speech and Hearing Rooftop Solar PV, in a short meeting with Morgan Johnston and Robert Halverson.  During the spring funding meeting of the Student Sustainability Committee, they questioned if it was possible to do a scalable design for this building, so more than the originally funded 11kW could be installed in the future.  The answer is yes, this is highly scalable.

  16. New Effort Towards Promoting Departmental Bicycle Fleets

    Associated Project(s): 
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Independent Student Projects

    August, 2016, a new initiative towards promoting departments to start their own bicycle fleets began. Lily Wilcock, Active Transportation Coordinator, took on myself (Logan Ebeling), a student intern to help with this project. I am participating in the project as part of ENVS 491, a class required for my Sustainability Minor. 

     

    This project is an evolution from the Departmental Bike Sharing project (see Associated Projects) and is using materials from that project and is drawing off its success. 

     

    We met August 24th at the Campus Bike Center to discuss goals for this semester. We settled on two broad goals: First, assessing the health, challenges, and success of already existing departmental bicycle fleets and second, promoting the formation of new bicycle fleets on campus.  

  17. Preliminary meeting with F&S Engineering Design

    Associated Project(s): 
    Speech and Hearing Rooftop Solar PVs

    Morgan Johnston, Robert Halverson, and Brian Finet met to discuss the design needs of the Speech and Hearing Rooftop Solar PVs project (on building #209).  Key points discussed are:

    Per the building occupants, this project needs to be installed at the same time as the Capital Project in that building, currently scheduled for summer 2017.  Therefore, the bulk of the design needs to be completed by December 2016, and the installation methodology should be clarified in September or October, 2016.

    The project must be metered, in order to track the solar energy generation.  There are several metering options and considerations to be addressed.  The meter needs to track real-time energy generation from the array, but this project does not currently include setting up a dashboard website specifically for this array.

    Discussion about the pros and cons of various mounting methods were discussed.  Additional potential for rooftop leaks are the primary concern for building occupants and maintenance contacts.  The most manageable installation style is to connect the solar panels to an existing load bearing column for the building.  Ballast style installations, while not creating an immediate rooftop penetration point, are very likely to wear on the roof and create non-point source leaks which are hard to find and eliminate.  Additionally, with a ballasted mounting system the snow load is difficult to calculate due to the unpredictable effect of snow drifts.

  18. Inquiry for how to request SSC funding

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar PVs at Idea Garden

    Ava Heap and Andrew Stumpf requested assistance from Morgan Johnston on an SSC project proposal for the Idea Garden rooftop solar.  Kristine provided a summary of the open issues to be addressed:

    • Survey of all electric loads to be placed on the system, 
    • if heating the shed is necessary and to be included,
    • where batteries would be stored, and
    • if the shed can support the panels (although that did not appear to be a problem).

    Morgan will work with Ava to clarify the needs of this project.

  19. Call out for Volunteers at Light the Night 2016

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Bicycle Safety Materials

    This years Light the Night has 1,090 bicycle light sets for installation on bicycles in the span of four hours. We need all the volunteers we can get! Sign up on the facebook page of the wiki!

    http://thebikeproject.wikispaces.com/light-the-night-2016

    https://www.facebook.com/events/247904592263343/

    Any questions or other ways to help the event, contact Lily Wilcock, lwilco2@illinois.edu .

  20. Joint efforts support pollinators in our community

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA
    Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet)

    Prairie Rivers Network, the Illinois affiliate for the National Wildlife Federation, is leading an effort to support monarchs in the local region.  The are also working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) on a plan for protecting monarchs in our state.  IDNR is planning a statewide event in Springfield on September 9 to share the results of initial surveys.

    The Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) participated in the Pollinator Palooza on July 16: "Help plant milkweed at Firefighter Park, 305 S Randolph St, Champaign, Saturday July 16  from 9-12, bring gloves -- The Champaign Park District is transforming Firefighter Park (305 S Randolph) into a butterfly habitat. All City Staff are invited to help plant milkweed this Saturday from 9 am to noon.  Champaign joined the Mayor's Monarch Challenge Leadership Circle to save the Monarch Butterfly.  In the last 20 years, the Monarch population has declined by over 94%, shrinking from over 1 billion to just 60 million butterflies. Monarchs rely on Milkweed plants, the only plant that they can use to cocoon. The Midwest is an essential breeding ground for the annual Monarch migration from Canada to Mexico, and habitat loss has contributed to their decline."

    CCNet also hosted the Pollinator Pocket Garden Tour on July 28: "Walking Tour Begins at Bresnan Center,706 Kenwood Rd, Champaign -- Moving beyond pollinator week in June and to keep the conversation ongoing, CCNET is hosting a tour with, Randy Hauser, Horticulture and Natural Areas Supervisor for the Champaign Park District to learn about "pocket gardens". This will be a great learning experience for people who love plants and want to help the pollinators and the Monarch, but only have small space for gardens." 

    The City of Champaign and other partners in the community such as the Champaign Park District, Prairie Rivers Network and many others have been working to preserve Monarch Butterfly habitat throughout the community. The City of Champaign joined the Mayor's Monarch Challenge Leadership Circle to save the Monarch Butterfly. In the last 20 years, the Monarch population has declined by over 94%, shrinking from over 1 billion to just 60 million butterflies. Monarchs rely on Milkweed plants, the only plant that they can use to cocoon. The Midwest is an essential breeding ground from the annual Monarch migration from Canada to Mexico, and habitat loss has contributed to their decline.  The Champaign Park District hosted a number of Monarch Themed events throughout the summer focused on Monarch Butterfly education and habitat preservation.

    City of Urbana staff have planted milkweed seed in landscapes at the Boneyard Creek. They have also designed a butterfly and pollinator garden to be installed south of the City Building next spring. Additionally, Mayor Prussing has signed the Wildlife Federation’s Mayors For Monarchs Pledge. In accordance with the pledge and the Mayor’s interest in supporting monarch populations, staff have assisted in the creation or enhancement of monarch and pollinator gardens with community groups at the Lierman Garden, Urbana Free Library Garden, and Downtown Garden.

     

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