John Marlin teaching an NRES course
John Marlin is teaching a course about the Mud to Parks project. It is NRES 285: Beneficial Reuse of Sediment: The Mud to Parks Field Experience.
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John Marlin is teaching a course about the Mud to Parks project. It is NRES 285: Beneficial Reuse of Sediment: The Mud to Parks Field Experience.
My name is Max Colon, and I am a Resident Advisor in Allen Hall that works with a sustainability group to try and keep Allen green. Every year, we hold a recycling box drive where our organization hands out cardboard recycling boxes that have been given to us by Housing. I have a attached a photo of one of these boxes for identification purposes. I am wondering if it is possible for you to help me figure out who in Housing should be contacted in order to continue this tradition. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated! - Max
We had the boxes over 10 years and we have depleted all supplies last year. Sorry- Vonne Ortiz
Meeting set for 9/23/2013 to discuss the progress and intentions for a course by Professor Warren Lavey, related to previously funded SSC projects.
Applications are now being accepted for a new Bicycle Ambassador program at the University of Illinois. Bicycle Ambassadors are bicycling enthusiasts who will promote bicycling for transportation, raise awareness about the rights and responsbilities of cyclists, and foster a postitive bicycle culture on our campus. Interested students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to sign up to become a Bicycle Ambassador today!
Learn more on the Bike Ambassador project page: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/bicycle-ambassador-program
The Sustainability Fellows program was going to include a research fellowship for Professor Gale Fulton to create a stormwater master plan for campus, utilizing green infrastructure. Unfortunately, Professor Fulton took a job at another university. To move forward with the stormwater master plan, the F&S Environmental Compliance department will seek to create a stormwater master plan for campus using student assistants and in-house staff.
F&S Engineers provide input on solar film technology: "We experienced delamination with these in the past; about 25 years ago. I’d be curious if the adhesives have gotten any better." - John Prince
"Films have come a long way. Like John, I have seen several versions of solar films and have not been impressed with their durability. The newer films and coatings are much better but the effectiveness is still dependent to the quality of installation. The films may have some applications on campus but must be evaluated in terms of cost. The solar transmittance is low enough for me to question whether IHPA would have a problem with our historic buildings. We would also want to avoid a checker board appearance if the product were applied randomly to a building windows. I don’t want to dismiss the product but it does need more investigation." - Fred Hahn
A new Academic Hourly Position, Campus Bicycle Coordinator, has been created within the Facilities & Services division. Amelia Neptune, formerly a Sustainability Specialist in F&S was appointed to the position for the 2014 Fiscal Year (July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014). The Campus Bicycle Coordinator will report to the Sustainability Coordinator within F&S, under the Engineering & Transportation Services department. The Campus Bicycle Coordinator will be responsible for promoting bicycles and bicycle education, enforcement, encouragement, engineering, and evaluation and planning.
F&S published a map of the raingardens in this community:
The University campus has designated several different areas as No-Mow Zones. There is signage at these locations that explains that the area is a no-mow zone and the benefits of no-mow zones.
Professor Bob Pahre plans to work on a Native Landscaping Signage Network" for the SSC Land Working Group. The sign at the Red Oak Rain Garden is one model.
Facilities & Services created a list of existing and planned Solar installations on campus:
a. Installed:
i. #1206 BIF – Approx. 3,700-4,000 s.f. on a building roof.
b. Active:
i. Approx. 20”x20” panel for a fixed speed radar detector near lot E-15.
ii. Approx. 20”x20” panel to power lights for pedestrian crossing on Springfield Avenue. Lights have been removed due to maintenance issues. Panel remains.
iii. Approx. 20”x20” panel for a mobile speed radar detector on Lincoln Avenue.
iv. Approx. 20”x20” panel for an electric tractor/mower charger. Item is off the grid. Location?
c. In Planning:
i. #0052 KCPA
ii. #0409 Electrical and Computer Engineering along with #1094 NCPD
iii. South solar farm
iv. Housing
v. #0118 ARC - Solar Thermal
vi. Residence Hall #3
vii. College of Engineering discussing something at MNTL with grant funds.
The eighth annual Boneyard Creek Community Day will be held on Saturday, April 6 from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will help protect local creeks and help keep the community clean by picking up litter, removing non-native plants, and marking storm drains. To learn more or register visit www.boneyardcreek.org.
Please see attached the report from mode choice survey conducted by CUUATS in 2011-12.
The SSC bike parking award is for $225,000 to install approximately 1,000 new bike parking spaces on existing concrete throughout campus.
The SSC and the Illini Union agreed to support improvements at the southwest corner of the Illini Union, where there are existing “donut-hole” bike racks. These will be removed over the summer and replaced with stainless steel U-loops. Additionally, the F&S Grounds division has agreed to plant an additional tree in that area, which will increase shading for the bike parking.
Through Champaign County Bikes, the University has acquired 22 Varsity Bicycle Racks (which will hold a total of 44 bicycles) from Park-a-Bike in order to run a year-long pilot test of the racks. 10 of these racks will be installed for the year near the Union and the remaining 12 will be distributed in various high-visibility locations on and near campus, to be determined.
The graduate student working on sketches for the Campus Bicycle Network improvements has completed a majority of the campus owned pathways. In some cases, this has included site visits to specific areas, with the Transportation Coordinator and the Landscape Architect for campus.
The SSC-supported Bike Sharing Feasibility Study student intern held a review meeting with the Bike Sharing Steering Committee. The report is substantially complete and will be available this summer. As part of the Feasibility Study, F&S released a bike sharing survey to the campus and surrounding community in late March, and accepted responses throughout April. The Survey received 1,168 responses from students, staff, faculty, retirees, visitors and members of the community. F&S is working with the UI Bikes section of Engineering 315, Learning in the Community (LINC) course, to analyze the data from the survey responses. Students from the LINC course also conducted a focus group with undergraduate students in conjunction with the survey in order to dive deeper into the topic of bike sharing with focus group participants.
In preparation for the third annual C-U Bike to Work Day (BTWD), staff organized fundraising, publicity, volunteers, bike stations’ supplies, registration, and riders’ incentives. The University led the efforts to organize BTWD this year, in partnership with local governments and other agencies. BTWD is an opportunity to encourage and support new bicycle commuters across C-U, including students, staff and faculty of the University, in an effort to create a mode shift toward more bike commuting and less automobile commuting.
SSC granted a funding request from the Campus Bike Project (CBP) which will allow the current part-time hours of the CBP shop manager, a University employee reporting directly to F&S, to be expanded to full-time. The grant also includes a small stipend for part-time student employees to help staff the CBP. Sustainability Staff have been working with CBP representatives to develop the position description and conduct a job search, which attracted over 30 applications. The search committee, which included sustainability staff from F&S, as well as Bike Project volunteers and members, is currently in the process of narrowing the pool down to select a qualified candidate.
Working with James Scholar in Barbara Minsker’s engineering class to make recommendations related to sustainability for the Grainger crosswalk on Springfield.
Staff hosted interviews with about a dozen Rhet 105 students about various sustainability topics.
Urban Planning masters student Marcus Ricci is doing a GIS project about bike parking capacity in relationship to the buildings they serve.
The LINC U of I Bikes section sent out a bike sharing survey and had a great response rate, a summary will be available by the end of the spring semester.
F&S Planning is working on formalization of the “no-new space” policy as recommended in the iCAP.
Bike to Work Day (BTWD) planning is underway. Staff raised $1,250 in February from sponsors, which goes to Champaign County Bikes for the event. Three on-campus Bike Station locations were organized, in addition to several off-campus Bike Stations. University Housing graciously agreed to provide food and drinks for the on-campus Bike Stations, as they did last year.
The Bike Sharing key staff members met with project champion, Mike Lyon from AITS, to provide a status update on the bike sharing feasibility study. The bike sharing intern developed a presentation about departmental bike sharing, which will be taken to Legal Counsel and Purchasing contacts for final approval. Then Colleges will be contacted before departments are approached to encourage departmental bike sharing implementation.
F&S Planning staff interviewed firms to engineer road improvements, including Fourth Street bike lanes from Armory Avenue to Kirby Avenue, and Sixth Street bike lanes from Armory Avenue to Gregory Drive.
The bike parking intern completed and submitted a proposal to the SSC to replace existing “donut-hole” racks with campus standard racks. He also met with staff at Christopher Hall and the Illini Union about upgrading their bike parking areas. Additionally, staff worked with a representative from Champaign County Bikes to arrange a pilot test of an alternative bike parking rack, the Varsity Rack.
The Campus Area Transportation Study (CATS) agencies met in February and agreed that the Campus Bike Plan document should be for University-owned pathways, and it should be in agreement with the City of Urbana Bike Plan, the Champaign Transportation Plan, and the County Greenways and Trails Plan.
The Campus Bike Project submitted a proposal to the SSC for expanded open hours with student assistants.
Plans are underway for a bike race on May 5 in the Research Park. About 300-400 race participants are anticipated. There will be a community ride that morning, as well as a race in the City of Urbana on May 6.
Staff further developed the Energy Management and Control Center (EMC^2) proposal for Chancellor Wise to share with potential donors/partners. This process included preliminary documentation of the existing energy distribution and tracking computer programs.
F&S staff started discussions about a steam reduction project at the Main Library, which includes repairing steam traps, replacing Pressure Reducing Valves (PRV), and repairing or replacing other valves.
F&S is moving towards virtualization for their IT servers. That will let F&S move to a single server, which will reduce the cooling load and energy demand. This project can be replicated in other departments for additional energy savings.
F&S continues to work with a number of student groups and individuals on bicycle-related projects:
Members of The Bike Project steering committee met with representatives of F&S and SSC to brainstorm opportunities to help make the Campus Bike Project a financially self-supporting operation. This is in parallel to the efforts of the MBA class looking into this issue. The Bike Project will be submitting a Letter of Inquiry to the SSC before their current funding expires in May.
F&S staff attended the monthly Champaign County Bikes meeting in January, to discuss a potential use of Ride Campus and Varsity Rack in Champaign-Urbana. F&S is also working with CCB member Jeff Yockey to develop a steering committee to explore the possibility of implementing Ride Campus at the University of Illinois.
F&S staff and Patrick Clark met with the Illini Union to discuss improving bike parking facilities around the Union, and potentially having the Union be a pilot test location for the Varsity Rack.
ISTC reviewed the final draft of their True Cost of Water Study with F&S leadership for comments before submittal to SSC. F&S will use the study to select water conservation projects related to chiller plants and cooling towers.