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Project Updates for collection: 2015 iCAP Objectives

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  1. Week 6 - Next steps

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    The next steps for the project progress would be to review the past BFU applications from 2011 - 2019 to understand the stage we as a university are at currently and would help to identify, compare and contrast the work across these timelines to improve the status and make recommendations after reviewing the feedback. 


     

  2. Week 5 - Check in meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    In the past weeks,  Aparna reviewed the  BFU Application to understand the scope of work, did research/literature review work, and familiarized herself with the current initiatives taken by the university at present to combat bike thefts. Moreover, she also had a conversation with a transportation staff from UCLA and ASU who had recently reached out to me on their ideas/approach on this topic for a qualitative aspect of this project. The same was also discussed with her capstone advisor, Prof. Lindsay Braun to go over the progress and find better clarity. 

  3. Zero Waste iCAP Meeting 11/7/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) Climate Action Plan
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Food Waste Reduction
    Increase Recycling Rates
    Project4less
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    On November 7th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss DIA sustainability initiatives with Tim Knox and made edits on the Project 4 Less expansion recommendation to be submitted in the coming month(s). 

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  4. Land & Water iCAP Meeting 11/7/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP)
    Vet Med Parking Lot Re-Design
    Rainwater Management
    Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas

    On November 7th, the Land and Water iCAP team met to review the results of the Milkweed survey, make final edits to the Monarch Butterfly recommendation, and discuss new recommendations inspired by the Campus Landscape Master Plan.

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  5. Week 4 - Check in meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    This week Aparna got in touch with the staff of transit services from Arizona State University to understand their approach to achieving the Gold BFU certification. 

    Sarthak and Aparna also had a quick overview of the materials shared and brainstormed ideas/recommendations to raise awareness in the campus community as well as keep bike thefts in mind. 

    The next steps would be to familiarize with the topic better, collect all the research materials and make notes/highlight the existing implementation, and make comments on these.

  6. Reasons for Recycling Rate Decrease

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Recycling Rates

    The reasons for the putative decrease in recycling rate include the increase in plastic production, flat change in recycling capacity, and China no longer accepting our recyclables. A Time magazine article further suggests that the estimated 9% recycling rate from 2018 was inflated because most of the plastic we sent to China was landfilled or incinerated. Another interesting point: an estimated 30-36% of collected PET is wasted in the recycling process.

     

    The original report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/US-plastics-recycling-rate . Table 2 provides estimates and sources.

  8. Week 3 - Check in meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    In this meeting,  potential ideas for secured bicycle parking were discussed as ways to promote awareness among the campus community. A capstone proposal outlining the final objectives and deliverables was drafted and Sarthak helped support this discussion sharing an Excel sheet that has all of the goals, current status, and plans for the future of some mentioned ideas towards achieving the said objectives with challenges that are yet to be tackled. 

    This week, Aparna is going to try to get in touch with the transportation team from other universities that have achieved the Gold BFU status to gather some ideas specific to raising awareness about bike thefts. This would navigate the research better. 

    Aparna is also spending her initial time on the project learning about the Bike registration process and other initiatives that are already ongoing at UIUC to help understand the way forward. She also has access to the iCAP portal to update and document the weekly meetings to keep a track of the project progress.

  9. RECs & Carbon Offsets for Scope 1, 2, 3 Emissions

    Associated Project(s): 
    Carbon Offsets for Major Users [ARCHIVED]
    Develop Local Carbon Offset Program [ARCHIVED]

    Below is an email from Serena Armendaris with Carbon Solutions Group:

    Hey Morgan,

    My name is Serena Armendaris and I work for a firm called Carbon Solutions Group (CSG). We specialize in environmental credits & projects for ESG claims and have been in the business since 2006. Our Sustainability offerings include:

    • North American Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) 
    • International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-RECs)
    • North American Carbon Offsets (CO2)
    • International Carbon Offsets (CO2)
    • DirtRoad Electric Vehicle Charging - turnkey, revenue-positive electric vehicle infrastructure 
    • DirtRoad ESG - Carbon offsets from our DirtRoad platform - at a ten-year fixed price - an excellent alternative for the recently introduced SEC carbon disclosure rules

    Currently, Reporting Year 2022 Wind RECs are offered @ $1.90/MWh and US Carbon Offsets are @$9.25.

    Do you think anyone on your team might have time for a 15 minute introductory call to discuss further?

    Thanks and regards,

    Attached Files: 

  10. Clinton, IL landfill (owned by Green For Life)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Use Landfills with Methane-capture Technology [ARCHIVED]

    From: David Bryant <david.bryant@gflenv.com>
    Sent: Friday, October 14, 2022 12:21 PM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: Clinton Landfill Methane

     

    Daphne,

     

    Clinton Landfill currently has a 3rd party electrical generation plant at the facility that produces 3000 kw of power from landfill gas. It has been in operations for approximately 15 years. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

     

    Thanks

     

     


    David Bryant | Landfill General Manager I

    GFL Environmental

    24501 McMullen Rd, Hopedale, IL 61747
    | david.bryant@gflenv.com | www.gflenv.com

    Confidentiality Notice:  This email message (including attachments, if any) is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, proprietary, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender and erase this email message immediately.

  12. Week 2 update: Objectives for capstone

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    Questions and doubts regarding the literature review done in the past week were discussed including a capstone report outline highlighting the main topics of research. More research work to follow in the coming week to help familiarize with the project's background. Aparna got contact information from the transportation department of UCLA and Arizona State University to discuss the project with their transportation team as the 2 universities have achieved the Gold BFU status and hoping to get a sense of direction or any leads on this. She is also in touch with Prof. Lindsay Braun who is her capstone advisor, and Briana Barr, Thomas Valencia, and Lily Wilcock from the City of Urbana who are working on similar projects.

    The idea was to bring more concepts and recommendations for a bike-friendly university to the table. We might also try to involve the Student Sustainability Committee, which uses a comprehensive evaluative process to fund a project that incorporates student involvement and an ability to spark change on campus. Aparna would help identify a cause as a part of the bike-friendly project which would also serve as a student-led project to apply for the SSC funding. An excel sheet that charts out the current status of the project were shared by Sarthak for better clarity, which also includes feedback from BFU to help plan for the future and achieve the desired goal.

    Three main objectives of the proposal would be -

    1. To get the BFU application drafted and ready to submit by the month of May
    2. Ideas for SSC funding for the Bike Friendly University Project
    3. Educate students and create a plan for bike thefts so that incoming students are aware of how to protect their bikes and encourage them to use this mode of transportation.

    An overall capstone proposal that outlines the said objectives and a work plan will be shared in the upcoming week. Access to the iCAP portal will be granted soon to chart out real-time updates and minutes of meetings.

  14. Energy iCAP Team Meeting 10/7/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy iCAP Team
    Clean Energy Plan
    Use Clean Power
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy

    The energy iCAP team met on Friday, October 7th 2022 to review the team's presentation for the campus sustainability celebration, review the team's priorities for the year, and discuss options for advancing the proposed clean energy plan and increasing procurement of renewable energy through power purchasing agreements.

    Link to meeting recording: https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_5bh3gs4r

    Attached Files: 

  15. Captstone meeting Week 1: Introduction to the topics

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    I, Aparna Padmakumar from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning am pursuing a master’s degree with a concentration focus in the field of transportation and currently is looking to take up a potential capstone project with the transportation iCAP team hoping to contribute to better bicycle safety/access on the UIUC campus. After multiple discussions and meetings with Sarthak Prasad,  the projects that I will be helping out with would be the ‘Bicycle Friendly University Status’ and ‘Reducing Bicycle Theft on Campus’ through the months of October until May. In today’s kick-off meeting (10/3/2022) previous data, studies, and information were shared with me for better clarity and expected to go through all the previously collected information on the iCap portal. Sarthak guided me through the 2022 Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) application to achieve Gold-level BFU certification and also the Bike at Illinois website as a source of information for the second ongoing project. I am also in constant touch with the other concerned team members to note down important background information on these 2 projects for a better sense of direction before our next weekly Monday meeting’

  17. Solar Farm 3.0 Solution Comparisons and Cost Estimates

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Power on Campus
    Off-campus Solar Farm 3.0 PPA
    On-Campus Solar Farm 3.0

    Attached is a pdf and excel file looking at the costs and solution comparisons for Solar Farm 3.0. This was presented by F&S AVCED Ehab Kamarah to Chancellor Jones.

    Attached Files: 

  18. Insider article on 9/21/22: Ahead of the Curve and All Electric

    Associated Project(s): 
    Use Electric Vehicles (EV)
    F&S Sustainable Fleet Plan
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet
    Increase use of EVs and other Alternative Service Vehicles

    F&S purchased two all electric Ford F-150 Lightning trucks in spring 2022. Read the Insider article about this here: https://fs.web.illinois.edu/Insider/2022/09/21/ahead-of-the-curve-and-al...

    Attached Files: 

  20. Second Nature Carbon Credit Email Exchange

    Associated Project(s): 
    Utilize Carbon Credits
    Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) with Second Nature

    Below is an email exchange between Meredtih Moore of iSEE and Steve Muzzy of Second Nature:

    Hi Steve,

     

    Hope you are doing well! I am touching base again to see if there is an update about the status of our carbon credit sales. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

    Meredith

    ---------------------------

    Hello Meredith,

     

    Thanks for checking in. I've been meaning to follow up with the great news that UIUC credits have been issued and sold. However the reason I have waited is because the broker sold the credits in five batches and they are still waiting on final payment for one batch. Once they have all payments in hand, Second Nature can invoice them for your portion of the revenue. As with the entire process for this round of verification, the sale of credits has for some reason taken longer than expected. We are wanting to issue one invoice for all the batches rather than do multiple invoices - this will allow us to pay UIUC in one lump sum. 

     

    I can tell you the total number of credits sold was 115,836. And pending the final batch sales per/ton you should clear a per ton amount between $6.00-$6.50.

     

    I would expect issuance of UIUCs credit sale revenue check next month.

     

    Best,

     

    ----------------------------

    Thank you so much for the update, Steve!!

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