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iSEE is offering funding to integrate elements of sustainability into an existing course ($1,000 award) or develop a new course with a sustainability focus ($2,000 award) through the 2021 Levenick iSEE Teaching Sustainability Fellowship. Applications are due January 31.
Faculty and instructors have until month's end to apply for iSEE's 2021 Course Development Cohort program, increasing sustainability course offerings across campus. The 2021 Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows will integrate sustainability components into an existing course ($1,000) or develop a new course with a sustainability focus ($2,000). 100- and 200-level courses especially encouraged.
Tony Mancuso • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
The Energy iCAP Team had their first meeting of the Spring semester on January 21st, 2021. The meeting focused on obtaining supporting materials for a recommendation to start the Comprehensive Energy Plan, which will serve as an university-wide guide on energy conservation. A recommendation to model buildings for energy code compliance will likely be ready next month. Future discussions are planned with F&S representatives. A subcommittee of Energy team members will brainstorm concrete actions on energy efficiency in labs and residence halls. The agenda and meeting minutes are attached.
Jeremy Guest has been named iSEE's Acting Associate Director for Research. Guest will guide the development of new iSEE research initiatives and support existing programs within the institute's research portfolio.
The Bike Month planning team met today, with representatives from several areas across Champaign County.
1) CU Safe Routes to School - planned for May 5 - Urban Planning student is an intern for CU-SRTS. They are also working on a safe routes to parks program.
2) Champaign County Bikes - Charlie Smyth is the chair of CCB this year. They will have a new website in a few days. They still need one more board member for this year. They talked with Amelia Neptune at the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), and Charlie shared several points about the national outlook.
3) This group will plan virtual events for the spring, and meet again in February.
Please see the attached report that details a design report for the Vet Med Stormwater system.
This is a list of projects that need students to work on. It will be updated periodically by sustainability staff members, the last update was 1/2/21:
Attached are the meeting minutes from the Zero Waste SWATeam on 12/18/2020. The following agenda items were discussed:
Attached are the meeting minutes for the Transportation SWATeam Meeting on 12/16/2020. The following agenda items were discussed:
The SSC approved $12,000 in funding for a precious plastic campus recycling hub in Fall 2020. This project expires 12/16/2022.
Funding Letter - Precious Plastic Campus Recycling Hub.pdf
App - Precious Plastic Campus Recycling Hub.docx Step_2_Additional_Information fab lab.docx Step-2-Application-18 Fab Lab.docx
Step-2-Supplemental-Budget-and-Timeline_2020 Fab Lab Corrected (1) copy.xlsx Step-2-Supplemental-Budget-and-Timeline_2020 Fab Lab.xlsxSol 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...
iSEE is launching its third annual application period for the Levenick iSEE Teaching Sustainability Fellowship. This program provides support for Illinois instructors to integrate sustainability components into an existing course or develop a new course with a sustainability focus.
BK Sharma at ISTC identified these specifications for IBI to meet.
1) B6751 for B100
2) B7467 for B6 to B20
In Fall 2017, University of Illinois Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) Erica Myers and ACE Ph.D. Candidate Mateus Souza conducted a study to gauge whether detailed energy reports would influence student energy-saving behaviors. The project received funding through the Levenick iSEE Fellows Program, and ultimately determined that although similar experiments had proven effective in standard residential settings, the impact was negligible in residence halls where students do not directly pay for energy. On the other hand, simple nudges sent prior to winter break were effective in promoting the reduction of thermostat setpoints and energy consumption. Results from the study were later published at the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.
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:
Thank you,
Sushanth Girini
Andrew Li, Halie Collins, and Morgan White met today to launch a student-led project to get an update for all the small scale solar projects on campus. Andrew will be reaching out to the project contacts over the next few months to get a status update and associated photos, links, etc. for each project. He will then update the iCAP Portal accordingly.
Past Project Based Learning students reached out to Tim Bannon at Willard Airport to propose adding solar carports over the parking lot.
Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 11/13.
Discussed were the following topics:
Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 11/13.
Discussed were the following topics:
