Search tips:
After discussions internally at F&S (in the Sustainability and Transportation Demand Management departments) and then discussions with iSEE, it was agreed that the F&S TDM department will conduct the Mode Choice Survey in 2022 and every 3 years going forward.
The newsletter attached below is from F&S Customer Relations & Communications, which provides more detail on UIUC's Green Power User achievement.
The following passage is taken from an iSEE February Newsletter (the newsletter is attached below).
Recycling 101: Start With Reduce, Reuse
Did you know less than 10 percent of plastic is recycled each year? Or that cardboard contaminated with grease or food can't be recycled? In "Recycling 101," iSEE intern Maria Maring outlines what can and can't be recycled on campus, recycling rules and resources in Champaign-Urbana, and tips from sustainability experts about what you can do to recycle effectively and keep waste out of the landfill. Most important: Remember that recycling is just one of the "three Rs," and that "reuse" and "reduce" are just as important in shrinking your environmental footprint!
Meredith Moore and Stacy Gloss are working with ABE469 - Capstone students in the spring 2022 semester.
Students will obtain (be provided) green house gas emission data for this consulting project such as: .
For purposes of this project, the U of I client is aiming to eliminate emissions for air travel by FY30. This project is aimed to offset emissions by 30,000 tons per year by FY 30, related to iCAP objective 3.5.
The client should research the Illinois Climate Action Plan carbon reduction goals related to unavoidable air-travel. The client would like for the consultants to analyze technologies appropriate for campus and our surrounding community; and make recommendations based on this analysis.
Technologies that may reduce carbon, or offset carbon on the local scale are listed below.
The consulting team should evaluate the scope and project size for technology adoption. Including the anticipated GHGs avoided or offset with project adoption. What is the cost of installation, including labor costs? Provide data about cost effectiveness, with breakdown on cost of project per pound or tonne of GHG emissions saved. The projects should be ranked with most cost effective to least effective. Your research, analysis, and recommendations will be presented by the client to the iSEE Resilience Team and other campus stakeholders to inform a local carbon offset program.
The Transportation iCAP team met on Thursday, January 27th from 4:00-5:00 P.M. The team discussed progress on the EV Task Force Member Recommendation, the fleet replacement plan recommendation, and two returned recommendations: the Carbon Credit program and the Carpool Survey.
The team has decided to do further research into what a carpool system would look like at the U of I, and will discuss the matter further with insight from other schools at the next meeting. Progress will hopefully be made on the Fleet Replacement Plan Recommendation, as the team will be meeting with Pete Varney in the Parking Department soon.
Further Information can be found in the attached document.
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.
As of January 24, 2022, UIUC is ranked 23rd on EPA's list of On-Site Green Power Generation.
The full rankings can be found here:
https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/green-power-partnership-top-30-site-gener...
Co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring are excited to embark upon their second semester as SSLC leadership together. The primary goals of the semester include:
Bolster collaboration between environmental RSOs on UIUC campus. The SSLC hopes to work with Student Affairs to incentivize participation with the SSLC, using the University of California Berkely’s Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) as a template. Weekly board meetings and monthly full meetings will continue per usual.
Bolster collaboration between other Illinois schools like University of Illinois Chicago, University of Illinois Springfield, and Illinois State University. Both SECS and ISG may play significant roles in this relationship-building. The SSLC has already been in contact with Illinois State.
Host Earth Month events. The SSLC already began communication with the Illini Union Green Team last semester to begin planning events like Green Quad Day and a movie night on the Quad. Organizations like SECS, Red Bison, and iSEE that have been historically active in Earth Month events will be essential in these processes.
Write SSLC bylaws. The Council has not previously had bylaws, and they are absolutely essential to moving forward in an organized and successful fashion.
Continue to monitor the fight for divestment from fossil fuels. This iCAP Objective has caused copious political strife between students and administrators. Because divestment continues to be a hot topic, the SSLC will continue to listen to student concerns.
From: Hu, Jie
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 11:27 AM
To: Hays, David Lyle; Ruggles, D Fairchild; Sullivan, William C; White, Morgan; McGuire, Mary Patricia
Subject: LA537 final presentation materials
Dear All,
Thanks for Dede, Bill and Morgan to be juries and participant to LA 537 final presentation, and thanks for all of you comments and suggestions!
After the presentation, students has revised their final submission materials. I have put all of their final works here in the box. I hope you can give more comments, suggestions and ideas to help me further improve my studio teaching.
Thank you for all of your support and help!
Enjoy your winter break! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Jie
From: Jie Hu <noreply@box.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 11:12 AM
To: White, Morgan
Subject: Jie Hu has invited you to work together in "LA537-Fall, 2021 Final Presentation" folder on Box
Jie Hu wants to work with you on LA537-Fall, 2021 Final Presentation
"I'd like to share my files with you on Box."
The attached document was compiled by Kim Kidwell to overview options for finding food on campus to address local food insecurity.
Ehab Kamarah and Madhu Khanna approved $135,000 of funding from the Carbon Credit Sales Fund for the Grind2Energy system.
"This project will install the Grind2Energy system for food waste at the Lincoln Avenue
Dining Hall on campus... Housing has successfully installed the Grind2Enery system as a sustainable solution for dining hall pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste in four of the five dining halls. This funding would allow them to complete the final installation before the student body returns in fall 2022." -Morgan White (12/14/2021)
An email of approval is attached below.
F&S completed the renewal of our recognition as a Green Power Partner through the US Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partners of our scale now have to use renewable power for seven percent of their annual consumption. Fortunately, the FY21 green power supply for FY21 was 9%, which is a +1.72% increase from the FY19 supply of 7.28%. See attached file.
Overview submitted:
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is proud of its sustainability initiatives and success in achieving Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) goals (https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/). The iCAP is the university’s strategic plan to meet the Climate Leadership Commitments, including being carbon neutral as soon as possible and building resilience to climate change in the local community.
The Urbana campus on-site renewable energy portfolio meets more than 12 percent of annual electricity needs (https://fs.illinois.edu/services/utilities-energy/production/renewable-e...). UIUC’s Solar Farm 2.0 was energized in January 2021, producing 20,000 MWh/year. Combined with Solar Farm 1.0 and other rooftop and ground-mounted solar installations, the Urbana campus generates more than 27,000 MWh/year, ranking UIUC third amongst U.S. universities in on-site clean power production. Incorporating renewable energy continues to be a focus of new facility construction and major renovation projects. Most notably, the innovative Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Building features 970 rooftop panels. Since production started in April 2019, 11 percent of all power supplied to the ECE Building has been from the array, while additional output is reserved for research and educational activities. In September 2016, the university also signed a ten-year wind power purchase agreement for 25 million kWh/year and the rights to the environmental attributes.
iSEE is offering seed funding to help faculty & instructors incorporate sustainability into the classroom in 2022-23. Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows can get $1,000 to integrate sustainability into an existing course or $2,000 to develop a new course, as well as resource support. 100- and 200-level courses encouraged.
Application deadline Jan. 31, 2022.
In the middle of 2021, there was a discussion about adding a sensor station at the far south of South Farms to track the water quality in the Embarras.
The original scope included installing the sensor during the Fall 2021 semester as a part of Arthur Schmidt's Field Class. However, obstacles, such as purchasing additional materials and the change in weather, have shifted this timeline.
As of Mid-November, Arthur Schmidt and his colleague, Jacob, are teaching a new sensors class in the Spring 2022 semester. The new timeline hopes to get the installation included in the Sensors Class curriculum, with installation occurring in the early half of 2022.
From: Ricci, Marcus <mericci@urbanaillinois.us>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 1:32 PM
To: icap-resilience at lists.illinois.edu
Subject: RE: [icap-resilience] Revolving Loan Fund example for evaluation
*** Email From An External Source ***
Today’s Lunchtime Stroll Through the Internet: “Local Carbon Offset Programs.”
I hit on “The Offset Project” which started off in 2010 as a not-for-profit program in Monterey Bay, to fund sustainability programs that reduce carbon emissions: https://theoffsetproject.org/programs-and-services/local-offset-projects/top-local-offset-projects/.
They eventually morphed into a for-profit group that helps/services others to do the same: http://www.bluestrikeenvironmental.com/. One of their clients was UC Santa Cruz and the City of Watsonville, the latter of which instituted a Carbon Fund Ordinance which “establishes a Carbon Fee to be charged to all development projects except single family residential alterations, temporary buildings, and/or building area that is not used as conditioned space. The goal of the Carbon Fund Ordinance is to encourage the implementation of renewable energy in development projects. The money collected from the Carbon Fund Fee are placed in a separate account to be used for citywide greenhouse gas reduction projects.” https://www.cityofwatsonville.org/1765/Carbon-Fund-Ordinance
So, if we (someone) wanted to pick their brains (for free) Kristin from Blue Strike Environmental would be willing to chat with us, and provide the Power Point presentations they used at City of Watsonville.
The UC Santa Cruz Carbon Fund sounds similar to UIUC’s sustainability funds, so it could be used, in general, to pay for offsetting carbon: https://sustainability.ucsc.edu/engage/funding/carbon-fund/about/index.html.
By the way, I *really* dislike the use of the word “offset.” I feel that an offset is when you are paying for emitting something, when what we are trying to do (I think?) is actually *reduce* carbon emissions.
Merriam-Webster: : to cancel or reduce the effect of (something) : to create an equal balance between two things
Are we trying to reduce the emissions themselves? Or allowing all of the emissions and just fixing their effects?
Be safe, stay healthy,
Marcus
Marcus Ricci, AICP
Planner II
Community Services Department | City of Urbana
400 S Vine St | Urbana, Illinois 61801
217.328.8283
Scott Tess shared these resources for local projects:
https://www.green-e.org/certified-resources/carbon-offsets
https://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/voluntary-offset-program/
The Sustainability Council met on 11-29-21. The presentation is attached and the agenda was as follows:
The following sustainability topics will be added to the new student campus tours!
Stacy Gloss, Meredith Moore, Morgan White, and Scott Tess met to discuss Resilience Team work.
We discussed:
11/17/2021
Present: Morgan White, Meredith More, Eric Green, Tony Mancuso, Stacy Gloss
Gloss provided an overview of the local carbon offset objective as described in the iCAP. There was discussion that there are two sides to the issue. 1. The funding mechanism. 2. What projects are funded by off-setting faculty & staff travel impacts?
The team was asked to review the carbon offset programs by the University of California System and Duke University as two different models. The first is a campus-system internal model where funds are used to develop projects on campuses throughout the system. A university-system advisory board receives applications for projects and approves the projects that meet program requirements. The Duke carbon offset initiative involves a portfolio of offsets including a methane capture waste-to-energy at an industrial farm, urban tree planting program, avoided conversion, wetland restoration, and a pilot program for residential energy efficiency piloted in 2012 --- these programs happen off-campus.
We agreed that there is an economies-of-scale issue with local off-sets to overcome. For local-community-based projects, the cost per off-set is going to be higher than aggregating funds into one industrial scale project or program. An carbon-off-set company, for example, might contact a city and offer $1.00 per tree for off-sets, but it costs over $400 to install and maintain a tree. (A program like this appears to generate a very small added value to the paid organization.)
U of I campus renewable energy & energy efficiency projects can be tracked by the campus energy office. For community off-sets, an agency (university or otherwise) would need to set up a mechanism to collect and distribute funds for community-based projects, perhaps through a non-for-profit interface. Projects can include urban tree-planting, renewable energy, energy efficiency, prairie restoration etc. 3rd party verification is needed.
As a next step, this team and others must define "local" in "local offset program" in order to meet this objective in the iCAP. Is the program going to be internal to campus, or include the local community as recipients of funds community projects?
This team must also interpret what the iCAP is saying to off-set.
These questions are fundamental to designing and implementing a local-carbon-offset program.
