At the PWR SWATeam meeting on Feb. 22nd, the team discussed the current campus paper policy. The team will work on reviewing and improving the paper policy to ensure all departments are meeting standards for recycled paper content and identifying reasons for lack of participation. 

The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:

• Updating the EGEN objectives project page
• Reporting steam generation on-campus
• Plans for this semester

F&S staff met to discuss the Speech and Hearing Sciences Building Rooftop Solar PVs project.  Managing Engineer Kristine Chalifoux and Electrical Engineer Brian Finet will take the lead on the design.  The design will use a ballast mounting system, real time energy meters, and an online solar dashboard.

All, last week we grossed $506.80. We sold one build-a-bike for $35 and two memberships for $60. We had 60 visitors to the shop.

We were inundated this past week with volunteers, which isn’t a bad thing but is difficult to come up with enough unskilled jobs in a very skill-demanding environment. Thankfully, the organizing never ends! I made some good progress on the wheel storage rack in the back corner of the CBC and it will be completed by the end of the day today. While not the best built thing out there, it will get the job done and allow us to store more wheels safely out of the way and off the ground.

This week will be truncated since I was sick over the weekend and did not work on Monday or Tuesday. But good news: Lily has secured funding for some basic maintenance classes for the spring! Way to go Lily! I will meet with her next week and discuss the details. This week I will start recruiting again for more hires since four of the current CBC staff are graduating in May and at least one more will not be around to help in the summer.

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager

On the agenda at the ECBS SWATeam meeting:

1) Discussion of recommendation process as developed and described in the iCAP;

2) Illini Lights Out final planning for 10th of February;

3) Update on fume hood work;

4) North America Laboratory Freezer Challenge update;   5) Planning for Earth Week.        

The eGen SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG stating, "Incorporate a building design standard into the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Facilities Standards that requires all new buildings on-campus to include a rooftop solar array covering the majority of rooftop surface area."

See attached the SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards complete with comments from all the eGen SWATeam members.

It’s time for promoting and encouraging energy conservation in the halls through Eco-Olympics energy competition, we are displaying the coveted trophy in various locations around housing starting this week through the end of the competition. The grand prize, a catered banquet is secured and awaiting the winning hall!

New to this year’s competition!

1)      We are asking Chancellor Jones to be the signatory for the leadership certificates this year.

2)      We are also supporting a participation prize of $200-$500 for the hall with the most and best participation efforts, your thoughts on this and more on that in a minute.

3)      All Eco-Olympics meetings will be held at your individual hall, accommodating busy schedules and making it easier to attend.

4)      Housing is helping with marketing support for the competition and individual halls.

5)      We have been working with campus utilities to identify meters that are impacted by students and only recording energy usage from these meters to better gauge the teams efforts.

Is your hall competing? 
If you have not seen, flyers posted, group meetings held, plans for participation events or heard conversation about Eco-Olympics it is time to stir the pot and get your residents in contact with us.

• Committed Halls are: Allen, LAR, Busey-Evans, FAR, and ISR (Wardall)
• Halls that have expressed interest (someone signed up but has not followed up with email communication): Bousfield, Barton, Lundgren and Nugent

This leaves us with nine (9) buildings competing at various levels of effort, we are shooting for 12-15 buildings this year and would like your help in making this happen?

If your hall is not listed as “committed” help us get the word out by contacting us, we will make arrangements for a  presentation/recruiting opportunity and marketing materials to be distributed.

Your input is Greatly appreciated, this year we are measuring participation efforts and awarding a financial incentive (between $200-$500) to the hall with the highest level of participation. This will be measured by number of team member’s signup with Eco-Olympics from each hall, number of events held in the hall, and number of participants at each event, verified through organization representatives, and photos of the event.
What we would like from you is to let us know your thoughts on the idea of motivating participation with a $200-$500 incentive for your residents. This prize could be used for the students in any way they like, of course we would encourage it to be used for sustainability and energy conservation efforts, but that would not be mandatory.

We are looking forward to our best and biggest competition ever!

Thank  you 
Paul Foote

Think Globally. Act Locally.