Hello Big Ten CCN competitors! 

CCN officially ended on April 25th and the results were published yesterday. Congratulations to Penn State University on taking the lead of Big Ten Unplugged with an overall 3.3% electricity reduction during the competition. Penn State University was also a winner in the poster category.  

Taking 2nd place was Ohio State University with a 3.1% reduction. 3rd place goes to University of Wisconsin - Madison with a 2.2% reduction. Congrats to our top 3 Big Ten Unplugged winners! 

I'd like to propose that we continue a Big Ten Challenge in the future not only for CCN but any nationwide competition focused on resource reduction. I will propose a meeting for us some time in late summer to outline what future competitions within Big Ten might look like. 

Best, 

Stacey White
Sustainability Coordinator

University Services

University of Minnesota

Office: 612-624-3285

Cell: 612-978-0843

Fax: 612-625-4133

From: Marquissee, Mike
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 11:22 AM
To: Mies, Timothy A; Anderson, Gary L; Dale Johnston (dkjohnst@igb.illinois.edu)
Subject: RE: Copy of UofI propane 040414-MLM EDITS.xls

Tim,

See answers below.

Mike

From: Mies, Timothy A
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 9:01 AM
To: Marquissee, Mike; Anderson, Gary L; Dale Johnston (dkjohnst@igb.illinois.edu)
Subject: RE: Copy of UofI propane 040414-MLM EDITS.xls

Hi Mike,

Several questions have come up that I would like you input on in regards to the green revolving loan fund in cases that might occur that do not follow the typical project pattern.

Scenario 1) The energy farm reverts to another department at the completion of the grant of the Energy Biosciences Institute before the loan is repaid.  How would the loan be handled in cases where the new department weren’t within the VCR cost area? 

• Since the loan is being repaid from the campus pool in favor of the VCR, it is likely that it would still pay out in favor of which other campus department it goes to.  Unless it turns into a self-supporting entity, which is unlikely.  In that unlikely event, the self-supporting entity would repay the loan.

Scenario 2) A crop loss occurs one year that would limit/prevent the savings that are estimated from our initial estimates? 

• The Campus utility pool would still pay out.  Just that the savings would not be recognized.  It would also pay for the additional propane.  The loss would not come out of the project.

Scenario 3) Miscanthus ceases to be produced on the energy farm, resulting in no more mxg produced locally?  Would F&S then consider purchasing MXG from a local farmer who could supply the material? Assuming the boiler installed could handle multiple feedstocks, wood chips may be an alternative. 

• We support this project because there is a research project attached to it.  If that project is discontinued, we would then have to discuss who repays the loan.  Most likely it would be out of the research fund, then, which would also pay for the restoration of the site and so on.  I don’t think we would be interested in providing alternative fuel sources or manage an abandoned research project.

Thanks for your input.

Tim

Schedule

Monday, April 28, 11AM-2PM

Student Dining and Residential Programs (SDRP) Building

Tuesday, April 29, 11AM-2PM

Illinois Street Residence Halls (ISR)

Wednesday, April 30, 11AM-2PM

Allen Hall/Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall (LAR)

Thursday, May 1, 11AM-2PM

Pennsylvania/Florida Avenue Residence Hall(s) (PAR/FAR)

Prof. Hall, Teresa and Morgan,

Just a quick update – we held the initial site meeting with contractors yesterday. Prof. Chasco was in attendance as we toured the building and discussed construction plans.

At this time work is projected to begin about May 19th.  Any questions on construction or schedule are best directed to Josh Rubin who will be overseeing the work.

Of course you can always contact me with technical questions or anything else on your mind.

Regards,

-Eva

Happy Bike Census Day, 

Thank you so much for participating in the April 2014 Bike Census!

We are really excited to get a hold of the data you collected it and to tally the count. 

Today (Wednesday) after 8PM and tomorrow (Thursday) before 6PM would be ideal. If you could please send me times when you know you will be at home or in an office, I will definitely try to stop by and pick it up then. I could also meet you at a specific time and place. Feel free to give me a call if that is easier. 

If it's easy, you could also scan and email it to me. 

Thanks again for participating! If you didn't get a t-shirt, please let me know and I will bring you one.

Andy

Andy Kopp

Campus Bicycle Planning Intern

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Facilities and Services

From: Lev, James R
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2014 4:37 PM
To: Geoffrey Chambers
Cc: Eller, Jonathan Randall; Johnston, Morgan B; Architecture Review Committee
Subject: RE: Approval for SSC Proposal: Shelter Bicycle Parking for CLSL and RAL

Geoff:

Thank you for your summary and request for review comments on your proposed project. 

ARC finds no significant issues with the proposed locations of a cover bike shelter adjacent to the Chem Life Sciences Building.  

ARC would want to consider shelter designs on a location by location basis.  The shelters may not be acceptable everywhere on campus.   Each site would need to be considered on its own merits and appropriateness of design.  We would like to see a proposal for these two suggested locations: size, location, number of racks, costs and the design.   We’d like to see what you have in mind. 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Jim

I just want to let you know that the RecycleMania Game Day results have been released.  Here is the overview:

• Over 100 volunteers participated.
• As far as the RecycleMania Results go:
  • Diversion Rate was 31.5% ranking 19th overall.
  • Per Capita Recycling was .041 pounds per person ranking 24th overall.
  • Waste Generation was .13 pounds person ranking 6th overall.
• Weights were:
  • 1180 pounds of landfill
  • 542 pound of recycling

For all the details go to: http://recyclemaniacs.org/gamedayresults

Thanks so much for your help and willingness to collaborate on this. 

Cheers,

Bart

From: Mies, Timothy A
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 4:54 PM
To: Halverson, Robert; Ben McCall <campus-sustainability@illinois.edu> (campus-sustainability@illinois.edu) (campus-sustainability@illinois.edu); Johnston, Morgan B; Rajagopalan, Nandakishore
Subject: Quick summary and highlights from Marc's visit

Just a quick summary of the discussions that occurred with Marc Caluwe from Caluwe Biomass  Heating Solutions in MA, US.

Heizomat is the manufacturer that Marc is a representative for in the US.  I have several brochures that I can pass along that have details on the product line including the RHK-AK model that Marc recommended.  Key points of interest for this group in selecting / approving a boiler:

• This unit utilizes a drag chain conveyor across the burn bed to handle / stir the material as it burns until dropping into an automatic ash clean out.
• We discussed what emissions controls would be needed, and Marc indicated that would be a decision campus would have to address.  Marc will be forwarding a brochure that compares emissions values from several manufacturers in the UK.  Options in order of cost would be a cyclone and then an electrostatic reciprocator.
• UL certification on this model is pending in approx. May of this year.  Due to the cost of ASME certification, they do not plan on testing to that standard.  Instead, in the US they run the boilers at atmospheric pressure with a vent on top.  In this configuration, a plate heat exchanger would be used between the boiler and a thermal storage tank (they recommend old propane tanks as acceptable).  The boilers when used in EU are rated and run at 2 bar (30psi).  Marc cited National Board Synopsis NB370 (http://www.nationalboard.org/index.aspx?pageID=409) that farms would be exempt from this requirement to run at atm.,  but universities / state / industry would not be.  It would be nice to get confirmation of this from engineering.
• The boiler recommended has an infinite turndown ration (VFD on blowers) to 10% and then shuts down.  A hot air ignition system in used for lighting / relighting.
• When running on MXG, in order to minimize clinker caused by low melting point of ash, a lower operating temperature is required, also requiring an 30% approx. upsize  in the model to get the rated output.  If we want 200Kw, we need to consider stepping up to a 250Kw model.
• Material handling / storage / feeding was discussed at length, and Marc was going back to Heizomat to get their recommendations for the best system.  Heizomat does not offer a bale processor at this time, but has a bulk bin feed system to collect chopped material to be burned.

Marc indicated that he would provide estimates (hopefully  by Friday noon) on a boiler system including a storage feed system, and also the same system installed in a cargo container, prewired, plumbed, etc.

In addition to the discussions with Mark, Luis Rund presented a very nice plan / rendering of a cargo container size boiler housing that had glass fronts on one half for viewers, and the other half a biomass storage container.  Probably out of our price range at this point, but would make a nice travel display for shows, demos, etc.

I also had a call later in the day from a representative of Biomass Energy Solutions in MO who is a sales rep for Uniconfort  (Italy) and we had very similar discussions on running at atmospheric pressures.  More literature is coming, and Jared Findley with BES forwarded some links I had looked at initially for the bale processors used for animal feedlots. 

Let me know if you have any further questions or need clarification on above.

Tim

We have been able to remove all 413 of the bikes from the parking warehouse and they have started their journey to El Salvador.