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  1. overview of the small starts grant projects

    Associated Project(s): 
    Multimodal Corridor Enhancement Project (MCORE)
    Transportation Grants

    Small Starts is a federal grant program administered by the Federal Transit Administration for eligible transportation projects that cost less than $250 million total. A Small Starts grant proposal is being spearheaded by MTD for a segment of high-traffic streets in the center of campus, which would require a cost-sharing component by all the CATS member agencies.  Within the University District, this grant proposal includes bike lanes on White Street, Wright Street, Green Street from Wright Street to Lincoln Avenue, and Armory Avenue from Wright Street to Fourth Street.  Within the Small Starts proposed improvements, the University has jurisdiction over Armory Avenue from Wright Street to Fourth Street, the Wright Street existing bike path to the east of the roadway from Armory Avenue to Green Street, and the Green Street existing bike path to the north of the curb from Wright Street to east of Goodwin Avenue. 

    The Green Street bike path removal should occur when the City of Urbana installs bike lanes on Green Street.  The Wright Street bike path removal will need to happen in conjunction with the installation of bike lanes on Wright Street, which is under City of Champaign jurisdiction.  The bike lanes on Armory Avenue should occur when the Wright Street and Armory Avenue intersection is reconfigured.  That reconfiguration will include shifting the street and sidewalk southern edges farther to the south, so it will be primarily under the jurisdiction of the University.  However, this work will require careful coordination with the City of Champaign, and the intersection should be done in conjunction with the bike lane installation on Wright Street.

    The projects in this grant proposal are the top priority safety concerns for the University and the other CATS agencies.  Every effort should be made to assist MTD with obtaining this grant, so these safety issues can be addressed quickly and completely. Additionally, because the Small Start Grant will require some matching funds from the member agencies of CATS, the University should be diligent in helping to meet the required match.

  3. Conference Call with Big Ten schools

    Associated Project(s): 
    Eco-Olympics

    From: Rob Andrejewski [mailto:rga116@psu.edu]
    Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 1:26 PM
    To: Stacey White
    Cc: Amy Short; Catherine Huddy; Chris Kelleher; Colin Higgins; Jeff; Julia Burchell; MSU USGBC; Phuong Nguyen; Shane Stennes; clark.devries@unl.edu; Foote, Gerard Paul; matan.gill@unl.edu; Johnston, Morgan B; mkornitas@facilities.rutgers.edu; tjhoggatt@purdue.edu
    Subject: Re: Meeting today: Big Ten CCN Competition

    Hi All,

    Attached you will find the Building Captain Manual that Penn State used last year for our volunteers and Eco-Reps for our "Fight the Power" CCN competition last year. Here is the link to our dashboard from last year as well: http://buildingdashboard.net/psu

    I also included a "Best Practices" document that I downloaded from AASHE, but I still find it helpful. 

    Rob

    On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Stacey White <whit0691@umn.edu> wrote:

    Hello everyone, 

    Looking forward to today's Big Ten CCN competition meeting. We're hoping to cover:

    • Schools participating
    • Dates/reporting times
    • Unified logo update
    • Marketing
    • Other ideas you'd like to discuss

    Talk to you soon,

    Stacey White
    Sustainability Coordinator

    University Services

    University of Minnesota

    Office: 612-624-3285

    Cell: 612-978-0843

    Fax: 612-625-4133

     

    Attached Files: 

  4. Engineering Design preliminary meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Install Public Use Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations

    Eva Sweeney, Robert Halverson, and John Summers from F&S Engineering Design Services met with Paul Foote and Morgan Johnston.  They discussed the SSC step two proposal for an EV charging station.  Robert had met with Michelle Wahl and Tom Skaggs from Parking. Eva will be the key electrical engineer for this project.

    There was discussion about a connection from the parking meter to the electric charging station.  The meter could have contacts that would energize the charging station when the parking meter is paid. 

    There was a question whether this proposal is for one or two charging stations which would take two or four parking spaces.  Morgan said she would check with Michelle about the quantity.  It was later clarified that the proposal is for one charging station, which would need two parking spaces.

    Parking will have reduced revenue from the parking spaces.  A departmental space is $1980 per year.  Parking meters are currently charging $1.00/hour.  We need to be able to report on the effectiveness of this program, so we need to track the energy usage.  

    There will be ongoing maintenance costs.  The Engineering design work can help understand these potential costs, once the specific charging station is selected.

    This will go in parking lot B4. It will not be a leased space.

    The SSC request is for $20k.

    According to Robert, Michelle indicated that UA wants a trending report on usage.

  5. Notes from discussion with Central Stores

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainable Procurement

    Ken Merrill gave an example of paper purchases:

    This year he has purchased 33,500 reams of virgin paper, 1073 reams with 30% recycled content, and 180 with 100% recycled content.  The means for this year 96.4 of the paper purchased through Central Stores has no recycled content. 

    • Computer purchasing commitment for EPEAT products does not exist although some colleges may have one.
    • Vendor Code of Conduct – Ken does not know of one.
    • Environmental Indicators for purchasing – None other than possibly regarding diversity.
    • Uses Life-Cycle Analysis – No
    • Incorporate disposal costs into the product costs – No
    • Minimum recycling standards – No
    • Green Cleaning Products – Yes, everything is green seal certified

    He said he was happy to purchase whatever the units want, but they have to want it.

     

  7. Meeting with Amy Liu

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Fountain Retrofit
    Reduce Single-Use Plastics

    Met with Amy because she was interested in moving some of the funding from retrofits to education.  I told Amy about some of the education projects I have worked on in the past including a taste testing table.  Amy seemed interested in having a table in the student union starting early next semester.  After the meeting I stopped and talked to Stephanie about groups that might want to join in the effort.  The information was passed on to Amy.  Amy said she would make contact and try to get enough volunteers to run the table for 20 hours per week.  She was also going to try to change the scope of the funding so she could make marketing material. 

  8. Email to students about CCN

    Associated Project(s): 
    Eco-Olympics

    From: Foote, Gerard Paul
    Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 1:19 PM
    To: Mondello, Jessica Rae; Ross, Karoline Jeanne; Myles, Kirsten N; Khan, Nadia; Jones, KeJuan M; Jamal, Sahir S; Anjum, Hiba Sattar; Sheth, Saloni B
    Cc: Johnston, Morgan B; Hochman, Sarah E; Hauger, Kevin J
    Subject: Campus Conservation Nationals Introduction email

    Hello everyone,

    I hope everyone had a great holiday!

    As a follow-up to our initial meeting, I would like to thank you all for your interest in participating in the first ever UIUC CCN competition.

    It is great to find fellow students interested in making a difference in the world, and sustainability in energy conservation is a great place to start.

    This competition is promising to be an Awesome experience!

    Getting started: I would like to schedule a meeting where we discuss the roles needed and create the competition schedule.

    I know these next two weeks are demanding but we need to meet,

    With this in mind;  I  am available most evenings after 5 pm,  Mon and Tue I have prior arrangements but can cancel them if needed.

    Please respond today or Tue with which evenings and times that work or don’t work for you, then I will post the meeting options that meet the majority

    Attached is a sample timeline. Keep  in mind these are recommendations and we may opt to re-arrange to best fit our team’s needs.

    When I met with you there was some question as to the duties in each role participating in the competition, attached is a pdf of sample team position descriptions.

    When responding with meeting times if you already know what role or roles you are interested in please indicate that in your response.  Thank you!

    http://competetoreduce.org/ccn/plan.html This is a link to the competition training webinars, I encourage you to scroll to the bottom and read the CCN Competition Planning Guide and the CCN Data Collection & BuildingOS Guide. These will provide important data for understanding what and how we are going to accomplish CCN, as the competition organization team.

    For those of you that are more ambitious watch the webinars as they are well prepared and explain many facets of the competition in great detail.

    I have downloaded and watched them all!  

    As for an update on the current status of the competition;

    -We have a tentative timeline for collection and competition weeks, however we have been invited to participate in a Big 10 version of the competition as well, this may require us to modify our schedule to match the Big 10 timeline, will update as we progress.

    -The 20 res Halls with metering capability have been identified and I am working with the metering dept. to get training on how to digitally collect this data.

    -Most of the signatures on the CCN registration have been received with 2 remaining this will be completed by Dec 15th 2013.

    Thank you again for your participation and I look forward to working with all of you in creating this Amazing competition at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.

    Paul Foote

     

    Attached Files: 

  9. display information

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Dashboard Project

    Slides will play on all 3 working digital displays at BIF. Unfortunately, we're having hardware issues with the display facing the Sixth Street entrance. The IlliniEnergy images will take up the entire interactive region of the digital display. However, the images will not take up the space on the footer and right-hand portion of the display, as we already have student groups scheduled to run information on those spaces.

    Images will run through December 20. We would be happy to keep a small number of the slides in the rotation after December 20.

  11. Assist lab store managers with glove recycling

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    Hi Bart,

    Please touch base with Seth about KCP glove recycling, to get up to speed on the program they are using at ISTC.  Then work with lab store managers around campus to help them implement the program.  We will need a tracking system to be able to report on campus efforts, so find out if KCP will provide us with annual volumes or if we have to do it ourselves.  You can also touch base with Olof Westerstahl in Corporate Relations to get up to speed on any conversations he has had with KCP.

    Thanks,

    Morgan

  12. Status update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Dashboard Project

    The display ppts have been distributed and can go on as a static display.  We than the Comminication office of our college for moving forward and we will be ready for testing when the students come back Dec 2.

  13. Meeting with zero waste coordinator set for Dec. 3

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Fountain Retrofit
    Reduce Single-Use Plastics

    On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 4:25 PM, Bartels, Bart A <bbartel@illinois.edu> wrote: I am happy to help.  Love the educational aspect.  Taste testing tables can be very successful along with a cost comparison highlighting how much a student can spend on bottled water that doesn't meet the quality standards of tap water.  Count me in. From: Amy Liu [liuaimiwork@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 4:11 PM To: Johnston, Morgan B Cc: David Mischiu; Bartels, Bart A Subject: Re: glass fillers   Thanks Morgan!    Bart, I'm entertaining the idea of collaborative educational events and promotions for Tap That. What is your opinion at this point? And would you be interested in meeting on a day after Thanksgiving break to discuss this? Any insight is appreciated.   Cheers, Amy Liu

  14. discussion about trailer needs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI)

    Craig Grant had an initial meeting with Kevin He from the student biodiesel group yesterday to hear his initial thoughts about building a biodiesel processing facility in a trailer. They have been unable to find another suitable facility for their program since they had to leave the ISTC facility on Hazelwood. They were looking at purchasing a mobile pre-manufactured set-up, but the company has since dropped the trailer systems. They want to construct their own system in a trailer using newer processing technologies, but many of the previous raised issues remain problems for them.

    Attached is a copy of their written “Initial Plan” for this endeavor. After listening to the presentation of the plan, Craig identified a number of significant issues that would need to be addressed to even consider the “trailer option” further. Obvious concerns included the approval of possible sites to park the trailer and operate the plant (including off-loading of WVO and storage of processed Biodiesel as well as glycerin processing for liquid soap). The need to take into consideration the approvals needed to be able to available electrical power supplies and connection methods, environmental precautions, etc. will also be significant criteria to be resolved.

    Attached Files: 

  15. LINC bike registration posters

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Safety Posters by CCB [ARCHIVED]

    In 2013, Egwin Avau and Maarten Baeten, from the Learning in Community UI Bikes class, created digital signs encouraging bicycle registration across campus.

    The dimensions are as follows:

    Housing: JPEG 1921 pixels wide x 827 pixels high

    Examples and more info: http://www.housing.illinois.edu/Policies/Electronic%20Signage.aspx

    Campus Rec:  JPEG 1185 pixels wide x 885 pixels high

    More info:  http://www.campusrec.illinois.edu/sponsors/

    MTD has 2 sizes: JPEG 1080 pixels wide x 480 pixels tall,  and 540 pixels wide x 950 pixels tall
    *Most screens are vertically oriented (ad at the bottom) but two are horizontally oriented (ad on the right).

    More info: http://www.cumtd.com/advertise/displays

    This is what they look like (see the little “be alert” yellow ad toward the bottom): http://www.cumtd.com/the-inside-lane/new-design-implemented-on-stopwatch-kiosks/

     

    Attached Files: 

  16. Bike Theft Prevention Ideas from Peter Davis

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus


    Let's make C-U a bike thief Un-Friendly Community.

    I think that our local cycling community would benefit from a relatively simple system which would compile and distribute information on stolen bikes.  I gave it some thought last night and we discussed and refined a possible system at our weekly staff meeting this morning.  This is not a finished product and I'd welcome suggestions to improve it.  But here's the idea.

    The system would consist of three parts:

    1. An easy way for the owner to register their bike as stolen.
    2. A way to disseminate that information to appropriate people in our community.
    3. An accessible list of stolen bikes that people could refer to.

    Champaign Cycle is volunteering to set up and run this system.  We could implement it in the following manner:

      1.  Register your bike as stolen.

    The bike owner would email service@champaigncycle.com  (I'm changing this to stolen@champaigncycle.com) with "Stolen Bike" as the subject and provide the information on the stolen bike.  We will develop an email form that they could fill out and email back.  That form would include:

    *IMPORTANT INFORMATION

    • *Serial Number
      • Check with the bike shop you bought the bike from.  They should have recorded the serial number and have that record for you.
    • *Brand
    • *Model
    • *Color
    • *Frame type (men's or women's frame)
    • *Bike Shop Sticker
    • *Distinctive Features (white aero wheels, yellow baby seat with frog stickers, 12" rusty scratch on top tube, black fenders and rear rack)
    • Size (frame size or wheel size)
    • Style (road, mountain, hybrid, cruiser, kids, etc)
    • Where it was purchased
    • Year Purchased
    • Date Stolen
    • Location of theft (First and John, Cherry Hills, UI Library)
    • Locked with (U lock, cable, chain, in garage, unlocked)
    • *Name
    • *Email
    • *Phone

    We would ask that the Police departments also submit their stolen reports so we could disseminate their information.

    All this information would help everyone identify the bike to help return it to its owner.  The information could also provide a view of how big a problem bike theft is and where and how bikes are stolen.

      2.  Dissemination of stolen bike information to interested parties.

    We would maintain an email list and we would send the information on the stolen bike to:

    • Police: Champaign, Sheriff, UI, Urbana
    • CCB eMail list
    • KMBC eMail list
    • PCC eMail list
    • UC Bike Ride eMail list
    • Bakers Bikes
    • Bike Project
    • Bikeworks
    • Durst Cycles - Urbana and Champaign
    • Itty Bitty Bike Shop
    • Neutral Cycle Workshop
    • The local pawn shops

       3.  Maintain an accessible list of stolen bikes.

    We would maintain a list of the stolen bikes on a page on our website to which anyone could refer at any time.  It would be under the Service Tab as Stolen Bikes.  The list would include all the stolen bikes reported to us and would be sortable by column of the categories listed on the report form.  So you'd be able to sort the list by brand, serial number, or whatever.  That way you wouldn't have to print out each report or keep a list which might be out of date. 

    So that's the system as we envision it.  We could have it up and running next week.  Any ideas on improving it would be welcome.  We don't suggest that this is a finished project.  It can evolve as we gain experience with it.  I would especially appreciate input from our Police departments.  I'd also be glad to hand this off to another organization, but we are happy to develop and maintain it.  I don't think it will be much of a job for our staff.  We've assigned a person to administer it.  The thing that will make it work and be effective is that we list all the stolen bikes.  So promoting notifying the system of your stolen bike is very important. 

    As this system became more widely used, and more widely known, it should act as a bicycle theft deterrent.  If prospective thieves know there is a system to register stolen bikes and that there are Police, bike shops, pawn shops, and individuals on the outlook for stolen bikes, it may make stealing less attractive.  Think of this as a Bicycle Community Watch.

    What do you think?

    Peter Davis
    Champaign Cycle
    217-352-7600

  17. Next set Approved

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Fountain Retrofit
    Reduce Single-Use Plastics

    Morgan talked with Amy and David today about this project.  They approve moving forward with the other buildings. They just want us to use good common sense when selecting water fountains worthy of the retrofits.  That is, if you think the fountain should be replaced at some time in the next few years, then don't put a glass filler on it.     We also discussed the issue of potentially changing the project scope to fund some Tap That marketing needs.  Also discussed doing additional fountains in the buildings around the main quad.

  20. Working Group recommendations

    Associated Project(s): 
    Krannert Art Museum LEDs
    Highlights Possible Issues Overall Working Group Recommendation WG Recommendation #2 (if applicable) 
    The Krannert Art Museum employs an average of 3-5 graduate students throughout the year in the Exhibits Department and they will help with the project.  Student switching lights may be an issue.  Approve  The could possibly seek outside incentives due to the small scale of the project, they may be able to cover upfront costs. 

     

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