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- Associated Project(s):Attached Files:
Racquetball Court Energy Reduction Project
Associated Project(s):Twelve racquetball and three squash courts at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) were retrofit with 193 fluorescent and 96 mercury vapor light fixtures. The project was funded by the Student Sustainability Committee through an interest-free loan of $75,000.
Once the lighting retrofits were completed, occupancy sensors were installed in all 15 courts.
The overall cost of the project ended up at $61,203.69 -- $13,796.31 less than the original quote. Campus Recreation requested that the remaining balance stay with the division and be used to further fund energy reduction projects within their facilities.
The total average reduction in power consumption is 129,226 kWh. This is a 75.7 percent decrease in consumption, which translates to an annual savings of $9,020. The simple payback for this project is 6.78 years.
Boneyard Creek Community Day
Associated Project(s):The eighth annual Boneyard Creek Community Day will be held on Saturday, April 6 from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will help protect local creeks and help keep the community clean by picking up litter, removing non-native plants, and marking storm drains. To learn more or register visit www.boneyardcreek.org.
RLF Occupancy Sensors FY12
Associated Project(s):Ten buildings on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus were selected to receive RLF funding for occupancy sensors in FY12. In order from top priority to lowest priority, the buildings that received funding are Gregory Hall, the Foreign Languages Building, the Agriculture Engineering Sciences Building, Newmark Laboratory, the Rehabilitation Education Center, the Education Building, the Law Building, the Water Survey Buildings, Noyes Laboratory, and Freer Hall. The University will now proceed to implementation of occupancy sensors in all of the above buildings.
Gregory Hall, the Foreign Languages Building, Newmark Laboratory, the Rehabilitation Education Center, Noyes Laboratory, and Freer Hall have also been selected to receive HVAC occupancy sensors.
Draft 2013 Campus Bike Plan Released for public comment
Associated Project(s):The draft 2013 Campus Bike Plan is now available for public input. The draft plan will be online during a four-week period, March 4-31, and all members of the campus community are encouraged to review the plan and submit their feedback to TDM. Feedback can be submitted through the online Campus Bicycle Feedback Form through March 31, 2013.
Registration now open for Bicycle Mechanic Course
Associated Project(s):Registration is now open for the six-week Bicycle Mechanic Course offered by the Campus Bicycle Shop! Space is extremely limited, and there is a $30 course fee. The class will run from February 6-March 13 and again from March 27-May 1. Register in person for either session at the Campus Bike Shop today to reserve your spot! For more information contact Ken Sutto, Campus Bike Shop Manager, at 217-300-0296 or kensutto@illinois.edu or come by the Campus Bike Shop during open hours (2 to 6pm Monday -Thursday and 2 to 5:30 Friday).
“So You Want to Work on Bikes” is a six-part course designed to teach you about different types of bicycles, their components, and how to do most adjustments, maintenance, and overhauls on your bicycle’s major systems.
This six-week course runs February 6-March 13 and will be held on Wednesday nights, from 6:30 to 8:30pm at the Campus Bike Shop. There are only five spots in the course, and registration is first come, first served until all five spots are filled. There is a $30 course fee, with all the money going towards The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign. This six-week course will be held again from March 27-May 1, and registration for the second course is also currently open (again, first come first served).
If you wish to register please come by the Campus Bike Shop to sign up and pay the deposit as soon as you can. For more information contact Ken Sutto, Campus Bike Shop Manager, at 217-300-0296 or kensutto@illinois.edu or come by the Campus Bike Shop during open hours (2 to 6pm Monday through Thursday and 2 to 5:30 Friday).
Revised Facility Use Agreement
Associated Project(s):During summer 2012, the UI worked with The Bike Project to update the Facility Use Agreement, and clarify the collaborative relationship between the two entities.
Attached Files:Campus Bicycle Feedback Form
Associated Project(s):F&S Transportation Demand Management (TDM) continues to improve efforts to make the Urbana campus more bicycle friendly.
TDM’s latest initiative is a “Campus Bicycle Feedback Form” that will allow anyone to share their suggestions for bicycle-related improvements on campus.The feedback will help inform the Campus Bicycle Master Plan, currently under development, as well as to help determine priorities for bicycle infrastructure and programming improvements in the future.
Feedback topics include bike parking, rules of the road, enforcement, fix-it-stations, and the Campus Bicycle Shop. Respondents will be asked if their comments relate to a specific location on campus, to describe the situation, and then to provide contact information if a follow-up is necessary.
See the Campus Bicycle Feedback Form at http://go.illinois.edu/bikefeedback
Illinois Business Consulting report - economic analysis
Associated Project(s):The central question posed to Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) is as follows: what would be the economic impact of replacing 10% of the university’s coal intake with wood chips? After extensive research, analysis, and calculation it is the opinion of IBC that the cogeneration of energy with coal and wood chips is not economically feasible. The initiative has been deemed not economically feasible because wood chips are more expensive on the basis of energy content, transportation costs will increase due to biomass, and infrastructure modification expenses necessary for the operational changes are significant.
SSC primary contact identified
Associated Project(s):Teresa Tousignant will be the Student Sustainability Committee's representative for this project during spring 2013.
Illinois Business Consulting report - carbon impact
Associated Project(s):In 2012, F&S hired Illinois Business Consulting to evaluate the following question for Abbott Power Plant: "Can the overall carbon footprint be decreased by using 10% of biomass in place of 10% of coal?" The report and executive summary are attached here.
Attached Files:Final Bike Sharing Feasibility Study Submitted to SSC
Associated Project(s):The final report for the Bike Sharing Feasibility Study was submitted to SSC. The study recommends the following three tiered approach to bicycle sharing on the Urbana-Champaign campus:
- Bikes available for employees – The small existing program at Kinesiology and Community Health should be replicated at departments throughout campus. The program needs to be approved by Legal Counsel, Risk Management, Purchasing, and interested Colleges. Then it should be promoted to departments, to encourage them to invest in bicycles for their employees and provide them with a simple support system for maintenance and tracking.
- Bikes available for short-term rentals – As an interim solution until the campus can handle a large-scale bike sharing program, the small existing program at Campus Recreation should be expanded with support from the Student Sustainability Committee. They should increase the number of bicycles available, make the program self-sufficient financially, and market the program to visitors, conference attendees, faculty, staff, and students. A similar program could be investigated for the Illini Union.
- Bike solutions for students and the public – Before this campus is ready to pursue a public bike sharing system, we must first address the issues regarding degraded infrastructure and the need for more bike safety education. Once these issues have been resolved, the campus should renew consideration of several options for bike sharing, such as bicycle libraries, kiosk systems, and GPS-enabled community bikes.
Attached Files:- Bikes available for employees – The small existing program at Kinesiology and Community Health should be replicated at departments throughout campus. The program needs to be approved by Legal Counsel, Risk Management, Purchasing, and interested Colleges. Then it should be promoted to departments, to encourage them to invest in bicycles for their employees and provide them with a simple support system for maintenance and tracking.
Student Sustainability Committee approves funding for the Solar Farm
Associated Project(s):The Student Sustainability Committee approved the Solar Farm funding of $1.05M over the course of three years.
ACUPCC tweets about UI Solar Farm
Associated Project(s):The American College and University Presidents' Climate Committment picked up the UI Solar Farm project on twitter.
Channel 3 shares info about UI Solar Farm
Associated Project(s):Channel 3 news shared the story of the UI Solar Farm on TV and on the Illinois homepage website.
Channel 15 does interview about UI Solar Farm
Associated Project(s):Channel 15 news interviewed Morgan Johnston about the UI Solar Farm. The news report showed on Channel 15 on Friday, November 09.
News-Gazette article about UI Solar Farm being approved
Associated Project(s):The News-Gazette had an article about the Board of Trustees approval of the Solar Farm.
Board of Trustees approves Solar Farm
Associated Project(s):The Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois approved the purchase plans for the Solar Farm on Thursday. The next steps are to complete the Development Agreement, Land-Lease Agreement, and Power Purchase Agreement. Once these are completed, the Solar Farm vendor will begin the design and implementation of the Solar Farm at the southwest corner of Windsor Road and First Street. The entire site should be completed and operational by the end of 2013.
Board of Trustees approves solar farm
Associated Project(s):The Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois approved the Solar Farm purchase.
WILL does interview about Solar Farm
Associated Project(s):Jeff Bossert at WILL Public Radio interviewed Morgan Johnston about the Solar Farm. The interview was recorded and will be on the radio.