F&S Planning is working on formalization of the “no-new space” policy as recommended in the iCAP. 

Staff worked with CATS agencies about the MTD Very Small Starts project which could potentially lead to funding for complete streets in the University District on White Street, Wright Street, Green Street, and Armory Avenue.

Bike to Work Day (BTWD) planning is underway. Staff raised $1,250 in February from sponsors, which goes to Champaign County Bikes for the event.  Three on-campus Bike Station locations were organized, in addition to several off-campus Bike Stations.  University Housing graciously agreed to provide food and drinks for the on-campus Bike Stations, as they did last year.

The Bike Sharing key staff members met with project champion, Mike Lyon from AITS, to provide a status update on the bike sharing feasibility study.  The bike sharing intern developed a presentation about departmental bike sharing, which will be taken to Legal Counsel and Purchasing contacts for final approval.  Then Colleges will be contacted before departments are approached to encourage departmental bike sharing implementation.  

F&S Planning staff interviewed firms to engineer road improvements, including Fourth Street bike lanes from Armory Avenue to Kirby Avenue, and Sixth Street bike lanes from Armory Avenue to Gregory Drive.

The bike parking intern completed and submitted a proposal to the SSC to replace existing “donut-hole” racks with campus standard racks.  He also met with staff at Christopher Hall and the Illini Union about upgrading their bike parking areas.  Additionally, staff worked with a representative from Champaign County Bikes to arrange a pilot test of an alternative bike parking rack, the Varsity Rack.

The Campus Area Transportation Study (CATS) agencies met in February and agreed that the Campus Bike Plan document should be for University-owned pathways, and it should be in agreement with the City of Urbana Bike Plan, the Champaign Transportation Plan, and the County Greenways and Trails Plan.

The Campus Bike Project submitted a proposal to the SSC for expanded open hours with student assistants.

Plans are underway for a bike race on May 5 in the Research Park.  About 300-400 race participants are anticipated.  There will be a community ride that morning, as well as a race in the City of Urbana on May 6.

The proposed Solar Farm was taken through the formal Site Selection process for campus, and approved by the Chancellor’s Capital Review Committee (CCRC).  Then the Request for Proposal (RFP) was published and over 30 vendors downloaded the RFP.  A Fact Sheet and Q&A were sent with introductory letters to the community leaders and Solar Farm site neighbors on First Street.

On February 16, CCNet hosted Angela Adams, the Recycling Coordinator at the City of Champaign, to explain the proposed bag ban in the city; Pattsi Petrie, a Champaign County Board Member, to discuss local foods; Mike Monson, the Urbana Chief of Staff, to explain the Electrical Aggregation proposal; and Marya Ryan, from the Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission to review the City of Urbana’s Climate Action Plan.

Staff facilitated meetings with students and staff about potential letters of support for the City of Champaign Single Use Disposable Paper and Plastic Bags study item.

In an effort to standardize emissions calculations throughout the community and county, staff met with transportation planners from the Regional Planning Commission to share information about calculating transportation emissions.

F&S worked with the College of Business’ Director of Information Management to provide detailed solar data from the Business Instructional Facility to a graduate student in ECE.

A team of MBA students in Madhu Viswanathan’s course worked with the Campus Bike Project to make recommendations about how the Campus Bike Project could become financially self-supporting.

Scholarship of Sustainability 10-part series began.

The Engineering 315, Learning in the Community UI Bikes (UIB) section submitted their project proposal for what the class will be working on this semester.  The UIB class has divided into three groups which will tackle three different bicycle-related projects this semester: 1.) the continuation of the bike sharing market analysis started last semester, including a campus-wide survey and several targeted focus groups; 2) the development of an online, interactive campus bicycle parking map using Google Maps; and 3) testing out various marketing tactics to encourage bike riders to park their bikes legally at designated bike parking, rather than on trees, signs, ramps, or fences.

Abbott Power Plant was granted an IEPA permit to co-fire biomass with coal until June 30, 2013.  F&S intends to do some test burns this spring with wood chips.  Wood chips have a good track record in stoker boilers, and we are fairly confident we can demonstrate a successful trial.  In addition, wood chips appear to be one of the most cost effective sources of biomass available at this time.

There 24 buildings currently on the Energy Dashboard. Information about electrical, heating, and cooling energy use is available on the website, but not every building has all three sources available at this point in the project.

The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and Facilities and Services (F&S) are working in conjunction on the Energy Dashboard with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee. The SSC has set for responsibilities for each group to complete the project.

The Environmental Change Institute is to coordinate meetings with representatives of major stakeholder groups (ECI, SSC, F&S, etc.) for the purpose of development, communication and clarity concerning the scope of the project, funding expenditures, review of phases, and deliverables; coordinate selection of appropriate building for building metering system upgrades that will be providing real-time data to the dashboard display system, assuming that the connections are technically or technologically feasible; develop content for website, including incorporation of new buildings, with input from stakeholders; coordinate marketing, communications with stakeholders, and progress reports; and compose and develop a final project report with input from F&S and other stakeholders as required.

Facilities and Services responsibilities are implementing and launching the Energy Dashboard module; providing technical support for metering, direct digital connections and dashboard website; purchasing software and installing that software with funds designated in the SSC award letter; determining data connections, server needs, IITAA compliance issues for website; communicating regularly with ECI concerning implementation issues and progress updates; installing and connecting upgraded building metering systems; and determining technical feasibility of connecting building metering systems to Dashboard and supporting systems.

The SSC report also included a schedule extension.