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  1. Land Assignment for Solar Farm

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 1.0

    ACES will transfer assignment of 27.8 acres at Kruse Farm to Facilities & Services to provide property for the solar farm installation. ln exchange, Facilities & Services will provide ACES Crop Sciences with $84,250 to re-establish new organic acres as replacement for their research
    plots.

    Location of land identified for this purpose is near the southwest corner of Windsor Road and First Street, bounded by the railroad tracks to the west and First Street to the east. A total oÍ 27 .B acres has been identified, including the homestead area, as illustrated on the attached map. lf additional acreage is needed, up to a total of 30 acres, land directly east of the homestead area may be made available.

    NRES is in the process of developing this farmland to meet organic designation/standards and relocation of this activity will be required in order to accommodate making the land available to F&S. The Department of Crop Sciences has agreed to provide similar acreage to NRES for this purpose. The location of the replacement land will be in the southern portion of the Cruse Farm and is reflected in the 27 acres identified as C1000W 14 acres and C100E 13 acres in the attached map.

    To facilitate relocation and to compensate the Department of Crop Sciences, F&S agrees to provide $550/acre for each of 5 years, plus $10,000. Funds would be provided beginning FY12 as outlined below. After the 5-year period, any compensation required by the Department of Crop Sciences will become the responsibility of the Department of NRES.

  3. Mark Barcus will be F&S point of contact

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings [ARCHIVED]

    Thomas,

    My name is Mark Barcus and I am Dean Henson’s new assistant and he has asked me to work on the SSC weatherization project. I would like to set up a meeting with you and Morgan Johnston and myself to see where we are at. When would be a good time to meet?

    Thanks

    Mark

    Mark A. Barcus

    Assistant Superintendent

    Building Maintenance

    University of Illinois

    Facilities & Services

    barcus@illinois.edu

    (217)-265-6566

     

  4. Continuing Partnerships and Engagement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach

    The Office of Sustainability hosted the first monthly CCNet Sustainability meeting of 2012 on January 19. The meeting had 39 attendees, including faculty, staff, students, local government employees, and members of the community. There was a presentation and discussion led by SEDAC about the organization’s work and national energy trends.  CCNet Meetings will continue throughout 2012, taking place at noon on the third Thursday of each month, at the Natural Resources Building, room 101.

    Sustainability employees from campus, Urbana, Champaign and the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) continue to collaborate. In January, we discussed each agency’s respective greenhouse gas inventories. It was decided that Champaign and Urbana will include any University emissions which fall within their respective jurisdictional boundaries in their city-wide reports. For the purposes of local reporting, the University will be considered a separate entity that overlays both cities, similar to any other business entity, rather than a distinct jurisdiction. It was also decided that a separate meeting will be necessary to specifically address transportation-related emissions and how each entity is tracking and reporting on these.

    The YMCA/YWCA on Wright Street requested a meeting to discuss their sustainability efforts and how the University may be able to assist. They are working on building improvements and changes to their parking and outdoor space. We gave them suggestions of people they may want to contact for input and advice.

    Sustainability staff attended an Illinois Green Business Association (IGBA) networking event and talked with IGBA board members about potential future collaborations.

    The City of Champaign Recycling Coordinator requested information about the impacts of plastic and paper bags on campus facilities and the campus waste stream. She also requested letters of support for a bag ban from student environmental groups.

    Sustainability staff attend monthly conference calls/webinars of the Governor’s Green Universities and Colleges subcommittee.  In January, there was a presentation at ISTC about weatherization of campus buildings, and the disconnect between LEED certification and weatherization practices.

  5. Sustainability Portal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    The Office of Sustainability is working with MSTE to develop the Illinois Sustainability Portal, an online hub for sustainability-related information on the Urbana-Champaign campus.  We met with MSTE several times in January to develop the site architecture and database structure for the site. A preview of the site will be shared during Earth Week (April 16-20). When complete, the portal will be the go-to place for people to learn about all iCAP projects and goals, to submit ideas for consideration, and to research historical data about emissions and other sustainability metrics.  Additionally, project leaders will be able to report to the OS on their progress and plans. We envision this to be an incredibly useful tool going forward.

  6. Progress on Solar Farm

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 1.0

    A fact sheet and frequently asked questions document were developed by F&S for neighbors of the proposed solar farm on South Farms. In February, the documents will be accompanied by a cover letter and sent to the mayors/leadership of surrounding jurisdictions, as well as residents in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location, to inform them of the proposed development.   Once the Request for Proposal (RFP) is complete and the Chancellor’s Capital Review Committee approves the project, the RFP will be published. The installation is tentatively scheduled for this fall.

     

  7. Lighting Retrofit Gains Further Funding, Smart Grid Under Discussion

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Conservation Projects

    The lighting retrofit project continues with funding from the Revolving Loan Fund, and is waiting for a grant anticipation account from OSPRA. The funding commitment from the RLF involves working with Energy Services, OBFS, and the RLF committee.

    F&S met with key faculty to discuss collaboration opportunities related to implementing a smart grid on campus.  Additionally, the Director of Energy Services at F&S worked with the F&S Sustainability Coordinator and the Executive Director to explain the current status of the campus energy system, including data sources, control systems, financial considerations, and forecasting.  F&S will continue to document the status quo and the visionary smart grid concept, dubbed the Energy Management and Control Center (EMC^2).

  8. F&S Makes Progress on Bicycle Projects

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Bicycle Use

    F&S continues to work with a number of student groups and individuals on bicycle-related projects:

    • Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Grace Kenney has returned from a semester abroad and is now completing the Bike Sharing Feasibility Study this spring, as well as implementing departmental bike sharing with interested departments, using the Departmental Bike Sharing Manual produced by the Fall 2011 LINC class. Grace also helped with the master bike plan in January, and will be working closely with the Bike Sharing Steering Committee in the coming weeks and months.
    • Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Holly Nelson is continuing to work on bike lane design recommendations.
    • Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Patrick Clark is working on bike parking upgrade designs and recommendations, including SSC-funded improvements at the Illini Union, as well as developing the formal grant proposal for bike parking upgrade funding for SSC.
    • GIS student Marcus Ricci proposed a GIS class project to analyze the location and quantity of bike parking in relationship to building doors and bike pathways.
    • The UI Bikes LINC course, as mentioned above, is working with F&S on several projects related to both bike sharing and bike parking.
    • An MBA class is studying the Campus Bike Project, among other bicycle-related topics, and will make a recommendation to the CBP for developing a self-sustaining funding model.
    • Student Senator David Huang has drafted and will introduce a formal resolution to the Illinois Student Senate proposing the implementation of online bicycle registration through Ride Campus. (http://www.ridecampus.com/)

    Members of The Bike Project steering committee met with representatives of F&S and SSC to brainstorm opportunities to help make the Campus Bike Project a financially self-supporting operation.  This is in parallel to the efforts of the MBA class looking into this issue.  The Bike Project will be submitting a Letter of Inquiry to the SSC before their current funding expires in May.

    F&S staff attended the monthly Champaign County Bikes meeting in January, to discuss a potential use of Ride Campus and Varsity Rack in Champaign-Urbana. F&S is also working with CCB member Jeff Yockey to develop a steering committee to explore the possibility of implementing Ride Campus at the University of Illinois.

    F&S staff and Patrick Clark met with the Illini Union to discuss improving bike parking facilities around the Union, and potentially having the Union be a pilot test location for the Varsity Rack. 

     

  9. Campus Makes Public Transportation Improvements

    Associated Project(s): 
    Encourage Active Transportation

    Funding was approved for several pavement improvements on campus streets.  These improvements will reduce gas consumption and corresponding emissions for vehicle traffic; restripe the bike lanes on a portion of Gregory Drive; extend the bike lanes on Fourth Street south to Kirby Avenue; add pedestrian countdown traffic signals at two signalized intersections; implement traffic calming measures, such as curb bump outs for increased pedestrian safety in key locations; and improve one block of the Illinois Marathon route on First Street, between Peabody Drive and Kirby Avenue.

    Staff are participating in weekly conference calls with Zipcar to encourage the use of car sharing and active transportation on campus. A Zipcar winter welcome special offer was shared in the OS newsletter and through the OS twitter account.

  10. Grants in Progress for Increased Funding

    Associated Project(s): 
    Seek External Grant Funding for Implementation

    Several grants are in progress to meet iCAP goals.  Staff submitted the quarterly reports for DCEO ARRA Large Customer Thermal Grant on January 5.  We also requested a funding increase for this grant from DCEO and are currently waiting for their decision.  F&S applied for the F-SCRAP Grant from DCEO, for $250,000 for the Large-Scale Food Waste Composting Facility, submitted January 13.  Energy Services continued discussions with DCEO about FY12 Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards (EEPS) Grant Applications.   Energy Services also met for the first time with a DCEO contact about a new grant program for steam traps. We will develop a proposal to pursue the grant. 

  11. Campus Composting Progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Large-Scale Food Waste Composting

    The firm that was hired last fall to complete the Compost Feasibility Study, Foth, submitted a draft of their study to the University in early January for comments.  Immediately following, F&S applied for $250,000 from the F-SCRAP Grant from DCEO, for equipment and site improvements for the Large-Scale Food Waste Composting Facility.  In order to apply for the grant, the University was required to commit to funding the remaining portion of the facility’s proposed budget, and an emergency phone meeting was called by the Student Sustainability Committee to assign funding toward this. The committee voted in favor and granted $250,000 toward the project.  A draft plan for the compost facility was also developed and distributed to key stakeholders in mid-January for feedback. 

  12. Battery Waste Reduction Efforts

    Associated Project(s): 
    Battery Recycling

    The battery recycling program is being expanded to four locations across campus, for both rechargeable batteries and single-use alkaline batteries. Facilities & Services confirmed participation, developed a fact sheet and instructional kit for participating locations, and has committed to funding the program up to $10,000 each fiscal year. The containers for the program will be ordered in February. 

  15. Sustainability Curriculum and Workshop Progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Encourage Course Development or Modification

    Engineering 315, Learning in the Community (LINC), has a number of course sections dedicated to sustainability this semester, including UI Bikes (UIB), for which Facilities & Services is serving as the Project Partner. The UIB section has two student project managers and 13 undergraduate students, who will be focusing on three bicycle-related projects this semester: A. the continuation of the bike sharing market analysis started last semester, including a campus-wide survey and targeted focus groups; B. the development of a campus bicycle parking map; and C. testing various marketing tactics to try to encourage students to park their bikes legally at designated bike parking, rather than on trees, signs, ramps, or fences.

    F&S and the Campus Bike Project (CBP) met with an MBA class who agreed to help the CBP become fiscally self-supporting through improved marketing. There are two student teams who will review this topic in the context of all bicycle-related topics for campus.

    Logistics are underway for the Spring, 2012 offering of the Teaching Sustainability Workshop (previously the Prairie Project).  There will be an opening reception and keynote speaker on Friday, April 13 at Levis Center and the workshop will be held on April 14, 2012 at the Japan House.  The call for applications went out on January 25 with applications due by March 9.  In two days, we had already received 11 applications and are now up to 15.  This is the quickest response we have had to date.

    The Scholarship of Sustainability Series is currently being offered for the third year.  The series is connected with 4 courses from 3 different colleges in addition to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  Attendance each Thursday is expected to be around 100 people as the enrollment in the 4 courses are full (and the series will not be videotaped.)

    Last fall, the SSC suggested an MOU with the Office of Sustainability regarding the hiring of a curriculum specialist to work one-on-one with faculty to integrate sustainability into the curriculum.  The OS submitted a letter of inquiry for committee response on January 27, 2012.

  16. Battery Recycling Progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Battery Recycling

    The battery recycling program is being expanded to four locations across campus, for both rechargeable batteries and single-use alkaline batteries. Facilities & Services confirmed participation, developed a fact sheet and instructional kit for participating locations, and has committed to funding the program up to $10,000 each fiscal year. The containers for the program will be ordered in February. 

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