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  1. Weekly capstone meetings: Meeting from 3/29 and 4/5

    Meeting from 4/5/2023

    Summary: Ethan and Sarthak met via zoom where they discussed the work on the plan that Ethan has done so far. They also discussed the thorough plan for the next year to describe to the stakeholders, in regard to their involvement with the 2024 plan. Ethan is expected to respond to stakeholders by next week, add onto the plan (mainly the executive summary, goals & objectives, introduction, and planning process sections). Ethan will send Sarthak separate emails about his Urban Planning presentation on their work for school, and request for GIS information.

    Meeting from 3/29/2023

    Summary: Ethan and Sarthak met briefly via zoom (Ethan was out of town dealing with a family emergency so there was not much to discuss). Ethan is expected to make a Google Sheet with stakeholders' information and responses, a sheet of timeline for the planning process, and a document for the 2024 plan.

  2. Professor Yu-Feng Lin Featured on 'Wired' Article

    Associated Project(s): 

    UIUC's Yu-Feng Lin was featured on a "wired" article. Andrew Stumpf explains, "The authors did a simulation for a residential district in Chicago. They don’t provide much detail about the geology and hydrogeology that is the basis for the geotechnical model. In Chicago, aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) has yet to be used because groundwater is pretty scarce in the shallow subsurface and one would need to tap aquifers deeper in the bedrock. In the northern and western suburbs, the subsurface conditions in the glacial deposits is much better and I believe Kane County is looking into using the aquifers for a geothermal resource."

    The article can be found at: https://www.wired.com/story/the-massive-batteries-hidden-beneath-your-fe...

    UIUC newsletter: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/32/64507332.html 

    The referenced article is attached.

  3. Illini Gadget Garage Update

    Associated Project(s): 

    From Joy Scrogum on April 11, 2023: ISTC transferred this project to the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning in January 2019. To my knowledge, CITL held maybe 1-2 repair events in 2019, but ended the project because they didn’t have adequate support to hire a student coordinator, and one of the staff members who took it on was promoted and had less time to attend to the project.

  4. Sustainability in RA training

    Hi Tony,

     

    I met with folks from Housing yesterday about incorporating sustainability into RA training. Eric and Daphne were also on the call. We identified a few approaches for sharing content. I now need your help developing the materials.

     

    One approach is to provide a short (3 min max) video for RAs to view, followed by questions to assess learning. As a framework, I suggest we use the sustainability guide that the interns developed with Meredith (attached). Do you have any video content that would be appropriate? The student training video is too long, but hits all the highlights. Is this something you could shorten? We need to send the video by mid/late June.

     

    A second approach is to provide content for a microlearning session that would pair with the facilities session. They prefer a mixed mode approach, i.e., not just lecture/slides. We need to provide the content within the next two weeks. Is this doable? I shared the sustainability guide with them and am awaiting feedback.

     

    A third approach is to distribute materials during the RA resource fair, which is held August 10th.

     

    Finally, Housing is open to sharing information via their “Housing Insider” newsletter and digital platforms. It would be great to have your help developing content for those.  

     

    Let me know what you think and we can also touch base at the management meeting today.

     

    Thanks,

    Jen

  5. iSEE Green Chapter and Event Certifications

    Happy Earth Month! Congratulations to our newest recipients of the Greener Campus Program.

     

    Green Chapter: Delta Gamma, Silver, Recertified April 2023

    Green Event:

    -Chancellor's Office for Special Events Gov Pritzker Press Conference, Certified April 2023

    -ECEC23, Certified April 2023

     

    Keep up the great work, and check out our exciting events for Earth Week this year!

  6. Weekly Update: Bike sales, Bike Fix-it day, Stripping junk bikes

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Business as usual over here. We’ve almost fully occupied the front lobby space with for sale bikes—which will likely diminish a bit this week with the warm weather. Fingers crossed.

    This upcoming Saturday we have a partnering event with the Urbana Parks District to help with a bike fix-it day from 10  - 12p in Urbana at the Phillips Recreation Center. Will be nice to get off campus and help folks where they are—or maybe closer to where they are. The event was successful last year and will hopefully be so again this year. Although, offsite repairs always mean you can’t bring every tool for every possible repair, which is a strong impulse.

    We’ve hit a bit of a stride with some volunteers and staff stripping junk bikes. This, of course, has the added bonus of creating a surplus of used 26” tires. We’ll have no trouble working through those in due time. Accordingly, I’ll be grabbing a few more from the warehouse this week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 44
    Sales: $529
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $240
    Memberships: 1 for $30
    Tires/tubes: 8 for $31

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  7. Res005 Sustainability Economic Analysis - Transmitted

    On 4/9/2023, the Res005 Sustainability Economic Analysis recommendation was transmitted to Dr. Madhu Khanna, Director of iSEE, with the following email. The iWG assessment is attached. 

    Hello Dr. Khanna,

    The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) recently reviewed recommendation Res005 from the Resilience iCAP Team to support student-led Sustainability Economic Analyses for the local community. The iWG discussed this and recommends that iSEE support this recommendation as described.  Please see the details included in the attached Resilience iCAP Team recommendation.  

    The Formal iCAP Procedures includes a section on campus unit responsibilities upon receipt of a recommendation, and we respectfully request your response to this recommendation by May 3, if possible.  If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, we are happy to arrange a zoom call. 

    Sincerely,

    Morgan

    =====================================

    MORGAN B. WHITE and

    Dr. JENNIFER FRATERRIGO
    Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP)

    iCAP Working Group co-chairs

    See the RES005 Sustainability Economic Analysis recommendation here.

    Attached Files: 
  8. Building Energy Modeling

    Associated Project(s): 

    Hi Yun, Tom, and Joe,

     

    Here are the links for the original SWATeam recommendation, the iCAP Working Group assessment, the F&S response, and the link to the energy modeling page: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-update/energy005-modeling-energy-code-compliance-successful.  The original recommendation is attached here, and the iWG assessment says, “We recommend that Facilities & Services assign a staff member from Capital Programs or Utilities and Energy Services (possibly from Design Review) to work with Dr. Yun Yi’s class to develop the related energy models, on a timeline that matches the academic course abilities.”

     

    This is the link directly to the Energy Modeling project page on the iCAP Portal:https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/energy-models-campus-facilities.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

    -----------------------------

    Hello All

     

    I like to follow up with our last discussion. 

    To check any update on the list of possible buildings for energy modeling next semester.

     

    Many thanks

    Yun

     

    -------------------------

    Yun,

     

    Apologies. This slipped off my radar for a bit. I will get those to you as soon as I can.

     

    Tom

    --------------------------

    Yun,

     

    Here are some with interesting designs:

    1.       0409 – ECE – Chilled beam and dedicated outdoor air unit (DOAU). Energy recovery.

    2.       1517 – Design Ctr. – Passive chilled beam, variable air-volume (VAV), DOAU. Energy recovery.

    3.       1545 – Campus Instr. Fac. – Chilled radiant, hot radiant, and DOAU. Geothermal. Energy recovery.

     

    Here are some smaller ones that may be easier to complete/complete more:

    1.       0154 – Personnel Services Bldg. – Packaged chiller, steam perimeter heat, constant volume fan-coil units.

    2.       1528 – African Am. Cultural Ctr. – VAV.

    3.       1584 – RIPE Greenhouse – Packaged direct expansion (DX), geothermal.

     

    I hi-lighted the one with a complete native energy model on-hand (I modeled the building and performed several lifecycle cost analysis). Several of those have PDF energy files that could be used as a back-check or instructional piece if desired.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Tom

     

    -----------------------

    Hi Tom,

     

    Thanks for sharing a list with me. I am wondering if there is little more typical (education/office} buildings and with some meter data.

    Could you be able to recommend a few of the buildings in this criteria?

     

    Many thanks

    Yun

    -----------------------

    Hi Yun,

     

    Most all of our buildings have metering at some level (minimum utility level). Some of the buildings we discussed and I was thinking of are:

     

    0339 – Temple Buell Hall – This one is big and has a complex initial design and re-commissioning history. Series-flow fan-powered VAV (original). Frankenstiened to VAV bu re-commissioning group.

    0209 – Speech and Hearing – AHUs replaced recently and a small/medium sized building. VAV.

    0075 – Children’s Research Ctr. - AHUs replaced recently and a small/medium sized building. Constant volume re-heat.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Tom

    ------------------------

    Hi Tom,

     

    Many thanks for the additional list. Sorry for the confusion, I meant real-time meter or sub-meter buildings that students can look into more detail.

    However, these buildings are good candidates for the class.

    I am wondering if F&S can share a building list that has some kind of information on building age, energy consumption, and buildings that have some type of energy model simulation outcome or results. 

     

    Many thanks

    Yun

    ----------------------

    Hello Everyone,

     

    Hope everyone had a nice winter break. Sorry for the delay.

    The class went well and I have EnergyPlus models and reports from the students that I can share with you.

    I'd like to ask my TA to review the students' models to ensure they were done correctly before sending them to you.

    I hope you can wait a few more weeks, but I can send you the reports if you'd like to see them.

     

    Best

    Yun

    ----------------------

    Hi Tom,

     

    Sorry for the delay. I thought that after getting tenured, I would have more time to work on the project, but I was wrong.

    Anyway, thanks for waiting. I have all the calibrated and reviewed DesignBuilder files and reports in the following folder.

    If you'd like, I can convert the DB file to an EPW file for your convenience.


    lease let me know if you'd like to discuss the outcome of the report.

    I'm happy to talk about the next group of buildings that we can model.

     

    Best

    Yun

  9. 4-7-23 Housing + F&S meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda:

    1. Alterations to the proposed locations for 20’ containers

    1. Removing 1 container at IKE.

    2. Determining if planters can be moved at PAR/FAR.

    1. Considering the parking lot (F-17) for

    2. Quotes for 5 20-foot containers (includes delivery and pick up)

    1. MI-BOX: $1,795

    2. StowAway: $1,499

    3. Paid with a P-Card? Still determining

    3. Advertisements

    1. 200 paper-sized advertisements for residence hall bulletins

    2. Advertisements for Housing’s digital boards - who should this be sent to?

    4. Banner

    1. Rough draft statement - any suggestions?

    2. Keep it evergreen - no dates, no company names, so it can be reused for future years. QR code can change information easily.

    3. Include University Housing and F&S logos at the bottom

    4. QR codes links to basic description of Dump & Run’s purpose (zero iCAP objective connection), comprehensive list of accepted items, info on bike donation to Campus Bike Center.

    1. Hosted on F&S website.

    5. Gaylords

    1. How many pallet/gaylords fit in a 20’ container?

    2. Does F&S have gaylords to contribute?

    3. Goodwill can contribute gaylords (take full, bring empty to replace).

    6. LAR, Busey-Evans

    1. How many boxes will be needed in these lobbies?

    2. F&S takes full boxes to PPSB Truck Bay, Goodwill, Salt & Light pick up from there.

    7. Volunteers

    1. 2 volunteers per storage unit

    2. Advertised to:

    1. Junior League of Champaign-Urbana

    2. Champaign County Forest Preserve

    3. Champaign County Master Naturalists

    4. Rotary Club of Champaign

    8. Food Donations

    1. Wesley Food Pantry wanting to discuss logistics.

     

     

    2023-04-07 recording of the meeting here in google drive.

     

  10. LW004 Monarchs Need Milkweed - Successful

    Morgan White, the Associate Director of F&S of Sustainability and Interim Director of Capital Programs at UIUC, responded to the LW004 Monarchs Need Milkweed with the following message:

    Dear Land and Water iCAP Team and iWG,

    Thank you for your continued support and advocacy for the Illinois Climate Action Plan.  Last semester, we received the recommendation below for adding more milkweed around campus to support the monarch butterfly population, and we are happy to take action. 

    F&S has the personnel and expertise to coordinate this effort successfully. The Grounds team will plant milkweed at the low mow zone and prairie areas, prioritizing the locations shown on your map.  Additionally, once our Grounds Workers do the seeding, they will be more likely to know where it is growing in the future and be able to avoid accidental mowings. 

    To assist campus sustainability, F&S is amenable to doing the work without additional compensation.  We will also request $2,500 from the Illinois Green Fund for the purchase of enough seeds for roughly 64,000 SF of space, which can then be divided up into the multiple locations.  Some of the smaller locations suggested may not be planted, depending on future campus building plans.  For the low mow zones, plantings will be prioritized along road corridors where passers-by will be able to see the plants growing and ascertain the success rate. 

    Please let Brent Lewis (copied) know if you have any questions.  We look forward to assisting our pollinator population with this project.

    Thanks,

    Morgan

    For future updates related to the Monarchs Need Milkweed, see the Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas project here. 

    See the iWG assessment LW004 Monarchs Need Milkweed and transmittal update here.

    See the original LW004 Monarchs Need Milkweed recommendation here. 

  11. Reminder: Environmentally Preferable Procurement (EPP) follow-up

    Hi all,

     

    This is a friendly reminder that we are scheduled to meet to discuss EPP tomorrow (Thursday) from 2 – 3 PM via Zoom (link below). Looking forward to speaking with you all then!

     

    Thanks,

    Meredith

    -------------------------

    Good morning,

     

    Here is the current draft I’ve put together for the EPP Guide. I’ll be ready to discuss at our meeting this afternoon.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Aaron M Finder

    ---------------------------

    Good morning,

     

    I wanted to follow up to make sure this stays on everyone radar. Does anyone have anything to add to the attachment?

     

    Thank you,

     

    Aaron M Finder

    ---------------------------

    Hi Aaron,

     

    Thank you for following up on the EPP Guide last month. I am wondering what the current status is - are you still looking for feedback from us?

     

    Thanks,

    Meredith

    -------------------

    Hi Meredith,

     

    Syd was able to send over some comments but I am awaiting a responses from the others on this thread. If anyone has any recommendation for improvements or wants to forward this document to other UIUC stakeholders for their input, that would be appreciated. To ensure we maintain progress, could everyone have their comments in by 6/30/2022?

     

    Thanks,

     

    Aaron M Finder

    -------------------------

    Hi all,

     

    Thanks for including me. I attached my comments. As I am joining this conversation late, you may have already discussed some of the issues that I raise. Generally, I think we could provide more specific criteria in some places. The UC System has a very detailed document that we could consult for guidance. I am not advocating for the stringent guidelines they use, but putting this out there as a nice resource:

     

    Happy to chat about this if desired.

     

    Thanks,

    Jen

    ---------------------------

     

    Hi Aaron,

     

    Can you provide a status update on the procurement document please?

     

    Thanks,

    Jen

     -------------------------

    Hi Jennifer,

     

    To date, I have only received comments from you and Pete’s former intern. I was hoping to receive more input from F&S as they will be the department most impacted. If F&S does not have further comment, we can work towards finalizing the document.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Aaron M Finder

    ----------------------------

    Hi Aaron and Jen,

     

    Please see the attached EPP document with additional comments from F&S.

     

    Thank you,


    Daphne

    --------------------------

    Hi Morgan,

     

    Putting this back on the radar! This was the most recent document we have with our EPP guidelines, sent to Aaron Finder. Where should we go from here?

     

    Thank you,
    Daphne

  12. Geen Research Commitee 1st meeting

    April 5, 2023 Green Research Committee (Kick Off) Meeting 1

    Present: Lisa Moore, Daphne Hulse, Stephanie Hess, Jeremy Neighbors, Jennifer Fraterrigo, Chad Stevens, Shari Effert-Fanta, Sabrina Summers, Morgan White, Mitchell Bryant, Timothy Mies, Maisie Kingren, Paul Foote, Patty Jones, Susan Martinis, Madhu Khanna

    Absent: Ehab Kamarah

    Charge:

    • Look at what others do.
      • Makes it less onerous.
      • Check in with our peer institutions
    • Check in with our iCAP.
    • Structure what we come up with in short- and long-term goals. We have a tight timeline and a broad objective overall.

    Discussion:

    • Two graduate students joined, which is very valuable to us.
    • Deadline to show ideas and progress and present to Ehab, Madhu, and Susan, by May. Jeremy & Stephanie will give this update and summarize what is discussed now and a general timeline going forward.
    • Morgan’s been thinking about this for 7 or 8 years, and is excited to see it come to fruition. The core is that researchers are making huge changes and breakthroughs to address climate change but we’re still buying plastic and throwing it away, leaving fume hoods open, etc. How to integrate it into research without jeopardizing the research itself, is the question to explore.
    • Messaging must be very cautious to balance safety with sustainability.
    • Opportunity to review the iCAP 2020 or 2015 objectives to identify how it applies today.
    • Green Research as opposed to Green Labs: allows us to be more broad in our approach.
    • Paul Foote spent a year just doing a Green Labs Program so he has tremendous experience and background knowledge on the subject. Don’t reinvent the wheel. I2SL, My Green Lab are good resources to look at.
    • Mitchell: Not a lot of knowledge about how to dispose of waste safely (information deficit), so he sees a lot of improper disposal as a student. A lot of opportunity for energy reduction in labs. Concerted effort across campus is necessary, but can we add the carrot (incentive) as well?
    • Tim: ACES, South Farms, see inconsistency with how waste is disposed of. Some go through Waste Transfer, others go through Area Disposal. Researchers want to do the right thing, but most people are strapped on time “how do I do it versus how do I have time in the day?” Growth chamber: big refrigerator with a lot of light bulbs. Remove the heat from lamps. Some people don’t turn them off - maintenance or researchers just forgetting. Think of a way to incentivize this? Support the researchers as much as possible.
    • Mitchell thinks is very much falls on the individual to ensure they are following the right instructors (don’t pour stains down the sink, etc.).
    • On Stephanie’s mind is a culture change for safety. How can they improve the culture of safety on campus? There is simultaneously a sustainability culture we need to grow, too.

    How to accomplish this:

    • The charge letter had three different goals:
      • Break into three groups and each would tackle one of those before the next meeting.
        • On-site wet and dry research labs, off-site UIUC research labs, agriculture land and field sites
        • Develop a program whereby groups and departments can qualify for a Green Lab or Green Research certification. Contribute to the iCAP goals.
        • Outline a framework to recommend building-specific plans for safe energy conservation
    • Sub-teams in Teams is how we will communicate among our teams.
    • Cadence of meetings?
      • Big meeting once per month, small groups on the week between (each team has a delegate for scheduling meetings for their group)
      • October deliverables - so we have until the end of September to work
    • Resources to carry this out
      • Anything that will require funding we will need to state, justify, estimate cost, expected impact from the investment.
    • Consider reward packages for research groups.
      • Rewarding research groups will be key, according to Donald Stevens
    • Paul will put together a sheet of how funding in the past has worked, for projects he’s been involved with. Give the group an idea of how we can tap into funds.
    • Stephanie: think about connections you have, things you can tap into.
      • Ex: TV screens in lab settings for safety communication. Interest from researchers for this, especially if they can get it for free. A way to communicate without needing paper. Where can we ask for favors?
    • Jen’s concern: how can we get voices from other researchers on campus and oversee labs: find opportunities and barriers?
      • Paul: successful programs have Green Ambassadors who can be a voice for the labs and can brainstorm together what will work for different labs.
      • Group agrees that more faculty PIs should be included in the conversation.
    • Donald & Morgan discussion on zero growth space policy - Capital - comes from Deferred Maintenance than any sort of energy-related issue.
    • Mitchell Bryant: attending a seminar tomorrow on this topic and will post his notes in Teams
  13. Weekly Update: Earth Month, Nice weather

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Happy Earth Month! Weather is picking up in the next week or two, so we’ll see how that impacts visit numbers. Still working our way through the warehouse bikes and our for sale bikes are hovering around 20. Other than that, business as usual.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 36

    Sales: $612.75
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $360
    Membership: 3 for $90

    Tires/tubes: 6 for $35.75

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  14. Symposium Registration: Health & Environmental Strategies for Climate Adaptation

    Thank you for your responses so far to attend this very important event to confront Health and Environmental Strategies for Climate Adaptation.

     

    For those who have not yet responded, there is still time. 

     

    Please register using the link below today.

     

    Cart Tutt

    ----------------------------------

    FYI, I'll be speaking at this event this week (online). It is a free event, and we will highlight the indoor air quality project with Safe Traces and Integrating Green Technologies.  Thanks, Morgan 

    ---------------------------------

    Morgan,

     

    Did we get a report on the Astronomy Building from the Safe Traces test they ran?

     

    Dave

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