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  1. Vet Med participating and NSRC are not this year

    Associated Project(s): 
    C-U Bike to Work Day

    Since Meredith has left the university Jen confirmed that iSEE cannot manage the station at National Soybean Research Center (NSRC), so they are not participating in the Bike to Work Day event this year.

    Vet Med confirmed that they can participate in this year's event.

    Sarthak communicated the change to University Housing.

  3. Weekly Update: Less abandoned bikes, Kids' Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Slow visitor-wise, but busy otherwise. Moved almost all the bikes out of the round barn, and the very last of them I’ll get this week. Sounds like we’ll have less bikes from the round up than in years’ past, something I am happy for. Hopefully, it means more people are caring about and actually riding their bikes—a guy can dream!  Irrespective of the reason, less bikes means less grunt work, and that’s a huge plus in my book.

    We are still up to our ears in kids’ bikes, as the ones we have are not coming together as I’d like. Lots of short-supply parts are needed. I’ll need to dedicate some off-hours time to this as these kinds of projects are not well-suited to student staff/volunteers, apparently.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 25
    Sales: $890.34
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $535
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 5 for $50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  4. Surplus electronic battery recycling

    Associated Project(s): 
    Address Electronic Waste (e-waste)
    Single-Use Battery Recycling
    Rechargeable Battery Recycling
    Battery Recycling

    From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2023 3:19 PM
    To: Weaver, Jeff <jweaver2@uillinois.edu>
    Subject: Surplus and waste memo / batteries

     

    Hi Jeff,

     

    On a different note, battery recycling is a topic that has come up several times recently. F&S does not have any comprehensive program at this point. DRS collects batteries from departments for disposal through their hazardous waste vendor, but they do not recycle the batteries. Regarding batteries from devices such as computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets, and other small devices, (devices that will not be redistributed out to departments for reuse) do you know how these are handled through the state? If they are recycled?

     

    [Surplus response] For the small batteries in those devices, we ship them to Secure Processors, the downstate State contracted electronics recycling vendor.  We don’t know how the vendor handles the batteries on their end after we ship them.

     

    Thank you,
    Daphne

     

    Daphne Hulse (she/her)
    Zero Waste Coordinator
    Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    +1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.edu
     
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    Please consider the environment before printing an email. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

  5. Potential student project for Energy Efficiency HVAC Infection Control

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy-Efficient HVAC Infection Control

    Hi Leon,

     

    Hope you are doing well.

     

    I am Sarthak Prasad, and I work as the Sustainable Transportation Assistant at Facilities & Services. Morgan and I are working with Sterling Laylock, from Integrating Green Technologies, on Energy-Efficient HVAC Infection Control. Last year, two of the Masters in Energy Systems, Ali Khan and Dhruvraaj Gambhire, collaborated with us on this project. I wanted to reach out to you and ask if you would be available to meet with us in the next couple of weeks? We wanted to ask if one or two of the Energy Systems graduate students would be interested in helping us out this year as well. Please send me your availability for the next couple of weeks.

     

    Thank you,

    Sarthak

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

     

    Good afternoon Sarthak

     

    Thank you for your note.
    It would be a privilege if our M.Eng. students could again work with you, thank you!

    Please can you send me a topic (or topics) and a brief description (or descriptions) of the work that you would like our students to do?

    1. Will you expect our students to perform measurements or will you provide them with acquired data? (Some of our students are online-only, i.e. not on campus …)
    2. Will the students be working with SafeTraces equipment / data? What other equipment might they be working with? Where will students be working?
    3. Will students analyze existing HVAC systems in our buildings or will they need to design systems for yet-to-be-integrated HVAC systems?
    4. Will the students be expected to write proposals for possible SSC funding? If so, please provide details about your financial needs, including the estimated required funds.
    5. Etc.

     

    Many thanks! I look forward to your further communication.

    Kind regards

    Leon

  6. Biweekly Champaign County Bike Month Planning Team Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Community Bicycle Events and Rides

    On 07/26/2023, Sarthak and Hrushikesh attended this meeting:

    Meeting Notes:

    1) Event- Bike to Work Day

    - Welcome Stations Locations - Champaign Center Signage at City Building to direct people, Orchard Downs, Campus Bike Center, Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES), University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine (Vet Med), Campus Recreation Center, City of Urbana, Lucky Moon Pies, Savoy Recreation Center. Total 8 Confirmed Stations.

    - Suggestions for a Welcome Station - Video to demonstrate how to interact and Spread Awareness during the event, Interesting and elaborate Brochure , a standard picture of how a table should be set on all the stations, Voter Registration, Early Printed Materials

    - T-Shirt budget is close to $10000.

    2) Forest Reserve is potentially hosting an event On-Campus to raise awareness

    3) Promotion

    - Updating the MTD Ad for Champaign County Bike Month - Thomas/Gabe

    - Campus Street Fest - September 9th , 1-7 p.m - Contact Xander

    4) Fundraising

    - Contacting Sponsors - MTD is a significant donor

    - University of Illinois - $6000 (donating for Bike to Work Day & Light the Night Events)  

    - Funds for Bike Lights - $2000

    - Housing - $1500 (Snacks and Refreshments) - Potential

    *Suggestion to make Kids sized T-Shirts

    5) To do for Sarthak:

    a. Ask UIPD to be present for the event.

    b. Champaign County Bike Month Advertisement can be posted on the U of I Digital Boards 

  9. Check in meeting from July 26, 2023

    Associated Project(s): 
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Light the Night

    Please see attached the agenda and documents shared during this meeting. Watch the meeting recording here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oHc_PTO7W515GCCX_SaKH6CsEsF1CJLm/view?u...

    Attached Files: 

  10. Meeting with University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus

    On 07/25/2023, Sarthak and Hrushikesh had a meeting with the University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD) regarding:

    Meeting Notes-

    - Explaining how to use Field Maps and its functions to UIPD  

    - Citation/ Impound Fee for the abandoned bicycles is regulated by the Parking Department.

    - Th retrieval process of the abandoned bikes will begin by Mid September.

    - During that period non-registered bikes will be enforced to register their bike along with the impound fee.

    - Asked UIPD to complete a feedback form for VEO-Bikes On-Campus (Note: UIPD is concerned with the way people use them in terms of safety and parking)

    -To do List for Sarthak:

    - Enquire about ESRI ArcGIS and Field Maps unique login credentials and editing privileges for the UIPD 

    - Send the Login details to UIPD.

    - Check Main Quad and Chemistry Annex area for any other remaining abandoned bikes.

  11. iSEE Research newsletter included update on IGC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois Geothermal Coalition
    iSEE Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) Projects

     

     

    processed_3390093.png?p=0725T084522

     

    		  

    Illinois Geothermal Coalition Updates

  12. Weekly Update: Abandoned Bikes, potential new hire

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Calm and slow week. All the abandoned bikes out front of the Bike Center were removed. We had a few people in wondering where their bikes had gone, so there’s some “educational” opportunities around the process still.

    As the abandoned bike removal process is underway, we still have around 30 bikes to get out of the round barn, which we’ll tackle this week with the help of Bike Project volunteers.

    I’ll be interviewing a potential hire this week who’s a PhD student from the Netherlands. I’m eager to get their perspective on ways we can improve our community—or ways we’re already doing well!

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 32
    Sales: $569.45
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $325
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 5 for $ 50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  16. archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) with Second Nature

    The 2015 iCAP, chapter 8, objective 1 is, "By the end of FY16, conduct a Request for Proposals process for verified carbon offsets — and undertake the first campus purchase of offsets." iSEE is developing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for purchasing carbon credits, aka carbon offsets.

    iSEE is developing the technical specifications for a Request for Bids (RFB) for purchasing carbon credits, aka carbon offsets in FY17. These will be used both to replace the carbon credits sold from calendar year 2016, and as a starting inventory for the Virtual Storeroom.

    During this process, iSEE will develop detailed specifications for carbon offsets to ensure that all purchased offsets are additional (in the sense that they enable reductions beyond business-as-usual), measurable, conservative (to ensure reductions are not overstated), permanent, independently verified, trackable, and transparent. The 2015 iCAP intended to have an RFP done by the end of FY16, and the current schedule will have the purchase completed by the end of FY17.

    Background

    Because campus sells carbon credits through the Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) at Second Nature, we need to replace those boutique carbon credits with carbon offsets.  By the end of FY17, we will buy 103,000 carbon offsets (equivalent to 103,000 tons of greenhouse gasses not being released into the atmosphere) to replace those sold from calendar year 2016.

    Additionally, in the same RFB, we will purchase 10,000 additional carbon offsets which will be used to set up a new virtual storeroom to allow campus units to voluntarily offset their carbon emissions, for example from air travel to scholarly meetings.

  17. Weekly Meeting: Campus Bike Plan Progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    2024 Campus Bike Plan

    On 07/20/2023, Sarthak and Hrushikesh had a meeting regarding the progress on the Campus Bike Plan 2024.

    Meeting Notes:

    - Discussion on Inclusion and importance of some of the new initiatives taken to promote bicycle ridership.

    - Addressing the idea of Pathfinding/ Way-finding maps Bike paths, bike parking and other bicycle friendly facilities available On-Campus.

     

  18. Weekly Sustainable Transportation meeting with Hrushikesh and Nathaniel

    Associated Project(s): 
    Appropriately Staff Sustainable Transportation Efforts

    On 07/20/2023,  Sarthak, Nathaniel and Hrushikesh had a weekly meeting to discuss on Weekly Progress of the current projects that we are working on.

    Meeting Notes:

    - Campus Bike Plan 2024

    - Abandoned Bikes Project Inventory Documentation Completion

    - Bike Parking Rack Design

    - Research on Permeable Pavers and Bike Shelter

    - Discussion on the Next week's Tasks regarding Bike Audit

    - Bike Census

     

  20. follow up on potential VRO project

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rainwater Management
    Reduce Nitrates from Agricultural Stormwater

    Dear Madhu,

    Thank you for taking the time to speak with me and here is a follow up email to our zoom conversation. The committee on natural areas at UIUC oversees research on roughly a dozen university-owned properties that include about 1,000 acres of natural lands spanning east-central Illinois. The largest of these, the Vermilion River Observatory, located about 45 miles by road east of campus, was acquired by the Dept of ECE in the 1960s to construct a radio telescope. The ~495 acre property is now managed by the CNA for various environmental research projects and there are ~105 acres of agricultural land that are leased to a tenant farmer by ECE for cash revenue that at its peak generated ~20k/year but the value of the crop has been declining recently. Due to being in the drainage of the Vermilion river, the soils of the VRO are somewhat marginal in their production value and I think there is some chance the tenant farmer will decide to leave the lease. Or it may be possible given a suitable research project to take over the lease and use the lands for research.

    The project I am interested in pursuing is a long-term, large-scale ecological and agricultural experiment evaluating trajectories of agricultural lands following agricultural abandonment. Considering the scale of the agricultural lands on the VRO, I think it could be possible to have large and well-replicated experimental treatments that include comparisons among passive revegetation, bioenergy production, and active reforestation. Potential study outcomes could include carbon sequestration/flow, biodiversity conservation, and economic and energy cost/benefit analyses comparing the costs of these different experimental treatments versus the returns on investment. By east-central Illinois standards, I think the productivity of the agricultural lands on the VRO could be considered marginal, but based on my read of the literature and our conversation, I get the impression that these marginal lands are more likely to experience agricultural abandonment in the coming years.

    Assuming ECE would be open to a change in the management strategy for the agricultural lands on the VRO, which I would be happy to discuss with ECE and the OVCRI if we decide to proceed, the CNA could provide some logistical support for a large-scale research project on the VRO, including through the use of some of our farm equipment and out buildings on the property. We also have two full-time research/management staff whose time can be budgeted into proposals. And I am eager to undertake more long-term experiments on the CNA properties using former agricultural lands, since I see this as one of the most unique and important values of these properties that can be applied to a pressing environmental challenge.

    This is something I would be excited to pursue through the support of iSEE and I would love it if it gave us a chance to collaborate, Madhu. Attached please find an aerial photo of the VRO and an older site description map. Please let me know if you think this could dovetail with other opportunities currently being pursued by iSEE and CABBI and let me know what I can do to help!

    Best,

    Brian

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

    This is the land that Brian Allan had mentioned to me

     

    Madhu

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

     

    Attached Files: 

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