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  2. Zoom In on the Main Quad

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP)

    An article on the Facilities and Services Insider highlighted the recommendations that the Campus Landscape Master Plan has for the Main Quad. The recommendations included enhancing Main Quad courtyards, turf restoration, Illini Union an Anniversary Plaza restoration, and Centennial Court restoration, all while also [reserving the integrity of these spaces. 

    Attached Files: 

  4. The survey is further refined

    Associated Project(s): 
    Big Ten & Friends Sustainability
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Daphne, great survey and I agree with Mary it is very comprehensive!  Patrick and I reviewed the document we came up with a few recommendations for your consideration:

    It might be beneficial to add another question after cell G3 that asks if there are secondary waste goals.

    Cell K3 was a little confusing trying to determine what was meant by ‘Benchmark Year’…. Is this supposed to say ‘Baseline Year’ instead? 

    For Cell AG3, we are recommending that a separate tab in the same spreadsheet where the answers can be put into its own grid and easier to compare school to school.  For instance, I found it very interesting to see UIUC include tires but not surplus material, and it would be interesting to see how many folks include tire recycling/repurposing.  Patrick is going to take a 1st stab at creating this for your review.  

    In the Waste Metric Tracking section, would it be possible to add a few questions around accounting for avoided waste?  Take-back programs would be a prime example of this… for instance, if a university handles furniture whether by diverting it or landfilling it, but then works with a manufacturer on a take-back program, do you get to count that material as diverted?  I am not sure of the best way to ask this question(s)… maybe it should be integrated with the matrix developed as part of bullet #2? 

    The organics section might benefit by clarification on what should be included.  We interpreted it as more than just food scraps and included animal bedding and landscape debris in our answer, but questioned if other items should be included here such as food grease recycling.

     

    Thank you again for putting this together.  Looking forward to seeing it once it is all filled out!

    Thanks,

     

    Tony Gillund 

     

    Director of Sustainability

    Campus Planning, Architecture, and Sustainability

     

    o: 765-494-3911 | agillund@purdue.edu

     

     

    From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
    Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 8:26 AM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
    Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey

     

     

     

    Daphne,

     

    Thanks for reopening the conversation and putting this together. This survey looks comprehensive. We’re excited for the results!

     

    Here’s our quick feedback:

    For “Waste Reduction Goal” section, add question asking if school has formal, published waste plan and request link.

    For D5, we usually count interns as a 3:1 FTEs. Might be useful to make this clear or to have a separate column for number of FTE’s vs. number of interns.

    For the Surplus category, I’d be interested to learn if other schools have internal reuse or external donation programs to nonprofits. (Our Surplus group has mentioned some legal/logistical issues with donation…)

     

    We can make these edits directly in the survey but didn’t want to make changes without giving you a heads up/getting sign off from the group.

     

    Once the other folks on the chain provide feedback, we can help disseminate to the larger BTAF group. When the results are in, it’d be a perfect intern project to assemble results in a slide show and do some data visualization. Happy to donate our intern time towards that task.

     

    Best, Mary

     

    Mary Leciejewski
    Zero Waste Manager

    Pronouns: She/Her/Hers 

    Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
    1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
    (O) 614.292.3637
    fod.osu.edu/sustainability

     

  5. SafeTraces follow up meeting

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

    Sarthak Prasad and Morgan White are meeting with Sterling Laylock from SafeTraces on January 9 from 11 to 12 pm to cover the following:

    • Astronomy Building report findings and potential corrective action
    • Indoor Air Quality Monitoring specific to IT Security
      • UL 2905/UL 2906: Indoor Air Quality Sensor Performance/Sensor Deployment
      • UL Verified IoT Security
      • There is a newer building on campus that has CO2 sensors
        so we can discover what they did and follow that pathway
    • Our ongoing collaborative discussion with the State of Illinois' new Building Infrastructure
      Fund (2nd qtr 2023) where our work with you under iCAP is considered one of the missing pieces 
      of the puzzle.

      Their primary goal is to improve re-occupancy levels within existing buildings and cause new buildings (public and private) to design more effectively for IAQ/IEQ, especially where private development is receiving state funding and concessions.

      Since it was UL Healthy Buildings (Primary Partner of SafeTraces) that introduced IGT to
      the UL/SafeTraces ecosystem, ULHB will be instrumental in providing the capacity needed
      for our efforts with the state led by Illinois Chief Investment Officer, Joe Aguilar.
    • As discussed with Morgan at the end of our Design Thinking Session, Ikenberry Food Hall
      is being considered as our next project and UL Healthy Buildings ULHB is partnering with us
      on it since natural gas and hydrogen sulfide gas may be impacting IAQ/IEQ.

  6. Weekly Update: final week of semester, WCIA

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, The final week of last semester was, as expected, quiet. Very little traffic but Alex finally finished his Build-a-Bike. He’d been steadily and meticulously working on it all semester. We were able to fix up approximately 30 kids bikes here at CBC and totaled 50 for the event which happened on Saturday 12/17/22. We had 4 people bow out last minute to help for the event (thanks covid), so we had a skeleton crew but still gave away 50 bikes in about 20 minutes. The IMC staff were extremely helpful and stepped up to corral and organize folks when we were getting overwhelmed. Some folks left unhappy, I’m sure, but we still helped out a good number of kids. WCIA showed up just in time to get some footage of families departing with the last of the bikes and our story made the 10p news that night. I’ll reach out to WCIA and see if they can send me a digital copy of the broadcast so we can share that.

    This week I’ll be moving bikes from the warehouse and taking stock of our inventory, sorting bikes for our various programs, and working up some classes for next semester. Next week I’ll be tabling at College of Law orientation/resource fair. Always exciting to meet new/different groups on campus!

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 13
    Sales: $190

    Build-a-Bike: $40

     

    Thanks!

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  7. Ford Lightning allotted to Abbott Power Plant and EV charging station installed

    Associated Project(s): 
    F&S Sustainable Fleet Plan
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet
    Use Electric Vehicles (EV)
    Increase use of EVs and other Alternative Service Vehicles

    Abbott Power Plant are the recipients of one the new Ford F150 Lightning Electric Trucks.

    There is a charging station in the alley between the plant addition and scrubber where the vehicle can be parked and charged (see photo below). The plug on the truck is on the side in front of the driver side door.

    The key for the new truck is in the control room at Abbott. The key is a FOB that must be in the vehicle to start it. Similar to other new vehicles, the truck is started when the FOB is in the vehicle with you, you press the brake, and then hit the start button. Since it is electric you of course will not hear the motor engage and start, but the car will “come to life” with the dashboard coming on and displaying. The vehicle can now be put into gear and driven.

    NOTE, the vehicle comes equipped with “engine braking” engaged. So, when you take your foot off the accelerator, the electric motor will “reserve” (turn into a generator) and start slowing down the vehicle (and at the same time charge up the batteries).

    Please be careful when driving the truck for the first time and take some time to get accustomed to how it works.

    Attached Files: 

  8. Design Thinking Session Outcomes from the November 10, 2022 meeting

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

    Here's a short list of outcomes from our Nov 10th Design Thinking Session.

    • There a 2 more Design Thinking Session scheduled for 1st qtr 2023
      • Chicago Archdiocese
      • Cook County Facilities & Asset Mgmt
    • UL Healthy Buildings will become a more hands-on active participant in our iCAP effort to help expand building science expertise specific to the UL Verified Marks to also include the impacts of indoor air particulate, hazardous gases, and building hygiene:
      • SafeTraces Verified Mark for Ventilation and Filtration
      • UL Verified Mark for Healthy Buildings

  9. Green Lab Initiatives Take Root Around the World

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Research Committee

    Paul Foote shared the following article regarding Green Labs:

    This sustainable labs article shares a look into the current international climate regarding green labs.

    The author’s high level summation quotes green lab leaders as well as comments from NIH and HHS regrading funding and sustainability, and other key topics surrounding sustainable & green labs.

    https://www.the-scientist.com/careers/green-lab-initiatives-take-root-around-the-world-70676

  10. Sustainability Council Meeting 12-13-22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Council
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Clean Energy Plan
    Sustainability Gen-Ed Requirement
    Sustainable Land Management Committee

    The Sustainability Council met on 12-13-22 and discussed the following agenda:

    • Zero Waste
    • Energy Planning
    • Strategic Plan
    • Old Business
      - Sustainability General Education Requirement
      - Sustainable Land Management Committee Report

    The meeting minutes and slide deck are attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  15. Campus Energy Student Video 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Independent Student Projects
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy

    In December of 2022 Aaryaman Patel, a Mechanical Engineering student, published a video for a competition through the International District Energy Association. The purpose of the video is to highlight energy systems within a University campus.

    Below is the link to his video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLrt4X0EOGA

     

  16. New iSEE Green Event and Chapter Certifications

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Green Chapter Program
    Certified Green Event Program
    Certified Greener Campus Programs

    Congratulations to our newest recipients of our Certified Greener Campus Programs as we finish out the semester.

    Green Chapter:

    Alpha Phi Beta (Alpha Chapter), Gold, Recertified December 2022

    Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, Gold, Recertified December 2022

     

    Green Event:

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events President and Chancellor’s Holiday Reception, Certified December 2022

     

    Keep up the great work!

  17. Land & Water iCAP Meeting 12/13/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    Cover Crops on South Farms
    Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP)
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Obtain and Publicize Water Data
    Land and Water iCAP Team

    On December 13th, the Land & Water iCAP team met to discuss a new approach to crafting recommendations for next semester; including the creation of a land subcommittee and a water subcommittee.

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  19. Weekly Update: Slow week

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Slow week again. A few more kids’ bikes trickled in, which was good. Our giveaway is this coming Saturday and we’re accepting bikes until Friday evening. A notice went out in E-week and the like so hopefully that’ll bump up our count. I haven’t taken inventory at Urbana for our total count but I’m guessing around 40 between both spaces.

    Tony, former Bike Project staffer and integral member in the creation of the original bike center in 2010 was back in town last week. He came and volunteered a full 4 hours and helped train up some staff, too.

    Our sales last week are at a record low. We had a few people in each day but looks like adjustments only, used innertubes, and no purchases. I’ll dig into the numbers this week to confirm it genuinely is that low and not an error.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 18
    Sales: $5.50

     

    Thanks!

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  20. Zero Waste iCAP Meeting 12/8/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Develop Sustainable Purchasing Policies
    Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) Climate Action Plan
    Food Waste Reduction
    Plastic Bag Recycling
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    On December 8th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss a new approach to creating recommendations for next semester. During the meeting, the team created subcommittees based on aspects of the key priorities document and provided feedback on an environmental engineering sustainability project. 

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

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