The following email was sent to the iCAP Teams:

Hello iCAP Teams,

Thank you again for serving on these important campus sustainability committees, and for your commitment to helping the university achieve the objectives in the Illinois Climate Action Plan.  As promised in the charge letters you received, we are attaching the Key Priorities Document here.  The attached document includes a section for each iCAP Team, with two parts in each section: Priority areas and in progress iCAP Portal projects.

1. Priority Areas

In order to help our campus move from STARS Gold to STARS Platinum, we have identified priority areas where our university can potentially improve. iSEE’s summer intern Tyler evaluated the latest UIUC STARS report and identified example case studies from STARS Platinum schools.  Tyler’s report is online at “Report on Improving UIUC STARS Score.” The priority areas also include topics for potential recommendations that have been brought up in previous discussions with the campus sustainability teams.  One example of this is the current efforts to reduce plastic waste on campus.

Many prior iCAP team members have expressed a desire for guidance on appropriate topics for recommendations, so we are providing this guidance to assist your team with focus areas for development of recommendations.  We encourage you to investigate these ideas with gusto; reach out to people at other schools to learn more about the ideas and contact people on our campus who would have a stake in the project (“stakeholders”) to understand how it could fit into our campus. You should also review the recommendation template to see the information that needs to be completed when you submit a recommendation to the iCAP Working Group. 

1. In progress iCAP Portal projects

The iCAP Portal has over 900 projects and contains information about our campus sustainability efforts, going back as far as 2003. The information is primarily entered by members of the iCAP Teams, the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC), and a few volunteers.  We are requesting your assistance to get updates on some of the projects that are listed as “In Progress.”  For each of the projects listed in the attached file, please answer the following questions:

• Who is the current contact person? The project records on the iCAP Portal may provide past contacts, and your team members may have relevant information.
• Is the project completed? If not, what is the current status of the effort?
• What changes are needed on the iCAP Portal project page content? Pictures would be particularly nice to be able to share on the Portal.

We are very excited about this coming year, and we want to support you in any way necessary.  Please reach out to any of us at any time.

Thank you,

Morgan, Jen, and Meredith

All, This week we begin being open the full week (minus Monday for Labor Day). Hopefully we’ll be able to better help folks, as we’ve had lines for stand time most days during our M/W/F schedule.

We’re out of bikes but have been selling a good number of memberships. I’ll be out on Thurs/Fri but my staff will cover.

We’ve taken a step back technologically and had good results: Printed membership forms are easier for folks to fill out, take less time, and we have more clipboards than computers which means we can get people working on their bikes sooner. Manually entering the forms afterwards and the environmental toll are worth it during these super-busy times.

I’ll do some prep on my end for BTWD and LTN next week.

The numbers:

Visitors: 102
Sales: $1,865
Bikes (refurb): 4 for $655
Memberships: 24 for $720
Tires/tubes: 22 for $144

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator

Following review by the iCAP Working Group, the iWG recommends that the ZW007 Composting Strategies recommendation be transmitted to iSEE:

"Because these discussions are at the beginning stages in various formats and topics, the iWG recommends that iSEE collaborate with the Zero Waste iCAP Team to plan and host a discussion/symposium/workshop in FY23 to share knowledge about composting programs, efforts, and strategies for campus and the community. A review of known solutions from other places and an assessment of anticipated costs for composting strategies should be included, and include presentations from experts on best practices."

See the submittal of ZW007 Composting Strategies here.

iSEE Director, Madhu Khanna, sent out the seven iCAP Team charge letters for the 2022-2023 academic year (attached). 

"Thank you once again for your service in helping to make the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign a more sustainable campus. Attached is your charge letter for the 2022-2023 academic year with an outline of your campus sustainability duties as part of the iCAP Team. We look forward to your positive and impactful contributions."

The August 26, 2022 issue of Insider featured the "Achievements in Transportation". Read the article online at https://fs.web.illinois.edu/Insider/2022/08/26/achievements-in-transport... or see below.

Achievements in Transportation

Be it walking, bicycling, taking transit, or driving vehicles, getting around the campus is done more sustainably than ever.

The F&S Transportation Demand Management (TDM) department creates, maintains, and coordinates the overall transportation network for all modes of travel. TDM implements campus and community policies and plans, like objectives in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP).

“Safe and sensible transportation, in all its forms and complexities, is essential to a functioning campus,” said Stacey DeLorenzo, transportation systems manager.

Read the full Transportation Demand Management Plan FY22 Achievement Report on the F&S website.

Students walking to Quad on Centennial Plaza in spring between the Chemistry Annex and Noyes Laboratory.

Key achievements include:

Asset Management Plan

• $1.25M was allocated for pavement maintenance and improvement projects, starting in FY22.
  • Pennsylvania Ave – Asphalt patching West of Maryland: $98,471.81
  • First and Peabody – Concrete patching: $47,866.28
  • College Ct westbound lane near PAR – Concrete patching: $42,055
  • Campus-wide – Spray injection: $25,000
  • Campus-wide – Crack sealing: $25,000

• F&S TDM is responsible for the 2014 Campus Bicycle Master Plan. The department installed the campus’ first bicycle shelter, removed abandoned bicycle paths, and enhanced bicycle facilities.

• Installed bicycle and pedestrian counters by Eco-Counters at 4 campus locations, with more planned soon. Learn more at Pedestrian and Bicycle Counts.

Programming

TDM educates and encourages students, faculty, and staff to use active modes of transportation. TDM evaluates and plans campus infrastructure to create a safe environment.

The Bike at Illinois website features information on bicycle education and facilities, bike sharing, registration, safety, and more. The F&S website includes information on walking, MTD buses, accessibility, and car-share options.

Collaborations

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is home to some of the world’s brightest researchers and students. The phrase “an active partner in research, teaching, and learning” added to the F&S mission, to academic collaborations. Working with researchers is an essential component to the future of F&S, and a major theme emphasized in the F&S Strategic Plan. F&S collaborates with students and researchers to envision the campus as a living lab and implement research to see the impact with real-world application.

All INSIDER stories on F&S academic collaborations, visit https://go.fs.illinois.edu/Academic.

Can pavement construction use food waste?
Dr. Lance Schideman (ISTC), Dr. Yuanhui Zhang (ABE), and Dr. Ramez Hajj (CEE) use bio-oil produced from food waste as a rejuvenator for asphalt. F&S is collaborating with these researchers to implement this technology on campus pavement in the near future.

Do students collaborate with F&S?
The TDM department collaborated with more than 25 students in the last year to help with class projects, research, or interests in transportation systems on campus.

Walkability Audit
F&S conducted a thorough walkability audit. Nearly 75 volunteers collected data for the following surveys: a) Walkability Audit survey, which focused on the general walkability of the campus (macro level), and b) Deficiency Reporting survey, which focused on identifying specific faults on campus (micro level analysis). Sutapa Banerjee, a master’s student in urban planning, analyzed the walkability audit survey to determine the “walk index” of 76.2 for the campus. The deficiency reporting survey data and ADA transition plan supplement will improve accessibility on-campus.

Those involved: Sutapa Banerjee (MUP-2 student), Dr. Lindsay Braun and Dr. Bumsoo Lee (Department of Urban and Regional Planning), Mylinda Netherton (Disability Resources Educational Services), Allison Kushner (Office of Access & Equity), Ryan Welch (F&S Grounds), Brent Lewis (F&S Capital Programs), and Chad Kupferschmid and Justin Pinnell (F&S Facilities Information Resources).