You are here

Project Updates for collection: all

Search

Search tips:

  • This form will search for words in the title OR the description. If you would like to search for the same term(s) across both the title and description, enter the same search term(s) in both fields.
  • This form will search for any of the words you enter in a field, not the exact phrase you enter. If you would like to search for an exact phrase, put double quotes (") around the phrase. For example, if you search for Bike Path you will get results containing either the word Bike OR the word Path, but if you search for "Bike Path" you will get results containing the exact phrase Bike Path.
  1. Weekly Update: Daily Illini interview, CTAC, post-Thanksgiving programming

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Last week I was interviewed for the Daily Illini  about the importance of bikes during a pandemic for health, safety, and exercise. No word on if they’re publishing the story.

     

    Last week, I was also present for the Active Transportation Advisory Committee on campus to discuss infrastructure and developments for bus riding, biking, and walking. Great to see and meet—virtually—so many University people involved in implementing and promoting safer and healthier ways to get around campus and the community.

    This week is business as usual: picking up bikes from the warehouse, staff meetings, and prepping for our post-Thanksgiving programming.

    Thanks!


    The numbers:


    Visitors: 10
    Sales: $99.50
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Tire/tube: 4 for $30
    Misc: $34.50

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Engagement SWATeam Meeting

    The Engagement SWATeam members met on November 20 with Eric Green (Education SWATeam) to discuss first-year sustainability education recommendations. Topics discussed included working recommendations for a sustainability module in college 100-level courses, a mandatory sustainability training, and a sustainability general education requirement, all of which are currently being investigated by the Education SWATeam. Additionally, discussion of successful sustainability engagement principles led to a forming of two sub-teams to work towards recommendations within our committee:

    1) Led by co-chair Ann Witmer: Creating a roadmap of current sustainability-focused projects that are going on and connections we can utilize to make future recommendations more effective 

    2) Led by co-chair Robert McKim: Creating a sustainability 100 for individual colleges or one-size fits all model 

    Meeting minutes are also attached below.

  3. 11/18 Transportation SWATeam Meeting

    Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 11/18.

    Discussed were the following topics:

    • Establishing a telecommuting/teleconferencing policy.
    • Discussing working with an interdisciplinary health intern in IHR to tackle research/application of teleconferencing/telecommuting policy and commuter program.
    • Establishing an EV Task Force through the Parking Department to re-assess campus EV needs.
  4. Energy SWATeam Meeting Minutes from 11-17-20

    On November 17th, the Energy iCAP Team met to discuss student, staff, and chair priorities for forming new recommendations. The team decided on starting to develop three different recommendations in the future:

    (1) Requiring campus buildings to comply with state Energy Code Compliance;

    (2) Encouraging labs on campus to save energy;

    (3) Educating students in residence halls about reducing energy consumption.

    Agenda, meeting minutes, and chat log are attached.

  5. Revolving Loan Fund: Special Project Vote for State Farm Center

    Associated Project(s): 

    The following email was sent on November 16, 2020 to the RLF Selection Committee:

    Revolving Loan Fund Selection Committee,

    I want to thank everybody again for your participation in the previous selection process. With the completion of that vote, the RLF fund source still has approximately $300,000+ available and a time sensitive submission from DIA has been received recently. The project being submitted is for a Retro-Commissioning (RCx) effort at the State Farm Center. RCx efforts see great results under normal operating conditions, but with the pandemic, significant savings could be realized now that many events are being cancelled and the facility is not being utilized at its full capacity. The request is for $250K and could see a payback of less than 2 years. Please see the attached document for more information.

    We don’t necessarily need to score this project, all we need is a majority decision (yes or no) to approve.

    I ask that you please reply with your individual yes (in support of funding) or no (decline funding approval) votes before November 26, 2020 (10 days away).

    ... Thank you again for your continued support of the RLF program.

     

     

    See the attached file to read details about the Retro-Commissioning (RCx) for the State Farm Center.

    Attached Files: 
  6. DOE award for Carbon Capture project

    Associated Project(s): 

    The DOE has awarded $25M to a three-year project, led by Kevin O'Brien at the Prairie Research Institute, for the design of a next-generation power plant that "combines multiple techniques to both reduce emissions and capture and re-use carbon dioxide." -- from: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/1950450895.html 

    OBrien and co-principal investigator Mohamed Attalla, director of U of I Facilities & Services, and ISTC project manager Les Gioja lead the project, providing combined expertise in power generation technologies, clean-energy generation, and large-scale construction. -- from: https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/7447/1913312422

  7. eweek announcement

    Associated Project(s): 

    Map the System 2021 Social Innovation Challenge

    Call for individuals and teams to participate in Map the System 2021, a competition that challenges students to explore a social or environmental issue using systems thinking and to identify new levers for change. Gain insight for social ventures and pitch ideas for cash prizes and a chance to compete in Global Final. Sign up to receive updates about info sessions, workshops, and key deadlines.

    Valeri Werpetinski • Origin Ventures Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Gies Business

    baseline_wifi_black_18dp.png This opportunity is available online.

  8. Congratulations to two gold certified offices!

    Congratulations to the Department of Chemistry Administrative Office (September) and Department of Communications (October) for recently acheiving gold certification! These two offices were featured in the iSEE newsletter and at the October 2020 Campus Sustainability Celebration! 

    Department of Chemistry Administrative Office feature

    Department of Communications feature

  9. 11/13 Zero Waste SWATeam Meeting

    Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 11/13.

    Discussed were the following topics:

    • Update: Adopt-a-highway/Clean-up Program
    • Composting Partnership: Alex Poltorak of Urban Canopy
    • Student Project: Vermiculture Composting
    • Grind2Energy Additional Scope
    • Food Literacy Project
    • Update: Clean Plate Program
    • Purchasing Sustainability Update
  10. 11/13 Zero Waste SWATeam Meeting

    Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 11/13.

    Discussed were the following topics:

    • Update: Adopt-a-highway/Clean-up Program
    • Composting Partnership
    • Student Project: Vermicompost
    • Novel Scope Addition: Grind2Energy
    • Update: Food Literacy Project
    • Update: Clean Plate Program
    • Update: Sustainability within Purchasing (Website & Protocols)
  11. Engagement Team Meeting 3

    The Engagement SWATeam met on Friday, November 6 to formulate and condense potential recommendations in addressing Chapter 7 Objectives. Below are a list of current proposed objectives and the associated meeting minutes:

    • New ways to support student environmental organizations
    • Using Sustainability Training (https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/1_poty17ok) as a way to get feedback from students, staff, and faculty about their views on sustainability on our campus and to promote engagement
    • Creating sustainability-focused GivePulse channel
    • Routine and regular (quarterly) Massmail by campus leaders at all levels in support of sustainability initiatives
    • Ensure all professionally focused degree programs provide students with an understanding of the consequences of climate change and the goal of living sustainably, as these matters pertain to the profession in question
    • Sustainability book of the month 
    Attached Files: 
  12. Weekly Update: Promote the Bike Center, bike pick up

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Lovely summery weather last week!
    Main event for the week was a marketing meeting to discuss new and innovative ways to promote the Bike Center, which was fruitful and really put into perspective how much stuff we do here at CBC when explaining it, even in general terms. And things like build-a-bikes vs. refurbished vs. DIY repairs will always confuse the uninitiated.
    This week is business as usual. Bikes to be picked up from Parking, an Active Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, staff meetings to be scheduled, and so forth. Some suppliers seem to be restocked a bit on some much-needed bike parts but as we inch ever-closer to fall/winter, immediate demand for those parts will wane. But we’ll still stock up a bit.
    The numbers:


    Visitors: 12
    Sales: $226.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $200
    Misc: $26.50

    Thanks!

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  13. Research news about reducing GHG from Ag. practices

    Evan DeLucia will present the AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture on November 19. The talk, Rethinking American Agriculture: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Food Production, will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Rattan Lal, the 2020 World Food Prize Laureate.

    The College of ACES recently announced a gift of aerial imagery, two multispectral agricultural data sets valued at $1.5M, from Aerial Agronomy, Inc. The gift will be "used in teaching and research, including efforts to estimate soil health and carbon flux from agricultural land in the Midwest."

    -- from https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/1514117041.html

  14. Fall 2020: iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ)

    The Fall 2020 iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ) was released with the following message from Madhu Khanna, the Interim Director of iSEE:

     

    Dear Colleagues,

    Attached, please find attached the Fall 2020 “iQ” – the quarterly update from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).

    It has been two months since I became interim director of ISEE.  It has been exciting to see ISEE bring in multimillion-dollar research grants, launch a new research initiative in regenerative agriculture, and help coalesce sustainable agriculture research on our campus during this period.

    Our Certificate in Environmental Writing has engaged students in making insightful contributions to a new issue of Q Magazine. We have also expanded our opportunities for education and scholarly discourse with several online events, including those on nuclear energy and geothermal energy research.

    We formally launched the new Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP 2020) on Oct 20, 2020. This ambitious plan is the result of the hard work of campus sustainability folks who worked hand-in-hand with Facilities & Services and incorporated the vision of hundreds of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members into a plan for the next five years and beyond — all the way to carbon neutrality no later than 2050!

    I am so grateful to Evan Delucia for his efforts over the first seven years as the first director of our Institute. He has left iSEE as a vibrant part of the Illinois community, and I am working with our outstanding ISEE staff to expand upon the work already begun — as evidenced in this six-page update.

    Please take a quick look at those updates and more in “iQ.” For more regular news, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.

    Wishing you a successful end to the fall semester,

    Madhu

  15. 11/4 Resilience SWATeam Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    The Resilience SWATeam met on Nov. 4th, 2020 and discussed an Urban Biodiversity Master Plan and an Environmental Justice Plan for the University and surrounding cities. Attached are the meeting minutes and chat log. 

    Summary of progress: 

    1.) Biodiversity Plan: A recommendation is being drafted to convene executive and advisory committees where university, local governments, and community members collaborate to gather research. The process could potentially be informed and organized by the Cities with Nature platform, which the city of Urbana is already using.

    2.) Environmental Justice Plan: iSEE is compiling a list of contacts to engage for starting an Environmental Justice Plan and conducting research on best practices for making such a plan. 

Pages