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  1. 10/16 Zero Waste SWATeam Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Large-Scale Food Waste Composting
    Food Waste Reduction
    Enviropures [ARCHIVED]

    Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 10/16.

    Discussed were the following topics:

    Reducing Food Waste

    • Post-consumer food waste prevention
    • Post-consumer food waste recovery

    Vending Machine Alternatives to Single-use plastics

    Plastic Recovery

    Single Use Plastics

    Illini Union Shadowbox attachment

    Food Literacy Project

     

    Attached Files: 

  4. Solar Farm 2.0 in F&S Quarterly Report

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 2.0

    SOLAR FARM 2.0 CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY
    Construction started on the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign’s Solar Farm 2.0 in August, with a commercial operation date expected for early 2021. The new 54-acre, 12.1 megawatt (MWdc) solar array is located north of Curtis Road, between First Street and U.S. Route 45, next to the Village of Savoy. Once completed, the solar farm will produce 20,000 MWh annually, almost tripling the university’s existing on-site renewable energy generation. Through a combination of utility-scale installations, integrated facility rooftop arrays, and wind power purchase agreements, clean power usage at the U of I will increase to more than 52,000 MWh per year, which is over 10 percent of the campus electrical demand. Faculty have already identified research projects that will use the Solar Farm 2.0 installation, primarily related to the pollinator-supportive plants under and around the panels.

  8. Weekly Update: Open hours sign, bikes pick up

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All,

    Last week I had an epiphany that we should probably have a sign on the door that lists our hours, even if they are appointment only. That’s in the works, should be ready tomorrow.

    With the decrease in testing for grad/staff we’ve had to turn a few people away for not being up-to-date. They have, by and large, been totally understanding. A few people have emailed and canceled ahead of time, which is welcomed.

     

    Set up a secondary pegboard in the shop to better organize freewheel/cassette tools—it’s a vast improvement over the drawer and/or coffee can we’d been using before. Last week I grabbed the scrap metal bin, some miscellaneous parts, and Aquaham Lincoln. He’ll live atop the fridge.

    This week I’ll coordinate with Parking to pick up a few bikes—only space for 3 or so—for instructional/teaching purposes with the new hires, schedule a staff meeting for my team, finalize placement for wheel hooks around the shop to increase storage.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 12
    Sales: $747
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Refurb bike: 2 for $430
    Tire/tubes: 10 for $57

     

    Thanks!

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. Landfill gas as an option for renewable gas

    Associated Project(s): 
    Use Renewable Natural Gas

    Upon inquiry from Morgan White, Mike Larson provided this update:

    One additional website that may be of interest is the attached from the EPA.

    https://www.epa.gov/lmop/project-and-landfill-data-state

    Landfill gas is the most prevalent form of renewable gas that I am aware of.  I asked Kinect about the use of biogas last year, and at the time they were not aware of anyone producing biogas and injecting it into the gas pipeline.  Most installations that I am aware of are point of use applications.  It costs quite a bit of money to pressurize the natural gas and inject it into the pipeline and the quantities are not huge, so most installations install a generator at the site and use the bio-gas to generate onsite.  I am not an expert in this market by any stretch, but that is my general understanding of how it is used.

    I will inquire again from Kinect, but I am not aware of any biogas being available to purchase, and as such I also do not know about the premium to purchase.

     

     

     

    Mike Larson

    Associate Director of Utilities Production, Facilities and Services

  10. eweek announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community

    Eric T. Freyfogle, "Water, Community, and the Culture of Owning"

    Professor Freyfogle is the author or editor of a dozen books dealing with issues of humans and nature, some focused on legal aspects, others reaching to larger cultural and social issues. In this talk he will explore why American legal and cultural systems of water use and ownership make it so difficult to face climate change and other environmental challenges.

    October 14, 12–1 pm • zoom

    Maria Dorofeeva • Center for Global Studies

  11. Red Oak Rain Garden Nears Completion with Award of Grants

    Associated Project(s): 
    Red Oak Rain Garden
    Issue Press Releases and Sustainability Reports
    ICECF Grants
    Green Infrastructure
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Please see the attached file for a recent press release regarding the Red Oak Rain Garden and their awarded grants from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.

    Attached Files: 

  13. Resilience iCAP Team Follow-Up Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Champaign County Hazard Mitigation Plan
    Urban Biodiversity Master Plan
    Rainwater Management Plans
    Environmental Justice Plan

    The Resilience SWATeam met again on October 9th, 2020 at 12pm. The team completed the iCAP 2020 Assessment and in doing so determined the team's priorities for the year. The Assessment has been sent it to the iCAP Working Group, and the team is looking forward to advancing our objectives!

    Attached are a PDF of the completed Resilience iCAP Assessment, meeting minutes, and chat log. 

    The agenda was as follows:

    1. Review iCAP 2020 Assessment (Due October 9th)

    2. Update on Hazard Mitigation Plan recommendation

    3. Plans for future meetings

    4. Announcements

     

     

    Attached Files: 

  14. Engagement SWATeam Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Engagement iCAP Team
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan

    The Engagement SWATeam met on October 7th to continue its discussion on the iCAP Objective Assessment. Team members were tasked with researching and assessing particular objectives in the previous meeting. During this meeting, members presented their findings and initiated discussion on potential launch points. Meeting minutes are attached outlining discussion surrounding each of the six objectives in Chapter 7 of the iCAP 2020. 

    Attached Files: 

  16. 10/5 Resilience iCAP Team First Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Resilience iCAP Team

    The Resilience SWATeam met for the first time on October 5th, 2020 to get to know one another other and assigned team members to specific iCAP 2020 Objectives. We did icebreakers and new student members were introduced to different faculty, staff, and community members that are leading projects throughout campus. The team will have a follow-up meeting on October 9th to discuss work done over the past week and complete the iCAP 2020 Assessment. Attached are the meeting minutes. 

    The agenda was as follows:

    1. Introductions

    2. Evaluation of current progress on completing iCAP 2020 Objectives

    Attached Files: 

  20. Weekly Update: Refurbished bike swap, low numbers, signage

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All,

    Another week in the books! It’s definitely still an adjustment to be open only by-appointment. We’re still getting phone calls and emails about user error and whatnot when scheduling and we’re only seeing 4 or so people per day. But hey, it’s a pandemic. People are still going to the old shop—some internet search engines are not up-to-date but we do have signage over there. Ironies of all ironies since people couldn’t seem to find that tucked-away garage before and are now flocking to it, it seems.

     

    Had a refurb-swap of a loose cranked bike. Thankfully the gentleman wasn’t injured in the failure. He took a different same-priced bike. He was very understanding and that was appreciated.

    Still working on upping our staffing levels to a comfortable number.

    We’ve only done a handful of bike registrations, which either speaks to the cost-as-deterrence or that people are picking them up elsewhere. Hopefully the latter!

    Still optimizing the layout and functionality of our new space but everyone who’s visited that was familiar with the old space has been blown away by the across-the-board improvements. I discovered a closet here that I didn’t know existed which now is storing the Bikes at Work trailer and the smaller kid-sized one. Aquaham Lincoln will likely migrate over here this week.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 21
    Sales: $562.70
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Bikes: 3 for $360
    Tires/tubes: 1 for $1

     

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

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