The following utility commodity rates have been reviewed with the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Office of the Provost and have been approved for use as of July 1, 2021:
For more details, view the FY22 Utility Budget and Rate Approval on the F&S Website.
Or, refer to the attached file.
After the iWG meeting on September 17, 2018, Dr. Cai sent the following response to the SWATeam regarding ECONS007:
Dear ECBS SWATeam,
Thank you for your strong commitment to campus sustainability. The iCAP Working Group met on Monday this week and discussed the ECONS007 Recommendation (https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-update/econs007-energy-conservation-funding-2018-recommendation-submittal).
We invited Josh Whitson and Kent Reifsteck to speak with us, and there was a good discussion about the benefits and usefulness of Energy Performance Contracting. However, the iWG decided that there is not an actionable next step in this recommendation, as it currently stands. We strongly support campus funding for energy conservation, so we are returning this recommendation to your team for further information. For example, where do you recommend the suggested funding come from? Also, are there specific projects identified for the funds in the first year? How will those projects coordinate with other efforts for dealing with deferred maintenance? The iWG members are willing to discuss this issue with you and Kent’s team further, to strategize ideas.
Please let us know if you would like to arrange a meeting with your SWATeam and members of the iWG.
Thank you,
Ximing Cai
See related iCAP Working Group meeting notes here.
See SWATeam recommendation ECONS007 Energy Conservation Funding 2018 here.
Attached are the meeting minutes from the iWG meeting that was held on September 17th, 2018. Several SWATeam recommendations were assessed.
The Fiscal Year 2019 F&S budget was not cut from the FY18 budget, including energy conservation funding. This is great news!
There are still a dozen or so cooling towers on campus, and ISTC staff are meeting with related building representatives later this month to review the options for reducing water consumption in these towers.
Matthew Tomaszewski responded to the iWG Chair, Dr. Ximing Cai, with the following email:
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Good morning, Ximing,
I have had a couple conversations with Provost Cangellaris about this recommendation. We will include it for consideration as part of our broader discussion of the campus budget. As you know, budget reform has implications for space and utilities use, so this is a timely submission.
Thank you,
Matthew
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For any future updates on this item, please visit the Utility and Energy Services Funds project.
See Transmittal of ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 to the Provost Office here.
See iWG Assessment of the ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 here.
See SWATeam recommendation ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 here.
The ECBS SWATeam submitted a recommendation, to the iWG, stating, "We recommend $10M per year (scalable) of funding for the next 5 years to implement critical projects that work in concert with energy performance contracts (EPC). EPC contracts are fulfilled by specialized, accredited firms known as energy service companies. The university uses EPCs to manage complex projects targeting facilities with high energy use, such as laboratories, maximizing energy efficiency and addressing sizable volumes of deferred maintenance issues along the way. The campus backlog on deferred maintenance is approaching $1 billion."
See attached the SWATeam recommendation, ECONS007 Energy Conservation Funding 2018, complete with comments from all the ECBS SWATeam members.
Also attached is the EPC Analysis report as submitted by the ECBS SWATeam.
The iCAP Working Group (iWG) Chair, Dr. Ximing Cai, forwarded the ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 recommendation to the Provost following the completion of iWG assessment of the same.
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Dear Provost Andreas Cangellaris:
On behalf of Illinois Campus Sustainability Working Group (iWG), I’m sending you a recommendation on energy conservation funding, which was made by Sustainability Working Advisory Group on Energy Conservation and Building Standards (SWAT-ecbs). The recommendation was then evaluated by iWG.
Energy conservation is vital to maintaining our energy savings and emission reductions and has a strong payback. iWG suggests that the Provost’s Office considers this recommendation when reviewing Facilities and Services’ budget for FY19. Attached please see the original recommendation made by SWAT-ecbs and the evaluation of by iWG.
If you have any questions about the recommendation, please let us know. We would appreciate any responses regarding your perspective on this recommendation.
Thank you for your consideration and support to campus sustainability.
Best regards
Ximing Cai
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For any future updates on this item, please visit the Utility and Energy Services Funds project.
See iWG Assessment of the ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 here.
See SWATeam recommendation ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 here.
The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on November 30th, 2017, to discuss the ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017, and started the assessment of this recommendation. Their official comment was:
"Energy Conservation is vital to maintaining our energy savings and emission reductions and has a strong payback. The Provost’s Office should consider this recommendation when reviewing Facilities and Services’ budget for FY19 and should consider this in light of the larger budget reform process."
See the attached file for the complete assessment of this recommendation complete with official comments from all the iWG members.
See SWATeam recommendation ECONS006 Energy Conservation Funding 2017 here.
The Illini Union has demolished its old cooling towers for HVAC in the past 15 years, and recently demolished the old evaporator cooling system for the refrigeration chilling water in 2017. Almost all of our HVAC is now on DDC, with the exception of AHU’s 1, 2, & 3 in the South Building attic, and AHU-21 in the North Building NW subbasement.
The ECBS SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG stating, "We recommend the following actions and funds to implement critical projects key to energy conservation efforts at UIUC. Total funds needed: $3.55M
1) RESTORE funding of ~ $1.5M in FY19, compensating for loss of DCEO grants (Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity), to continue the Retro-commissioning (RCx) work. Retro-commissioning = Identifying and implementing operational and maintenance improvements to existing buildings (first pass) to ensure continued optimal performance over time.
2) INCREASE the Recommissioning (REx) and Preventive Maintenance (PM) teams. Re-commissioning = Building operating and maintenance systems are examined, parts may be fixed or replaced, and systems reset as if they were being installed new. REx is usually performed about 5 years after RCx has passed thru a building and reoccurs about every 5 years going forward. Preventive Maintenance = actions to preserve life of equipment and prevent breakdowns (cleaning of coils, review of air handling unit systems, review of hydronic systems.) Occurs before re-commissioning. The PM group reports to the maintenance side of the organization whereas the RCx and REx teams report to Utilities and Energy Services. In terms of priority:
See attached the SWATeam recommendation ECONS006 Conservation Budget Funding 2017 complete with comments from all the ECBS SWATeam members.
Interim Provost Wilkin, on behalf of Chancellor Jones, approved moving forward with the recommendations discussed at the March 2017 Sustainability Council meeting. See attached file.
See iWG follow-up on the March 2017 Sustainability Council meeting here.
See Transmittal of EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.
See iWG Assessment for SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard here.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.
See Transmittal of EGen003 PPA term to the Sustainability Council here.
See iWG Assessment of EGen003 PPA Term here.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen003 PPA Term here.
See Transmittal of ECONS003 Conservation Budget to the Provost Office here.
See iWG Assessment of ECONS003 Conservation Budget here.
See SWATeam Recommendation of ECONS003 Conservation Budget here.
Water Station Foreman, Shawn Young, indicated today that there are two remaining stand-alone cooling towers on campus buildings maintained by F&S: Temple Buell Hall and the Personnel Services Building. One of these (Personnel) is scheduled to be added to the central chilled water loop in 2020, according to the Utilities Energy Production and Distribution Master Plan. Base on that discussion, Morgan Johnston will be following up with the Water SWATeam to let them know that because there are so few remaining stand-alone cooling towers, this is not a high-priority item to pursue.
Morgan Johnston and Chenxi Jiang have requested a meeting with Dave Boehm and other Building Maintenance representatives to discuss the options for implementing a new water conservation strategy for stand-alone building rooftop cooling towers.
We set COC = 5 for pilot studies.
Director of iSEE, Evan DeLucia, summarized three recommendations presented at the March 2017 Sustainability Council meeting: EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard, EGen003 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Timeline, and ECons003 Conservation Budget, as well as the next steps, for Chancellor Jones’ approval.
We followed up with the Sustainability Council on April 25, 2017, with the attached file.
See Transmittal of EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.
See iWG Assessment for SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standard here.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen005 Rooftop Solar Standards here.
See Transmittal of EGen003 PPA term to the Sustainability Council here.
See iWG Assessment of EGen003 PPA Term here.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen003 PPA Term here.
See Transmittal of ECONS003 Conservation Budget to the Provost Office
See iWG Assessment of ECONS003 Conservation Budget
ee SWATeam Recommendation of ECONS003 Conservation Budget
Updates and discussion of greywater meter, greywater design standards, cooling tower cycles of concentration, water use dashboard, and student outreach.
Below is information provided by Jeremy Overmann, B.S. Ch. E., Water Treatment Specialist, on the water use and cycles of concentration (COC) in a cooling tower, as requested after a Land and Water SWAT meeting.
"
Water SWAT members,
Here is some more information regarding the cooling tower discussion at today’s meeting.
This first graph shows how much water a typical 100 ton Cooling Tower uses per hour, and how this changes when the tower is operated at various Cycles of Concentration (COC)
NOTE: a 1 ton cooling tower can remove 15,000 BTU/hr of heat.
Most standard chemically treated Cooling Towers use unsoftened water and operate between 4 – 6 COC, depending on the source water quality (also called Make-Up water) and the efficacy of the chemical treatment program.
As COC increases, the potential for formation of calcium scale (and possibly other types of scale) increases. Scale deposits reduce the energy efficiency of the chiller and the cooling tower, and result in the need for labor intensive cleaning to remove the scale.
The following table shows the relationship between volume of Cooling Tower blowdown (bleed), blowdown rate (% bleed), COC, and total water usage.
Cycles of Concentration is controlled by choosing the rate of blowdown. This is done by controlling the blowdown (bleed) valve at the bottom of the tower.
|
COC |
BLOWDOWN |
TOTAL USAGE (Makeup) |
||
|
Gallons |
Percent |
Gallons |
Percent |
|
|
1.5 |
10,000 |
100% |
15,000 |
100% |
|
2 |
5000 |
50% |
10,000 |
66% |
|
3 |
2500 |
25% |
7500 |
50% |
|
4 |
1667 |
17% |
6667 |
44% |
|
5 |
1250 |
13% |
6250 |
42% |
|
6 |
1000 |
10% |
6000 |
40% |
|
7 |
833 |
8% |
5833 |
39% |
|
8 |
714 |
7% |
5714 |
38% |
|
Note: Evaporation = 5000 Gallons |
||||
In a “Zero” blowdown cooling tower, softened water is used, and cycles of concentration ranges from 20 – 100 or higher. To achieve proper water chemistry to provide corrosion protection, usually need to operate at > 20 COC.
During the Champaign Regional Office Building study, the highest COC achieved was 51. The blowdown valve is turned off, however some water is lost from leaks in the tower, and from droplets of water that escape with the air that is drawn through the tower.
|
COC |
BLOWDOWN |
TOTAL USAGE (Makeup) |
||
|
Gallons |
Percent |
Gallons |
Percent |
|
|
1.5 |
10,000 |
100% |
15,000 |
100% |
|
5 |
1250 |
13% |
6250 |
42% |
|
10 |
555 |
6% |
5550 |
37% |
|
25 |
208 |
2% |
5208 |
35% |
|
50 |
102 |
1% |
5102 |
34% |
|
75 |
66 |
0.7% |
5066 |
34% |
|
100 |
51 |
0.5% |
5051 |
34% |
|
200 |
25 |
0.3% |
5025 |
34% |
|
Note: Evaporation = 5000 Gallons |
||||
"
Updates on BIF Greywater Meter application. Discussion on Cooling Tower COC and "Zero" blowdown systems.
The iCAP Working Group met and discussed the following agenda items. Meeting notes are attached.
1. Brief iCAP Portal overview by Morgan
2. Discuss any updates to Water002, Cooling Tower Increase COC
3. Discuss Trans008, Bike Parking in Ramps
4. Discuss updates to Econs004, Green Labs Coordinator
5. Consider issues with recommendation process and view recommendation tracker
