Helen Coleman and Evan De Lucia approved $5,000 of funding from the Carbon Credit Sales Fund for Legal Counsel for Solar Farm 2.0 Request for Proposal (RFP).
An email of approval is attached below.
The Transportation SWATeam discussed the opportunities, challenges, and feasibility of campus fleet car-sharing to reduce emissions from the campus fleet. They also discussed air travel offsets
Evan De Lucia and Helen Coleman approved $70,000 of funding from the Carbon Credit Sales Fund for Campus Tree Inventory.
The emails of approval are attached below.
The Transportation SWATeam had it's first meeting of the year. They discussed progress on the Transportation iCAP objectives, the status of related projects and proposals, and their priorities for the year. The team identified the following three areas on which they plan to focus in the coming meetings:
1. Exploring options for offsetting air travel emissions
2. Pursuing a comprehensive intermodal transit survey (one for students and one for faculty)
3. Assessing the feasibility of various options to reduce emissions from the campus fleet
The next meeting is on October 12th.
Hello Transportation SWATeam members,
Thank you again for your willingness to help our campus achieve the Climate Leadership Commitments. There is great value provided by the bi-weekly meetings of student, faculty, and staff representatives evaluating our progress and recommending additional actions campus units could take.
The following is a list of current activities I am aware of, and suggestions I have about useful next steps. I am happy to follow up with you on any of these, as needed.
Thank you very much,
~Morgan
The ALUFS SWATeam recommended that F&S complete an update to the campus tree inventory. This recommendation was supported by the iCAP Working Group, and the Campus Tree Advisory Committee. During spring 2017, Director of iSEE Evan DeLucia and Interim Executive Director of F&S Helen Coleman both approved using Carbon Credit Sales funding to complete the inventory. Campus Landscape Architect Brent Lewis will be responsible for initiating the inventory and working with Superintendent of Grounds Ryan Welch to oversee the progress.
The iCAP WOrking Group (iWG) met on February 23rd, 2017, to discuss and start the assessment of SWATeam recommendation ALUFS002 Campus Tree Inventory. Their official comment on this recommendation was:
"The iCAP Working Group supports the use of the Carbon Credit funds for a tree inventory update."
See attached the iWG assessment complete with official comments from all the iWG members.
The estimated cost of $2-3/Carbon Credit has been approved by Director of iSEE Evan DeLucia and Interim Executive Director of F&S Helen Coleman for buying 10,000 additional carbon offsets, when purchasing the 103,000 replacement offsets from the carbon credits sold from 2015. The additional carbon offsets will be used as the initial inventory for a new Virtual Storeroom for carbon offsets being developed by iSEE for on campus users.
An email of approval is attached below.
The State Purchasing Officer recommends a single quantity for the Request for Proposals for buying Carbon Offsets. F&S and iSEE are considering the use of Carbon Credit (CCs) sales funding for the start-up inventory of 10,000 CCs for the Virtual Storeroom for Offsets.
Campus is investigating continued participation in Second Nature's Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) for the duration of the ten-year (July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2021) verified carbon reduction program from UIUC.
Previous project name: Charge True Costs to Campus Users including Carbon Offsets
Previous project description: Several externalities exist for campus operations and business practices, and these are not fully captured in the every-day cost charged to campus users. For example, purchasing an item from the iBuy system does not include the cost of disposal for that item in the future.
iSEE is working with the Purchasing Division to publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) to purchase carbon offsets. These will include replacement offsets for the 2015 Carbon Credits (CCs) sold, and an option to purchase an additional 10,000 CCs to start an internal virtual storeroom for voluntary departmental offsets.
The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on February 16, 2016, to discuss the SWATeam recommendation, Trans005 Travel Demand Analysis. The iWG's final comment was:
"What would be the end result? There are many reasons to travel, some are optional and some are not. For example, junior faculty who are working on tenure need to network and engage with other experts in their area. Other times, it may be sufficient to conduct business or the meeting virtually. This is more of a sociological study, maybe a student in the Sociology department can help. Jess Tang will work with the SWATeam to see if this is plausible."
Following the iWG meeting, this recommendation was returned to the Transportation SWATeam for further discussion within the SWATeam.
See SWATeam recommendation Trans005 Travel Demand Analysis here.
The OBFS department sent their response to the iCAP Working Group (iWG) on September 23, 2015, which was then forwarded to the Transportation SWATeam in October. The Transportation SWATeam supplanted the Trans001 TEM_DMI recommendation with the new Trans005 Travel Demand Analysis recommendation.
See the new SWATeam recommendation Trans005 Travel Demand Analysis here.
See Transmittal of SWAteam recommendation of Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
See iWG assessment of Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
See SWATeam recommendation Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
The Transportation SWATeam submitted a new recommendation, Trans005 Travel Demand Analysis, that supplanted the old recommendation, Trans001 TEM_DMI. The SWATeam stated,
"Travel demand analysis on reducing air travel emissions. It was proposed that a travel demand study be conducted to find out quantitatively how university business travelers select air travel against other alternatives (such as web-conference, train, driving). The outcome will then be used to develop incentives or policies to reduce air travels and emissions. This study could be conducted in two phases:
Phase 1. Collect 1-2 years of data on individual travel decisions, including travelers’ socio-economic characteristics, and the alternatives they have. This includes analysis of the current Travel and Expense Management (TEM) database (e.g., the reported travel purpose and funding source) to collect basic information about current air travel. Part of the effort can involve adding new questions to the current TEM reimbursement process. An additional survey to the general public might be necessary to account for those who choose not to travel.
Phase 2. Statistical/econometric models (e.g., discrete choice models) will be developed based on the data collected in Phase 1. The outcome will inform us what factors contribute to air travel versus other available options, and what it takes to change the travelers’ decisions. Based on the findings, the researcher could recommend programs to (i) provide incentives for campus units to reduce their annual air travel emissions; and (ii) educate/support the campus community on alternatives to air travel, such as trains and video conferencing."
See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Trans005 Travel Demand Analysis, complete with comments from all the Transportation SWATeam members.
See the Supplanted SWATeam recommendation Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
see file
Several SWATeam recommendations were discussed. Also, an update from the Sustainability Council was provided:
"Review of Council Meeting/Status of iCAP Approval - The Sustainability Council meeting went very well with lots of good discussion. There were not too many serious objections to the iCAP. They would like to see financial information, such as cost-benefit analysis on projects. This information will be included in the study for accelerating our carbon neutrality date. The cover letter from the Chancellor affirming our commitment will include language about the current fiscal climate in Illinois. The Chancellor was keen to be able to reach carbon neutrality by 2035. Other concerns were in regard to the net zero space item and they suggested a space audit be included in the iCAP."
The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on May 4, 2015, to discuss and assess the SWATeam recommendation, Trans001 TEM_DMI. Their official comment on the recommendation was:
"Revise the TEM system to capture sustainability metrics for travel, such as categorized travel purposes and total miles traveled by each mode, in order to enable future reporting in DMI by unit, funding source, etc. OBFS should work with the Transportation SWATeam and iSEE staff to identify and optimize these metrics."
See attached the iWG assessment complete with official comments from all the iWG members.
See SWATeam recommendation Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
Following completion of the iWG assessment, the recommendation was transmitted to the OBFS department on May 4th, 2015.
See iWG assessment of Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
See SWATeam recommendation Trans001 TEM_DMI here.
see file
Several recommendations were discussed from the Transportation SWATeam and the Puchasing, Waste, and Recycling SWATeam.
