You are here

Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  2. Follow up with Housing on 8/28/2025

    Associated Project(s): 
    Fleet Replacement Plans
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet

    Attended By - Aaron Lewis, Matt Brown, Jessica Hauseman, Shawn Patterson, Sarthak

    • Base line for the initial cost -
      • What we have been spending
      • Idling times
      • Fueling
    • Who needs vehicles and why?
      • Evaluating what type of vehicles
      • Want to have 15 year replacement - age of bicycle - overall body condition starts to be an issue
        • Current replacement cycle is about 20 years
    • Where we can, we buy smaller vehicles than bigger trucks
    • Have you identified - who is going to be the primary contact
      • Matt will be the primary contact
      • Aaron and Jess are very highly involved

     

     

    • How many vehicles -
      • Dining
      • IT shared services
      • BSWs
      • Maintenance
        • Subdivision of trade groups
    • Spreadsheet includes - all vehicles
      • Jess will send it to me
    • Sarthak will draft a plan for Housing based on previous meetings.

  3. EV Charging Stations Updates

    Associated Project(s): 
    Use Electric Vehicles (EV)
    Increase use of EVs and other Alternative Service Vehicles

    Email from Phillip Krein:

     

    I wanted to update you on our EV charge infrastructure project. Tim Abrahamson supported us today from about 12:30pm to 2pm to gather circuit information in parking structures C10, C7, and B4. I owe Mike Brown an updated design report for our next-generation boxes, and of course we will not mount any new units until all is approved and Dave can inspect the setups. In the meantime, we learned the following:

     

    In lot C10, four of our boxes can be supported without changes. The most likely plans place one each at the east and west columns on Level 2 and one each on those columns on Level 3.

     

    In lot C7, it appears that five boxes can be supported.

     

    In lot B4, we have chosen about all that are available (six units are in place).

     

    For Krannert, there is one signed space where a unit can be mounted.

     

    In F29 (the fire station and parking), it appears that four units can be supported, including three existing signed spaces.

     

    In lot E15, there are NO receptacles that do not interfere with a walking path or equipment access path, so no units can be mounted there.

     

    The total, including those in place, is 20 units. We are preparing 30 new units. I do have some plans for a few of them.

    Philip Krein

     

    We did observe that nearly all of these structures have potential for additional receptacle circuits, but this would require a project with wire pulls and infrastructure changes. Since we are talking about 120 V receptacles, such a project is routine, but obviously not trivial to set up and fund.

  4. Campus Transportation Survey 2025: Commute Mode Share

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Driving on Campus

    The results of the Campus Transportation Survey conducted earlier this spring have been analyzed to find the mode share of students and faculty/staff on their commute from residence to campus. The findings are detailed below:

    • Of the 272 student respondents:
      • 35% take the bus
      • 8% drive alone
      • 21% bike
      • 33% walk/roll
      • 1% carpool/vanpool
      • 1% use other micromobility devices
    • Of the 524 faculty/staff respondents:
      • 10% take the bus
      • 71% drive alone
      • 2% are dropped off
      • 9% bike
      • 5% walk/roll
      • 3% carpool/vanpool

  6. plans for iCAP 2025 objective

    Associated Project(s): 
    Adopt Environmentally Preferred Procurement (EPP) Guidelines
    Recycled-Content Paper Policy in CAM
    Achieve Zero Waste
    iCAP 2025

    One focus area in FY26 will be to narrow, update, and execute a new CAM policy as an update to BF-11, "Recycling, Recycled Products Procurement, and Waste Reduction". The goal of the updated CAM policy will be to ensure that all paper purchased on campus (except for submitted and approved justifications) will need to be at a minimum 30% post-consumer recycled content.

  8. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - August 8, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Agenda

    • Discuss items remaining from last meeting

    Discussion

    • Discuss metric naming convention (see Discussion about Metrics - May 19, 2025)
      • Discuss at a future meeting
    • Finalize plans for removing national research programs from Projects listing
      • Not being kept up-to-date in the way we'd originally hoped
      • Who (if anyone) should we talk to before removing the national research programs?
      • Don't need to prioritize removing them before the site migration
    • Discuss 2025 Objectives dashboard (add in September, start displaying in October) - see "Adding Key Objectives" private file under Sustainability iCAP Portal project
      • Discuss at a future meeting
    • New iCAP Team (Sustainable Buildings) being formed - discuss what that looks like on the iCAP Portal
      • Miriam votes for making Sustainable Buildings a theme; Sarthak agrees
      • Didn't finish discussion - morphed into discussion of navigation menu options in new Illinois theme
    • New website main nav menu
      • Objectives, Projects, Metrics, About, SSC Projects?

    TODOs

    • Keep graph updates on todo list
    • At next meeting, discuss new site:
      • Main navigation menu
      • Information structure
      • Section naming
      • Content editing
    • Michael will set up a new sandbox for the group to test out the new system

  9. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - July 11, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Agenda

    • Michael's updates
      • Stripped out HTML from ALL project update teasers (homepage, Project pages, Theme pages, Place pages, Collection pages, Key Objective pages)
      • Added expand/collapse to Recommendations listing on Project pages for listings with 4+ items
      • Here are a couple options for differentiating subject lines for iCAP Portal suggestions:
        • Use submission ID, e.g. "iCAP Portal Suggestion (ID #181)" <-- Decided to use ID
        • Use Subject / Project Name field, e.g. "iCAP Portal Suggestion: Campus-wide Solar Panel Installation"

    Discussion

    • [Quinn] Project pages for directing users to the many available data sources on the iCAP portal (e.g. Public Data for Independent Research)
      • Discussed pros & cons of Basic Page vs. Project vs. another approach
      • This could be part of a larger Getting Started section to provide guidance to new visitors
      • Decided to leave this page as a Project for now; may revisit in the future
    • For next meeting:
      • Discuss metric naming convention (see Discussion about Metrics - May 19, 2025)
      • Finalize plans for removing national research programs from Projects listing
      • Discuss 2025 Objectives dashboard (add in September, start displaying in October) - see "Adding Key Objectives" private file under Sustainability iCAP Portal project
      • New iCAP Team (Sustainable Buildings) being formed - discuss what that looks like on the iCAP Portal

    TODOs

    • ✅ Replace map link on homepage with link to "Resources for Independent Research" or "We've got data!"
    • ✅ Update suggestion email subject line
    • ✅ Find out if we can add administrative field to mark who responded to a Suggestion

  13. Research In Progress for Bike Ambassador, Bike Buddy, and Commuter Programs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Ambassador Program
    Learn How to Ride a Bicycle and Bike Rodeo
    Commuter Program: Bus, Bike, and Hike

    Emily is working on researching Bicycle Ambassador, Bike Buddy, and Commuter Programs at Big 10 and other universities to eventually implement these programs at UIUC. While the Bicycle Ambassador program was last active around 2014, restarting this program is a priority under the Encouragement area of intervention in the 2024 Campus Bicycle Plan. Similarly, the Bike Buddy program, which would encourage more bicycle trips on campus, especially for newer and less experienced cyclists, is also a priority under the Encouragement area of intervention. Emily is also continuing research on the Commuter program, which is a part of the Evaluation & Planning area of intervention in the 2024 Campus Bicycle Plan.

  16. Certified STARS Gold!!

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS)
    Apply for Recognition

    I am excited to share the news that the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has now been recertified at the Gold ranking in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS). This is the sixth time we have received a Gold STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). This achievement represents our ongoing commitment to making sustainable change on campus. The updated 2025 report builds on previous reporting and helps hold us accountable for continuous improvement toward our sustainability goals.

    The reporting process required a huge amount of data collection from across different campus units, covering our academic programs, orientation and training programs, energy and emissions, landscape management, transportation systems, administrative policies, and much, much more. I would like to give special thanks to Codie Sterner at SSIB for helping to lead the data collection process, and to our student interns Jenna Schaefer and Lucy Zhou for their invaluable contributions.

    If you are receiving this email, it is because you helped provide key data and insights during this process. We sincerely appreciate your efforts and contributions to our campus sustainability efforts – completing this report and achieving this result would not have been possible without you!

    Best,

    Miriam

    Miriam Keep
    Sustainability Programs Coordinator

    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

  18. Introductory meeting with Housing

    Associated Project(s): 
    Fleet Replacement Plans
    F&S Sustainable Fleet Plan
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet

    Following are the notes from our meeting with Housing about their potential Fleet Management Plan. The meeting took place on 6/13/2025 at 9 a.m.

    Attended by - Sarthak Prasad, Shawn Patterson, Matt Brown, Aaron Lewis, Jessica Hauserman

    • We did introduction
    • Jessica is the Office Manager
    • We are looking for a single point of contact
    • Not reinvent the wheel - not dictate
    • What are we trying to do?
    • 12 year replacement plan
    • What is the useful life of the vehicle
    • Fuel consumptions, idle time,
    • Conversations about what would be the correct path
    • Right-sizing the application
    • We need to purchase a vehicle - what type of vehicle can be purchased
    • Matt Brown -
      • They make some purchases of heavier duty trucks based on what the tasks are, the weight of those things
      • Some small transit vehicles
        • Ford transit
      • They are looking for a huge number of things
      • Availability, right sizing, - have some issues with that
      • They are retiring 20 year old vehicles or more
      • They are finally out of pre-2000s vehicles this FY
      • They are now updating
    • How we might interact with these goals= planned rotation vs force rotations
      • Deterioration of these vehicles
      • Shawn -
        • The prices have skyrocketed
        • Digging deep - if we have a process in place.
        • If this is the goal, we can do what we can
        • What is the most feasible thing. The university is not going give us so much money to buy whatever we want
        • Housing is the first department we are reaching out
        • Same or similar fleet as F&S
        • We can share our expertise
        • Build a group and plan as to what can be done to improve iCAP goals
    • Looking to identify a contact person
      • Start off with Matt Brown and then direct conversations to other departments
      • Various fleets (4)
        • Facilities and Maintenance
        • Building services
        • Student Affairs Technology for Housing
        • Dining - Dell
      • Jessica has helped with costs and ownership of vehicles
        • To maintain or to fuel
        • There is data
      • If the iCAP wants to put a number before we rotate
        • Put a high number, like 15 years.
        • Some vehicles are used less
        • Vehicle by vehicle basis
    • Aaron -
      • Has it ever been discussion - drive thru car was on campus to remove debris and gunk - to improve the life?
        • Shawn -
          • Frame - Rust or something
          • Parts are no longer available for that vehicles
          • Undercarriage -
            • $100k to get the equipment
        • Deterioration of the body
      • Rust and under carriage - vehicles deteriorate
    • Next Step
      • List and come up with an operation plan
      • For one of the fleet operation or all 4 fleet? Evolving plan
      • Create a Teams Channel
      • Give them a skeleton plan to give to Housing
        • They will fill in what they can do - Based on the F&S Green Fleet Plan
        • The objectives we came up with were through NAFA and based on F&S fleets
      • Maybe a follow up in the end of July 2025
    • Matt asked about Idle time sensor
      • GPS sensors that we operate with
      • Not every vehicle is the same
      • External GPS system
    • Idle Times are related to Fuel Consumption
    • Matt and his team will get a shot on the plan and get back to us
    • Housing fleet is at a certain level - swap one for one
      • Very occasional and sporadic that they add a vehicle
      • They can commit to not adding to the fleet

  19. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - June 13, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Agenda

    • Celebrations
    • Michael's updates
      • Recommendation pages: changed sort order for Recommendation Updates
        • Old sort order: Applicable Date (descending), Created Date (descending)
        • New sort order:Applicable Date (descending), Status (by its order in the dropdown listing, descending)
      • Project pages: column widths issue
        • When project update contains an element with a fixed width larger than the column, it was causing the left sidebar to expand to fill as much space as possible. Fixed by setting maximum column widths.
        • Follow-up question: should we strip formatting from project update teasers? Since they're often copy-and-pasted from elsewhere, they tend to bring in their own formatting, which can sometimes look strange.
    • National Research Programs analytics
    • Discussion about Recommendations - May 19, 2025
      • See notes for updates
    • Discussion about Metrics - May 19, 2025
      • See notes for updates
      • Discuss metric naming convention

    Discussion

    • Project Update teasers
      • Let's strip out HTML from project update teasers
      • How does it impact embedding project updates?
        • Won't impact them - their Project Update descriptions are defined separately
    • Recommendations on Project pages
      • Decided to make each Recommendation's title a link
      • Decided to remove the table of Recommendation Updates for now
      • Will consider whether to display the Recommendation titles & statuses in a table - current list is clean, but table would be good for quickly identifying the statuses of the various projects
    • Discuss metric naming convention [deferred to next meeting]

    TODOs

    • ✅ Strip out HTML from ALL project update teasers
    • ✅ Add expand/collapse to Recommendations listing on Project pages

Pages