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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  3. Natural Resources Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Retrofit #5 [ARCHIVED]

    As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 2,711 T-12 fixtures in the Natural Resources Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 424,466 hours. The simple payback for this project is 2.2 years.

  7. Bike to Work Day and Campus Bike Project Make Progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Bicycle Use

    Bike to Work Day (BTWD) planning is underway. Staff raised $1,250 in February from sponsors, which goes to Champaign County Bikes for the event.  Three on-campus Bike Station locations were organized, in addition to several off-campus Bike Stations.  University Housing graciously agreed to provide food and drinks for the on-campus Bike Stations, as they did last year.

    The Bike Sharing key staff members met with project champion, Mike Lyon from AITS, to provide a status update on the bike sharing feasibility study.  The bike sharing intern developed a presentation about departmental bike sharing, which will be taken to Legal Counsel and Purchasing contacts for final approval.  Then Colleges will be contacted before departments are approached to encourage departmental bike sharing implementation.  

    F&S Planning staff interviewed firms to engineer road improvements, including Fourth Street bike lanes from Armory Avenue to Kirby Avenue, and Sixth Street bike lanes from Armory Avenue to Gregory Drive.

    The bike parking intern completed and submitted a proposal to the SSC to replace existing “donut-hole” racks with campus standard racks.  He also met with staff at Christopher Hall and the Illini Union about upgrading their bike parking areas.  Additionally, staff worked with a representative from Champaign County Bikes to arrange a pilot test of an alternative bike parking rack, the Varsity Rack.

    The Campus Area Transportation Study (CATS) agencies met in February and agreed that the Campus Bike Plan document should be for University-owned pathways, and it should be in agreement with the City of Urbana Bike Plan, the Champaign Transportation Plan, and the County Greenways and Trails Plan.

    The Campus Bike Project submitted a proposal to the SSC for expanded open hours with student assistants.

    Plans are underway for a bike race on May 5 in the Research Park.  About 300-400 race participants are anticipated.  There will be a community ride that morning, as well as a race in the City of Urbana on May 6.

  8. EMC^2 Proposal, F&S Steam Reduction, Virtualization

    Associated Project(s): 
    Centralized Energy Efficiency Efforts

    Staff further developed the Energy Management and Control Center (EMC^2) proposal for Chancellor Wise to share with potential donors/partners.  This process included preliminary documentation of the existing energy distribution and tracking computer programs.

    F&S staff started discussions about a steam reduction project at the Main Library, which includes repairing steam traps, replacing Pressure Reducing Valves (PRV), and repairing or replacing other valves.

    F&S is moving towards virtualization for their IT servers.  That will let F&S move to a single server, which will reduce the cooling load and energy demand.  This project can be replicated in other departments for additional energy savings.

  9. Partnerships, Engagement in Local Efforts

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach

    On February 16, CCNet hosted Angela Adams, the Recycling Coordinator at the City of Champaign, to explain the proposed bag ban in the city; Pattsi Petrie, a Champaign County Board Member, to discuss local foods; Mike Monson, the Urbana Chief of Staff, to explain the Electrical Aggregation proposal; and Marya Ryan, from the Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission to review the City of Urbana’s Climate Action Plan.

    Staff facilitated meetings with students and staff about potential letters of support for the City of Champaign Single Use Disposable Paper and Plastic Bags study item.

    In an effort to standardize emissions calculations throughout the community and county, staff met with transportation planners from the Regional Planning Commission to share information about calculating transportation emissions.

  10. SSC Weatherization student leader met with the Building Maintenance team

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings [ARCHIVED]

    The SSC Weatherization student leader met with the Building Maintenance team at F&S to review the student team reports for the small houses they assessed last fall.  Building Maintenance will develop cost estimates for the identified needs, so the students can prioritize the available funding ($50,000 from F&S).

  11. Press on U of I Sustainability Efforts

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach

    Staff continued working with the Office for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education (MSTE) on the sustainability portal.  The portal will host a database of the iCAP/sustainability projects for campus, with searchable details about the projects, people, funding, and metrics.

    Staff met with Inside Illinois to develop an article about campus sustainability.  The article is online at http://news.illinois.edu/ii/12/0301/sustainability.html.

    The Alumni Magazine included a story about being a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly University.

  12. Abbott Power granted permit

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass co-firing pilot at Abbott Power Plant [ARCHIVED]

    Abbott Power Plant was granted an IEPA permit to co-fire biomass with coal until June 30, 2013.  F&S intends to do some test burns this spring with wood chips.  Wood chips have a good track record in stoker boilers, and we are fairly confident we can demonstrate a successful trial.  In addition, wood chips appear to be one of the most cost effective sources of biomass available at this time.

  13. Energy Dashboard Presentation at Behavior Change/ Energy Efficiency Conference

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Dashboard Project

    The Energy Dashboard Project will be a highlighted project at the Behavior Change/ Energy Efficiency Conference.

    Illinois Energy Dashboard project, collaboration with the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and the Department of Facilities and Services (F & S).

    This project has been in the works for over a year, with a commitment to provide clearly visible, usable and understandable information to students and staff of chosen University buildings about energy consumption (electrical, chilled water and steam).  We are working with InStep Software, Inc., the University of Illinois vendor for the management and predictive analytics software for energy use on campus.   We are now in Phase One of implementation, the design of the look and content of our public Energy Dashboard site, testing and the public launching of the first version of the Ilini Energy dashboard (Phase two will support the installation of real time meters in about 10 – 12 builings).


    This is one in many of the continuing efforts across campus to pull together and unify the significant educational (and research) efforts of departments and Colleges in reducing negative human impact and enhancing sustainability locally, nationally and globally. 


    This project is intended to have a threefold effect:

    ·         Provide real time information to develop awareness and cultural/behavioral changes in how energy is used (not only in the buildings featured but in all aspects of life).

    ·         Provide information for faculty and students in research.

    ·         Provide details for building staff to better use resources and energy, and make plans for building adaption in ways that may decrease usage over time.

  15. F&S and ECI Responsibilities

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Dashboard Project

    The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and Facilities and Services (F&S) are working in conjunction on the Energy Dashboard with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee. The SSC has set for responsibilities for each group to complete the project.

     

    The Environmental Change Institute is to coordinate meetings with representatives of major stakeholder groups (ECI, SSC, F&S, etc.) for the purpose of development, communication and clarity concerning the scope of the project, funding expenditures, review of phases, and deliverables; coordinate selection of appropriate building for building metering system upgrades that will be providing real-time data to the dashboard display system, assuming that the connections are technically or technologically feasible; develop content for website, including incorporation of new buildings, with input from stakeholders; coordinate marketing, communications with stakeholders, and progress reports; and compose and develop a final project report with input from F&S and other stakeholders as required.

     

    Facilities and Services responsibilities are implementing and launching the Energy Dashboard module; providing technical support for metering, direct digital connections and dashboard website; purchasing software and installing that software with funds designated in the SSC award letter; determining data connections, server needs, IITAA compliance issues for website; communicating regularly with ECI concerning implementation issues and progress updates; installing and connecting upgraded building metering systems; and determining technical feasibility of connecting building metering systems to Dashboard and supporting systems.

     

    The SSC report also included a schedule extension.       

    Attached Files: 

  17. Mark Barcus will be F&S point of contact

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings [ARCHIVED]

    Thomas,

    My name is Mark Barcus and I am Dean Henson’s new assistant and he has asked me to work on the SSC weatherization project. I would like to set up a meeting with you and Morgan Johnston and myself to see where we are at. When would be a good time to meet?

    Thanks

    Mark

    Mark A. Barcus

    Assistant Superintendent

    Building Maintenance

    University of Illinois

    Facilities & Services

    barcus@illinois.edu

    (217)-265-6566

     

  18. Continuing Partnerships and Engagement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach

    The Office of Sustainability hosted the first monthly CCNet Sustainability meeting of 2012 on January 19. The meeting had 39 attendees, including faculty, staff, students, local government employees, and members of the community. There was a presentation and discussion led by SEDAC about the organization’s work and national energy trends.  CCNet Meetings will continue throughout 2012, taking place at noon on the third Thursday of each month, at the Natural Resources Building, room 101.

    Sustainability employees from campus, Urbana, Champaign and the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) continue to collaborate. In January, we discussed each agency’s respective greenhouse gas inventories. It was decided that Champaign and Urbana will include any University emissions which fall within their respective jurisdictional boundaries in their city-wide reports. For the purposes of local reporting, the University will be considered a separate entity that overlays both cities, similar to any other business entity, rather than a distinct jurisdiction. It was also decided that a separate meeting will be necessary to specifically address transportation-related emissions and how each entity is tracking and reporting on these.

    The YMCA/YWCA on Wright Street requested a meeting to discuss their sustainability efforts and how the University may be able to assist. They are working on building improvements and changes to their parking and outdoor space. We gave them suggestions of people they may want to contact for input and advice.

    Sustainability staff attended an Illinois Green Business Association (IGBA) networking event and talked with IGBA board members about potential future collaborations.

    The City of Champaign Recycling Coordinator requested information about the impacts of plastic and paper bags on campus facilities and the campus waste stream. She also requested letters of support for a bag ban from student environmental groups.

    Sustainability staff attend monthly conference calls/webinars of the Governor’s Green Universities and Colleges subcommittee.  In January, there was a presentation at ISTC about weatherization of campus buildings, and the disconnect between LEED certification and weatherization practices.

  19. Sustainability Portal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    The Office of Sustainability is working with MSTE to develop the Illinois Sustainability Portal, an online hub for sustainability-related information on the Urbana-Champaign campus.  We met with MSTE several times in January to develop the site architecture and database structure for the site. A preview of the site will be shared during Earth Week (April 16-20). When complete, the portal will be the go-to place for people to learn about all iCAP projects and goals, to submit ideas for consideration, and to research historical data about emissions and other sustainability metrics.  Additionally, project leaders will be able to report to the OS on their progress and plans. We envision this to be an incredibly useful tool going forward.

  20. F&S Makes Progress on Bicycle Projects

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Bicycle Use

    F&S continues to work with a number of student groups and individuals on bicycle-related projects:

    • Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Grace Kenney has returned from a semester abroad and is now completing the Bike Sharing Feasibility Study this spring, as well as implementing departmental bike sharing with interested departments, using the Departmental Bike Sharing Manual produced by the Fall 2011 LINC class. Grace also helped with the master bike plan in January, and will be working closely with the Bike Sharing Steering Committee in the coming weeks and months.
    • Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Holly Nelson is continuing to work on bike lane design recommendations.
    • Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Patrick Clark is working on bike parking upgrade designs and recommendations, including SSC-funded improvements at the Illini Union, as well as developing the formal grant proposal for bike parking upgrade funding for SSC.
    • GIS student Marcus Ricci proposed a GIS class project to analyze the location and quantity of bike parking in relationship to building doors and bike pathways.
    • The UI Bikes LINC course, as mentioned above, is working with F&S on several projects related to both bike sharing and bike parking.
    • An MBA class is studying the Campus Bike Project, among other bicycle-related topics, and will make a recommendation to the CBP for developing a self-sustaining funding model.
    • Student Senator David Huang has drafted and will introduce a formal resolution to the Illinois Student Senate proposing the implementation of online bicycle registration through Ride Campus. (http://www.ridecampus.com/)

    Members of The Bike Project steering committee met with representatives of F&S and SSC to brainstorm opportunities to help make the Campus Bike Project a financially self-supporting operation.  This is in parallel to the efforts of the MBA class looking into this issue.  The Bike Project will be submitting a Letter of Inquiry to the SSC before their current funding expires in May.

    F&S staff attended the monthly Champaign County Bikes meeting in January, to discuss a potential use of Ride Campus and Varsity Rack in Champaign-Urbana. F&S is also working with CCB member Jeff Yockey to develop a steering committee to explore the possibility of implementing Ride Campus at the University of Illinois.

    F&S staff and Patrick Clark met with the Illini Union to discuss improving bike parking facilities around the Union, and potentially having the Union be a pilot test location for the Varsity Rack. 

     

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