You are here

Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  1. BLUE LEED standard info

    Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDⓇ) is a green building certification and rating system established by the US Green Business Council which provides a framework for the design and construction of green buildings.  The F&S Planning and Construction Divisions successfully implemented LEEDⓇ Silver standards and practices on all capital construction projects over $5 million. As of January 2011, all new construction will strive for LEED Gold Certification.  Facilities & Services employs 25 LEEDⓇ Accredited Professionals. 

  2. BLUE Sustainable planting info

    Sustainable plants are native species that are resilient to insects and disease.  Once established, they require minimal fertilizer, watering, and upkeep.  The F&S Grounds Department planted 80 native trees last year and more than 2,300 native grasses in the last three years.  Campus locations with native grasses include: Roger Adams Laboratory, the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Agricultural Engineering Building, and the Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building. 

  3. draft MOU from Jennifer Koys

    Rather than requiring Facilities & Services to submit a proposal for the program, we have created a Memorandum of Understanding, based on our conversations. Please review the attached memorandum and let me know if you have any comments or concerns.

    We are looking to present this memorandum to the SSC for vote on Friday, November 12th in order to move forward quickly enough to start the program in the Spring semester. 

    The remaining piece needed is a formal letter of support for the program from Facilities & Services, indicating a commitment to implement cost effective recommendations and identifying who would supervise the student intern.  To complete the memorandum, we will also need the names, emails, and phone numbers of the primary, secondary, and financial officer contacts.
     

  4. Energy presentation at Undergrad Library

    Prior to the first Energy Liaison on-site presentation, Andy met with the two library staff that will be staffing the booth and talked about content and logistics. They selected a great location, just inside the West entrance to the Upper Level with a prime display location. They also pulled a book display which relates to energy and sustainability for the Lower Level. They are excited about the display and already have talked about moving it around their organization to continue to promote conservation! The date and time for the display is 10-2 on October 29 in the Undergrad Library.

    Attached Files: 
  5. suggestion from Carl Wegel

    As I have thought about this effort, I concluded that weatherization inspections would be most productive in our converted residential units on campus - frame structures and 1-3 story masonry buildings which were originally constructed primarily as residential units.  While I don't have a ready inventory of those structures, following is an extremely incomplete list meant to typify the kinds of buildings I am thinking about:

    • The two converted houses east of Uni High on Springfield, used by Uni High.
    • The converted house on the northwest corner of Green and Goodwin.
    • The converted house southeast of ISR on the north side of Illinois.
    • 608 S. Matthews, 708 S. Matthews, converted houses along Nevada between Matthews and Goodwin.
    • Converted units along Oregon between Matthews and Goodwin.
    • Converted units on the south side of Nevada west of Lincoln Avenue, etc

    These buildings fly far below the radar of our formal retro-commissioning efforts, since we have so many improvement opportunities in much larger buildings that consume significantly more resources.

    For the Student Sustainability Committee to provide funding for a students who would spearhead and manage the program, in addition to financial incentives to the surveyors, is a brilliant idea that makes this effort that much more workable during a very busy time at Facilities & Services.  That approach will also provide real world, resume quality experience for the people who step up to the challenge.

    A part of program development that such student employees should undertake would be to identify the kinds of information that would be applicable toward weatherization of the types of structures identified above.  F&S staff would discuss with the students their conclusions and would provide grounding in what weatherization remediation activities we could/would actually pursue.  That approach is preferable to F&S telling you what information we want you to gather.

    I just grabbed off the web the single quick reference below as one example of what resources are readily available to the student program managers as they work to identify what information the surveyors would be asked to gather.

    Does this give you what you need to flesh out your idea?

    Carl Wegel

    Director of Maintenance, and all-around nice guy

    Weatherization Tips For Your Home.
    ...Recommended by US DOE (1)

    -- Test your home for air tightness. A professional blower door test is the best option, however you can find major leaks yourself. On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weather-stripping.

    -- Caulk and weather-strip doors and windows that leak air.

    -- Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducts, or electrical wiring penetrates through exterior walls, floors, ceilings, and over cabinets.

    -- Install rubber gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on exterior walls.

    -- Look for dirty spots in your attic insulation, which often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes by foaming the gap, or by stapling sheets of plastic over the holes and caulking the edges of the plastic.

    -- Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with double-pane windows. Storm windows may as much as double the R-value of single-pane windows and they can help reduce drafts, water condensation, and frost formation. As a less costly and less permanent alternative, you can use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold winter months. Remember that the plastic must be sealed tightly to the frame to help reduce infiltration.

    -- When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes 24 hours a day!

    From: Jennifer Koys [mailto:jennifer.koys@gmail.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:14 PM
    To: Wegel, Carl V (Facilities & Services); Henson, K Dean (Facilities & Services); Johnston, Morgan (Facilities & Services)
    Cc: Anna Franco
    Subject: Campus Weatherization Project

    Hello,

    Hope you're all having a good week! I was wondering if you would be able to provide a "wish list" of the data that would potentially be useful to obtain from student assessments, how you would like it organized, and what you would want to do with the data obtained? This would be very helpful to have as I move forward.

    You mentioned at the meeting having students help run the program. Thinking about this, one possibility I came up with was hiring a student worker to work under someone at F&S to run the program. In the years after the initial start-up, this student could be chosen from the students involved in the assessments during the previous year, as they would possess background knowledge and experience necessary to effectively coordinate the program. Do you have any thoughts on this idea?

    Thanks!

    Jenny
     

  6. Update from Jennifer Koys

    I'm meeting with Brian Deal tomorrow to hopefully get a better idea of how we could get students trained and what kind of information we could get from the audit. I've also reached out to Tim Lindsey to see about possible ISTC invovlement but haven't heard back yet. If came up with any other ideas for departments that might be willing to house the program and put a staff member on it (there would be SSC compensation involved for the staff person), that could be helpful.
     

  7. SSC student meeting with F&S Building Maintenance staff

    I'm from the Student Sustainability Committee. This year, we are interested in funding a project that will utilize students to help to achieve the University goal of weatherizing campus buildings.  Suhail Barot pointed me to you as good people to talk with to start a conversation about what F & S would be looking for in regards to such a program and getting ideas going to submit in response to the Committee's RFP.I'm from the Student Sustainability Committee. This year, we are interested in funding a project that will utilize students to help to achieve the University goal of weatherizing campus buildings.  Suhail Barot pointed me to you as good people to talk with to start a conversation about what F & S would be looking for in regards to such a program and getting ideas going to submit in response to the Committee's RFP.

    Jennifer Koys
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Business Process Management, 2011
    Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Director
    Student Sustainability Committee, Treasurer
     

  8. SSC progress on composting project

    Associated Project(s): 

    SSC minutes from 10/8/10 include this update:

    1. Compost-Kevin
      1. Met with Ryan Welch
      2. Completely on board
      3. Right now all they have is woodchips and leaves
        1. Used for mulch, and tons of excess
      4. Met with Joe Kunkel from vet med
        1. Director of facilities
        2. On board with anything
        3. Animal science is the hold up, but right now it is composting
  9. BIF Prairie Garden Funding Agreement

    This proposal looks to contribute to the campus wide effort of promoting more sustainable landscaping by creating a Prairie Garden comprised of plant species characteristic to east-central Illinois to surround the Deloitte Auditorium in the courtyard of the Business Instructional Facility (BIF). The Prairie Garden will provide carbon sequestration benefits, aid in management of water runoff, increase biodiversity, and reduce the use of carbon-intensive maintenance equipment. Replacing the current overgrown sedge meadow with low-height, low-growth, native sustainable botanicals will lead to less management needs and greater student engagement with increased access and aesthetics. The Prairie Garden will be highly visible to the thousands of weekly visitors to the BIF, sending a message about the importance of and commitment to sustainable practices. Such education will be furthered through informational signage and orientation of new students. The College of Business and College of Business Class of 2010 will provide the remaining $10,540 expense of creating the Prairie Garden. Further, the College of Business will assume responsibility for ensuring the success and continued maintenance of the project, and the grant will be paid back to the Committee if the project is inadequately maintained and the restoration effort is abandoned in the next five years. The improvements to the Business Instructional Facility courtyard will provide highly visible, tangible evidence of the campus commitment to responsible sustainable behavior. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $10,000.

  10. IUB Retrocommissioning and Occupancy Sensors Loan

    Program Background:

    The Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) is tasked with the allocation of the proceeds of two student environmental fees – the Clean Energy Technology Fee and the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee, to improve the sustainability of our campus. The committee has established a program to make funds available for efficiency projects that will be later returned for reinvestment in future projects.

    Committee funds will be made available to the Office of Sustainability which will carry out an inter-departmental transfer to the Receiving campus unit. The Receiving unit agrees to return the transfer to the Office of Sustainability, in installments, as described on the next page, for reuse by the SSC.

    Project Description:            

    The Illini Union seeks funding to retro-commission the Illini Union Bookstore building, and to install Occupancy Sensors in the Illini Union building. The Illini Union Bookstore building contains both academic and auxiliary units, and the SSC loan will allow for complete retro-commissioning of the building. Retro-commissioning is expected to cost $113,000; the RCx process identifies defective components within the HVAC systems, reconfiguring and controlling them to function more efficiently, decreasing wear and tear and extending their service life by 20 years (as part of a regular preventative maintenance program), as well as reducing building energy consumption.

    The SSC loan will also provide $67,000 to install lighting occupancy sensors in the Illini Union, in food service preparation areas, restrooms, office areas and meeting rooms, which will reduce energy and lighting use.

    Terms:

    The Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of the Office of Sustainability transferring an amount of $180,000 to the Illini Union completion of this work. These funds are to be drawn from the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee account managed by the SSC, as needed to complete the project. All funds requested from the SSC must be expended before 30th September 2010, else the unit must apply for an extension.

    The Illini Union agrees to return the funds provided by carrying out annual transfers to the Office of Sustainability due on the 15th of August of each year in the following manner:

    $20,000 – Due 15th August 2011

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2012

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2013

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2014

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2015

    The Office of Sustainability will direct them back to the Committee’s account. The Illini Union will provide a close-out report about the project after installation. The Illini Union will also appropriately publicize the Committee’s support of these projects.

    All funds provided by this transfer will be used in a manner consistent with University of Illinois policies and procedures.

  11. Solar Decathlon 2011 Funding Agreement

    This proposal seeks to provide funding for student education centered around the University of Illinois’s participation in the 2011 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Competition. Each student team participating in this prestigious, international competition is required to build an entirely solar-powered 800 sq. foot house with innovative design features. This grant will provide funds for the development of new courses and enhancement of existing courses, provisioning of course materials and software, and the sponsorship of guest lecturers and consultants ($25,000), the employment of graduate students in coordinating roles for education and volunteer engagement activities ($15,000), and student travel associated with the competition ($10,000). The last UI entry in the Solar Decathlon competition engaged hundreds of students and was the highest-placed US finisher in the Competition; furthermore this participation will require the team to raise $700,000 at a time of severe campus budget constraints. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding this proposal in the amount of $50,000.

Pages