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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  1. New iSEE Green Certifications

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    Certified Green Event Program
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)
    Certified Green Chapter Program

    Congratulations to the Office of the Chancellor for Special Events, OVCRI, Pi Phi, and the Office of Academic Programs (College of ACES) for their recent green certifications!

    Green Event:

    Office of the Chancellor for Special Events Il v. Monmouth Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Office of the Chancellor for Special Events IL v. Lindenwood Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Office of the Chancellor for Special Events IL v. Syracuse Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. v. Penn State Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. v Alabama L&M Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. v. Bethane-Cookman, Certified November 2022

    OVCRI Research Development Day 2022, Certified December 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. v. WIsconsin Men's basketball game, Certified December 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. vs. Michigan State Men's Basketball, Certified December 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. vs. Indiana Men's Basketball, Certified December 2022

     

    Green Chapter: Pi Beta Phi, Silver, Recertified November 2022

     

    Green Office: Office of Academic Programs (College of ACES), Silver, Certified November 2022

     

    Keep up the great work!

  2. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - December 2, 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Done:

    Discussion:

    • Adding Fliss project
    • Adding green food truck project
    • Objectives page
      • Make it easier to find a specific chapter

    TODOs:

    • Discussion of archiving projects
    • Search: can it be less rigid?
    • Main nav: move focus to search box when Search is clicked
    • Objectives page:
      • Add "jump to chapter" option:
        • Dropdown list for mobile, theme icons for larger screens
        • Reporting Progress icon jumps to chapter 9
        • Don't show Funding icon
    • Fancy project page - make images in image banner clickable (go directly to image)
    • Fancy project layout mockups - keep tweaking #3 to improve contrast
    • Collections page:
      • Add image upload option
    • Discuss metrics
      • Metrics with lots of data
      • Consider how to handle old metrics that no longer track new data. Archive somehow?
      • Fun with math (e.g. combining multiple metrics)
      • Calculated Metrics on Dev site
    • Use "Take Action" project to encourage students to get involved with sustainability (link from homepage?)
    • Track down and resolve informational message on full listing page for Project Updates by Key Objective (see, e.g. Projects Updates for key objective: 1.0 iCAP 2020 Illinois Climate Action Plan)
    • Why is the Achieve Zero Waste project map page not loading?

  3. Status Update on Water006 Recommendation: Lot23 Monitoring

    Associated Project(s): 
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Land and Water Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management

    On May 28, 2022 Meredith Moore sent an email to Arthur Schmidt regarding the status of the Water 006 recommendation:

    Hi Art!

     

    I hope you are well. I am reaching out to check in about the status of the Water006 recommendation: Lot23 Monitoring. This is an old recommendation that was returned back to the Water and Stormwater SWATeam in August 2019. It can be found here: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-update/water006-lot-f23-monitoring-returned.  Based on the project update, a proposal for funding was to be submitted to the Student Sustainability Committee. Are you aware if this happened?

     

    I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

     

    Meredith

    -----------

    On November 30, 2022 Mrogan White sent the following to Arthurt Schmidt:

    Hi Art,

    Could you please answer these quick questions?

    1. Did you ever move forward with installing a monitoring system of any kind in the parking lot at Florida and Lincoln (Lot F23)?
    2. If the SSC would provide funding for such an installation, would you be able to serve as an advisor for the project and use the collected information?

    Thanks!

    Morgan

    ------------

    On Dec 1, 2022 Art responded:

    Hi, Morgan:

    Many years ago when this first came up we installed an instrumentation vault at the SE corner of the lot where the storm sewer pipe leaves the lot.  We never received any funding to move forward with this, so no instrumentation ever installed.

     

    I would be thrilled to help/advise with moving this forward.  I would also try to find portions of this where my Field Methods class could help install/calibrate/maintain instruments or collect samples.  I have a couple classes were we could use the data.

    Art

     

     

  4. Final Report: successes, areas for improvement, and feedback

    Associated Project(s): 
    Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola
    America Recycles Day
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)

    On November 28, 2022 during the weekly Internal Coca-Cola meeting the group reviewed the attached final report.

    Important takeaways:

    • 280 lbs of recycling was collected (cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles), with an event diversion rate of 10.6%. With just incremental changes (student volunteers, recycling bin infrastructure in the upper concourse, and the implementation of blue recycling bags), we achieved this! An even greater diversion rate would not be difficult to achieve.
    • Organizing student volunteers into a shift-based system would cut volunteer time per student, streamline the volunteer training process, and simplify volunteer roles. We could incentivize pre- and post-game volunteerism with tickets to the game.
    • Stronger, more durable blue recycling bags are needed for future events if we are going to have student volunteers handling them; they leak easily otherwise.
    • Dedicate a group of volunteers to just post-game collection from the stands. There is a huge opportunity to collect recyclables left in the cup holders.
    • Feedback from volunteers and attendees was very positive:
      • In a post-event survey released to attendees, 300+ responses showed the following:
        • 51% of attendees were aware that this was a recycling-focused event.
        • 55% of attendees did recycle their bottles and/or cans.
        • 83% of attendees would support future recycling events at State Farm Center.
        • General comments indicated overall support for seeing the volunteers in action and support for the implementation of permanent recycling containers at the facility.

    Next steps:

    • Between F&S and DIA, determine how a recycling receptacle can be placed near the facility so blue recycling bags can be separated from the trash compactor located below the facility.
    • Draft a proposal for permanent recycling bin locations and the associated cost.
    • Look into Coca-Cola beverage sales (20oz and 12oz) and compare this to an estimate of how many were recycled. Coca-Cola and the University would like to see a 100% recycling rate for their products.
    • Plan for the next event! Likely spring 2023 during the basketball season. Big Ten?
    Attached Files: 

  7. Sustainability Sub-Council Meeting Minutes 11-17-22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Council
    Include iCAP in Strategic Plan
    Clean Energy Plan

    The Sustainability Sub-Council met on Thursday, November 17 and discussed the following agenda. 

    1) Zero waste
    2) Energy planning
    3) Campus Strategic Plan
    4) Old business
    a. Sustainability General Education requirement
    b. Sustainable land management committee report

    The meeting minutes and PowerPoint presentation are attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  9. Week 6 - Next steps

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    The next steps for the project progress would be to review the past BFU applications from 2011 - 2019 to understand the stage we as a university are at currently and would help to identify, compare and contrast the work across these timelines to improve the status and make recommendations after reviewing the feedback. 


     

  10. Week 5 - Check in meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    In the past weeks,  Aparna reviewed the  BFU Application to understand the scope of work, did research/literature review work, and familiarized herself with the current initiatives taken by the university at present to combat bike thefts. Moreover, she also had a conversation with a transportation staff from UCLA and ASU who had recently reached out to me on their ideas/approach on this topic for a qualitative aspect of this project. The same was also discussed with her capstone advisor, Prof. Lindsay Braun to go over the progress and find better clarity. 

  11. Zero Waste Basketball Game Follow-up 11-16-22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola
    America Recycles Day
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)

    Thank you for volunteering for the inaugural Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste event on 11/14! You were among more than 45 other student volunteers who helped initiate recycling within State Farm Center! The community-level work you have done to raise awareness for sustainability has helped us strengthen our relationship with Athletics and the fans who attended the game.

    During this event, you helped divert 280 pounds of recyclable material away from the landfill! In total, roughly 11% of the materials consumed at this event were diverted away from the landfill. With this being our very first event, this is something to be extremely proud of. We can only go up from here!

    Make sure to check out the video highlight reel that the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) produced. Did you take any photos of your own during the event? Please upload them to our shared Google Drive folder!

    Are you interested in joining other sustainability initiatives on campus?

    • Join the Zero Waste Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Team or browse through the other 6 teams.
    • Sign the Use the Bin pledge and commit to always using the recycling bin. We’re working towards our 10,000-signature goal!
    • Sign up for iSEE’s final Illini Lights Out event this semester on 12/2.
    • Sign up for iSEE’s upcoming TED Talk discussion on 12/5 to learn about healthy soils.

    Thank you again for volunteering your time. Please reach out with any questions, feedback, or ideas for future events.

    Sincerely,
    Daphne Hulse

  12. CNGES - DOE Long Duration Energy Storage Demos - Request for Pressure Corp visit to Abbott.

    Associated Project(s): 
    Stop Burning Coal at Abbott Power Plant

    Below is an email from Sebestiano Geirdinella:

    Hi Rob, Mike, Morgan,

     

    I know that winter has just arrived so you must be having your hands full, but I wanted to contact you as there is now a DOE call for proposals for Long Duration Energy Storage Demos.

     

    The Demo favors teams composed of industry / commercial partners with academic institutions. Pressure Corp has manifested their continued willingness to serve as commercial / industrial partner.

     

    If our proposal is successful, it would allow us to consider other aspects to the project that would otherwise be too expensive to include into commercial contract without partial federal funding, such as: a) waste heat recovery from Abbott Power Plant, b) an alternate arrangement that includes providing cooling using the expander colder gas exhaust during summer, and c) including the expander at Curtis Road pressure regulation station (it could cover the roughly 3000 ft of electrical interconnection).

     

    As part of the proposal preparation process, we feel it might have value to organize a visit to Abbott Power Plant with Pressure Corp, with the purpose of discussing technical, contractual and sustainability aspects relevant to the Compressed Natural Gas Energy Storage demonstration project:

     

    1. Technical aspects:
      1. Visit the locations
      2. Look for potential tie-ins for waste heat (example: boiler blowdown, steam traps, or flue gas connections that would not be used after the capture pilot projects have been closed).
      3. Look for potential uses for cooling (example: electrical or control rooms, heat rejection from rotating equipment, etc.)

     

    1. Contractual aspects:
      1. Discuss potential PPA general terms (for the Demos FOA, this would be of great help to assess economics and justify commercial potential; ideally this meeting could be with PEI).

     

    1. Sustainability aspects:
      1. Talk about how project integrates into iCAP (Pressure Corp wanted also to ask about potential benefits that the project may have on UIUC’s STARS rating).

     

    It would be ideal to schedule the visit within the next couple of weeks, since we need to submit a Letter of Intent for DOE by the second week of December, but we are subject to your availability.

     

    Please let us know if you have preferred dates.

     

    Thanks and regards,

     

    SEBASTIANO GIARDINELLA

  13. New iSEE Greener Campus Programs Certifications

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    Certified Green Event Program
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)
    Certified Green Chapter Program

    Congratulations to the newest recipients of our Greener Campus Programs!

    Green Chapter: 

    Phi Delta Theta, Silver, Certified November 2022

     

    Green Office: 

    iSEE, Gold, Recertified October 2022

    F&S Capital Programs, Gold, Recertified November 2022

    International Student & Scholar Services, Gold, Recertified November 2022

     

    Green Event:

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Illinois v. Eastern Illinois Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Office of the Chancellor for Special Events and Commencement Illinois vs. Kansas City Men's Basketball, Certified November 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events Il. v. Purdue Men's Football, Certified November 2022

    Keep up the great work!

  14. Zero Waste Basketball Game on 11/14/22

    Associated Project(s): 
    America Recycles Day
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola

    Support Fighting Illini Basketball and fight waste!

    DIA, iSEE, and F&S are working together to hold a zero-waste Illini men's basketball game Monday, Nov. 14, in honor of America Recycles Day on Nov. 15!

    Fans can help the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign meet its zero-waste goals by using recycling bins for drink containers and other recyclables to keep them out of the landfill!

    For more information --> https://fs.illinois.edu/serv…/waste-management-and-recycling

    See the graphic on social media here: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram 

  15. Engagement002 Take Action Weblink - Transmitted

    Associated Project(s): 
    Engagement iCAP Team
    Engagement iCAP Team Recommendations Summary
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    The Engagement002 iCAP Portal Redesign was renamed to Engagement002 Take Action Weblink. On 11/11/22, the recommendation was transmitted to Madhu Khanna, Director of iSEE, with the following email. The iWG assessment is attached. 

    =============

    Hello Dr. Khanna,

    The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) reviewed recommendation Engagement002 from the Engagement iCAP Team about the iCAP Portal. The iWG discussed this and rather than changes to the database repository site of the iCAP Portal, the iWG recommends that iSEE’s communications team, in collaboration with the iCAP teams, take the steps recorded in the attached word document and listed here:

    1) For immediate action - Highlight a Student Action button to access the related “Action” page.  Make it consistent throughout the various websites, so the students/users know it is the same link.

    2) Look carefully at the iSEE campus sustainability page/site to streamline it and make it a lot more accessible for students, so they know how to take action and understand the progress we’ve made in this area.

    3) Develop an image-based site for campus sustainability engagement, with appropriate campus professionals and a student focus group that includes students with visual background and students with sustainability knowledge. Include time-based suggestions (if you have five minutes, if you have 30 minutes, if you have an hour, if you have an hour each week, etc.). Include suggestions for iSEE website, iCAP Portal, and related sites, as well as development of new landing page website.

    4) Reassess and renew the message and graphics of the iCAP web-presence on a regular basis (at least every five years).

    The Formal iCAP Procedures includes a section on campus unit responsibilities upon receipt of a recommendation, and we respectfully request your initial response to this recommendation by November 30, if possible.  If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, we are happy to discuss this with you further.

    Sincerely,

    Morgan, Jen, and Meredith

    ============

    See submittal of Engagement002 iCAP Portal Redesign --> Engagement002 Take Action Weblink recommendation here.
    See attached iWG assessment. 

    Attached Files: 

  17. Feasibility study for an anerobic digester on campus with Marcello Pbiri - Meeting 1

    Associated Project(s): 
    Plan for Organic Waste
    Reduce Foodwaste
    Achieve Zero Waste
    University of Illinois at Chicago

    Attendance: Tyler Swanson, Daphne Hulse, Meredith Moore, Sarthak Prasad, Shawn Maurer, Joy Scrogum, Justin Holding, Paul Foote, Shreya Mahajan, Brent Lewis, Jason Ensign, Tim Mies, Colleen Ruhter, Jonathon Mosley, Marcello, Thurman Etchison, Morgan White, Damon McFall, Robert Roman

    • UIC would like to do a screening analysis scenario for a small or micro-scale digester on campus
    • UIUC farms investigated this in the past with ACES
    • Marcello’s introduction: 200lbs of waste per day in a small-scale digester (in the shape of the container), frequent bottom-line thinking, it’s more about sustainability and the creation of green jobs, involving students, because the economics may be tight for money savings. But there are a few companies that are manufacturing small scale digesters. UIC had a speaker during their TEACH AD webinar who was a student from San Diego California. Installed one of these on their campus, student was the operator of the digester. Interested to see if this is something to be replicated at UIUC?
    • Morgan’s introduction: high-level feasibility analysis (not the most robust because of funding limitations). Hear from the college of ACES about a study of 10 years ago.
    • Marcello thinks the outcomes weren’t very favorable for this time? This is another possible scenario too. University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is doing something similar. They are partnering with a farm which installed a small-scale digester in the farm for food waste and manure. The university owns the digester and the farmer owns the farmer, so it is a partnership. Maybe we could replicate this. These projects seem to become more and more feasible.
    • Marcello’s question for the group: what are the main motivations for UIUC to look into anaerobic digesters?
    • Reducing waste, looking at clean energy, protecting the planet
    • Do not have an environmentally beneficial or neutral solution for organic waste at the large scale for our campus. Dining is able to do the digester at the sanitary district, but we have animal waste and food waste at more than just the dining halls
    • Looking at how to get to carbon neutral energy. Anaerobic digestion was identified in 2010. Dean of Animal Science was ready to push for it, but then he was promoted and then retired
    • ACES has agreed with current dean to include the analysis of a large scale digester when they build a new dairy facility, but this is very far down the road
    • Swine modernization facility; needs to deal with waste that is there. animals will be added to this space in the future. looking into options for that particular facility.
    • Operational + research perspective, a micro-digester looks nice. Oshkosh does tours, internships, etc so it is like a pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology
    • Sanitary district is paid to receive the waste, and they get the benefit of seeing the methane capture
      • It would be good to see the benefits stay in house
    • Hypothetically you could create a new position for this, or you could do it through student intern. What happens to the residual material from the digester? can be used as fertilizer, grow food, use the food and food waste goes back to the digester “circular economy”

    Marcello’s second question: Takeaway for the old feasibility study?

    • It should be at the future dairy facility (conversations were had, maybe not in the study)
    • $10M capital cost, so it probably costs more now
    • Shared the energy output we would expect if we took all food waste from dining
    • Could use as compressed natural gas (CNG) for fleet vehicles
    • Combined heat and power (Abbott) which primarily uses natural gas, but could use biogas from an anaerobic digester, there is an opportunity here

    CHP, CNG or renewable natural gas are what Marcello is familiar with

    Next steps: Marcello will work on an updated feasibility study.

     

    Link to the recording

  19. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - November 18, 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Done:

    TODOs:

    • Fancy project page - make images in image banner clickable (go directly to image)
    • Fancy project layout mockups - keep tweaking #3 to improve contrast
    • Collections page:
      • Add image upload option
    • Discuss metrics
      • Metrics with lots of data
      • Consider how to handle old metrics that no longer track new data. Archive somehow?
      • Fun with math (e.g. combining multiple metrics)
      • Calculated Metrics on Dev site
    • Use "Take Action" project to encourage students to get involved with sustainability (link from homepage?)
    • Track down and resolve informational message on full listing page for Project Updates by Key Objective (see, e.g. Projects Updates for key objective: 1.0 iCAP 2020 Illinois Climate Action Plan)
    • Why is the Achieve Zero Waste project map page not loading?

  20. Zero Waste iCAP Meeting 11/7/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) Climate Action Plan
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Food Waste Reduction
    Increase Recycling Rates
    Project4less
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    On November 7th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss DIA sustainability initiatives with Tim Knox and made edits on the Project 4 Less expansion recommendation to be submitted in the coming month(s). 

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

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