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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  1. New iSEE Green Event Certifications

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

    Congratulations to the Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement for their recent Green Event Certifications! 

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement State of the University, Certified October 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Chancellor's Medallion Presentation and Reception, Certified October 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Strategic Planning Summit, Certified October 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Illinois v. Quincy (Exh.) Men’s Basketball, Certified October 2022

    Keep up the great work!

  2. iSEE, F&S met with GSA representatives

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)

    On October 28, Meredith Moore, Colleen Ruhter, Betsy Richardson, and Daphne Hulse met with Bradley Vogel and Matt Adler from GSA. The following was discussed:

    • Introductions
      • Betsy Richardson: works in environmental compliance with Colleen Ruhter. Their work revolves around regulations with EPA and permits. They signed up with GSA in 2019. Garrett Wong presented at the Green Infrastructure Conference, which is how UIUC became connected with GSA. They are trying to roll this out of compliance and into the world of Athletics, where it should be.
      • Colleen Ruhter: Civil engineer, background in stormwater, currently works on sanitary and drinking water projects as of late.
      • Bradley Vogel: Senior Memberships and Events representative. Bradley works with major athletic events to do waste diversion at games.
      • Matt: Works in the corporate and non-profit side of their services (ex: technological resources used to achieve goals).
      • Daphne: newest to the university, Zero Waste Coordinator.
      • Meredith: Sustainability Programs Manager at iSEE. Keen to see Athletics take initiative and want to help them achieve goals.
    • What is athletics currently doing?
      • Are they tracking waste, energy, and water use?
        • UIUC thinks we should be able to track their energy, because they are a campus operation.
        • F&S recently (July 2022) acquired responsibility to take care of the waste at all of their facilities (previously, Athletics contracted with other waste haulers for some facilities).
    • Approach Athletics with a money mindset.
      • How much could they theoretically save in costs by reducing their resource use?
    • Play to Zero platform.
    • Next steps
      • GSA will send UIUC a guide, and we can see about how to track their utilities in the meantime.
      • We should set up another meeting with GSA, especially if we can get Athletic leaders on the call. Keep the conversation going.

  3. Week 4 - Check in meeting

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

    This week Aparna got in touch with the staff of transit services from Arizona State University to understand their approach to achieving the Gold BFU certification. 

    Sarthak and Aparna also had a quick overview of the materials shared and brainstormed ideas/recommendations to raise awareness in the campus community as well as keep bike thefts in mind. 

    The next steps would be to familiarize with the topic better, collect all the research materials and make notes/highlight the existing implementation, and make comments on these.

  4. Reasons for Recycling Rate Decrease

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Recycling Rates

    The reasons for the putative decrease in recycling rate include the increase in plastic production, flat change in recycling capacity, and China no longer accepting our recyclables. A Time magazine article further suggests that the estimated 9% recycling rate from 2018 was inflated because most of the plastic we sent to China was landfilled or incinerated. Another interesting point: an estimated 30-36% of collected PET is wasted in the recycling process.

     

    The original report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/US-plastics-recycling-rate . Table 2 provides estimates and sources.

  5. Draft Scenarios for Comprehensive Energy Planning Document

    Associated Project(s): 
    Clean Energy Plan

    Below is an email exchange between Morgan White, Rob Roman, and members from the iWG and Energy iCAP Working Groups:

    Hello iCAP Working Group,

     

    One of the iCAP 2020 objectives is to develop a Comprehensive Energy Planning Document that includes clean energy and energy efficiency solutions to identify the best path to meet our climate commitments.  To that end, I worked with a team of students last year who developed the attached ABE 469 report, describing options to consider. 

     

    Our intention is to hire a consultant to calculate the costs and benefits of various pathways for our campus, and the attached “Comprehensive Energy Planning” document is a first draft of scenarios to be evaluated.  We will go through this document during our discussion today.

     

    I’m also including a list of buildings that use steam inside the building, so that you can be aware of the reasons we don’t just turn off Abbott Power Plant, which co-generates steam and electricity for the campus facilities.  Many other buildings are heated with steam, through the district heating system, but they convert it to hot water or forced air once it gets inside the facility.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

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

    Energy iCAP Team,

     

    I attached several documents related to scenario development for energy planning. Please see the trailing email from Morgan White for additional explanation. We are still in the early phases of this effort and welcome your input. The iWG will be discussing scenarios at our next meeting on November 7 @ 9AM.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Jennifer

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

    A couple of thoughts:

     

    There probably should be a list of major capital projects that are targeted for completion in say the next 10 years.  We typically cut the energy usage in the range of say 50 -75% on major renovation projects examples of this are the Everitt lab remodel, Undergraduate Library,  MRL via the ESCO project, ..etc.   Examples of old buildings that need funding and/or are waiting for projects to be delivered are at Bevier Hall, Newmark  civil engineering, Turner Hall, Main library, ..etc.   There are probably others that I am not thinking of immediately.  We have to find ways to reduce the campus energy load in my opinion.  I agree that space evaluation needs attention.

     

     

    Thanks,

     

    Karl

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

    Morgan,

     

    Who was included on these emails. The addresses are general lists, so I cannot see who is included. Apparently Karl is one of them. The topic would, on the surface, indicate that it would be appropriate to have UES involved.  But, maybe not. Can you share your thoughts on level of involvement?

     

    Thanks,
    Rob

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

    Hi Rob,

     

    I forwarded the invitation to the Sustainability Subcouncil and Council meetings to you today.  You may recall attending the council meetings last November to talk about the Utilities Master Plan, the F&S Energy Management Plan, and the idea to do a Comprehensive Planning Document, as suggested in the iCAP 2020 and recommended by the Energy iCAP Team.  At that time, the Council agreed that F&S and iSEE should work together to develop a scope for a consultant to develop a comprehensive planning document for how we can meet the carbon-neutral energy goals.

     

    In the spring, I asked a student group to gather more information about what to include in the scope, and last week UOCP posted an RFP to hire a consultant to update the Deferred Maintenance facility condition assessment (expected to take about a year from when the consultant is on-board).  There are several studies and analysis available and underway, but the specific scope of what we want to hire a consultant to do for this comprehensive energy planning document is not completely resolved. 

     

    I believe UES should take a very active role in developing the scope for this plan, requesting funding through campus, and seeing it actualized.  The iCAP Teams are advisory and they are advocacy groups, but the authority is still held within the campus hierarchy.  As the Sustainability person in F&S, I am here to assist and facilitate meeting the iCAP objectives.  I propose we officially call this project a UES project, with you as the lead and with me as part of the team helping it happen.  What do you think?

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

     

    PS. The iCAP Energy Team includes the following people, and Meredith, Jen, and I get all the iCAP Team emails.  Would you like to get these emails, as well?

    Primary Contact: Tyler Swanson

    Project Leader: Aman Mehta

    Team Members:

    • Paul Foote
    • Yun Kyu Yi
    • Tim Mies
    • Damon McFall
    • Roman Makhenko
    • Andy Stumpf
    • Shannon Anderson
    • Martha Kubakh
    • Karl Helmink, non-voting
    • Mike Larson, non-voting

     

    Here are the related emails. 

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

    Hello Morgan,

     

    Thanks for the detail below. I do agree that the creation of a long term comprehensive energy provision planning document needs heavy involvement from the utility production and distribution staff, along with those with in depth engineering knowledge of end use devices (i.e.; building HVAC, process flows, etc.). Therefore, it does seem appropriate to have UES be the lead in this work.

     

    I am unclear if your thought is to include this comprehensive energy study with the deferred maintenance study, but I would strongly advocate for them to be separate efforts and documentation.

     

    I do agree that UES should seek input from the campus community in the development of this plan, and keep the iCAP team as an ally in our efforts. Please include me in any emails and meetings involving this topic as we get started. I would ask that the leadership of the iCAP team be the first to present the topic to executive leadership of the campus in an effort to obtain initial funding. Of course, UES will partner with them do develop the proposal and presentation, but I believe their leadership is crucial to securing the necessary resources to move this initiative forward.

     

    I am happy to discuss in more detail at your convenience.

     

    Thanks,
    Rob

  6. Updated FY22 figures for current energy inputs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Clean Energy Plan

    Below is an email exchange between Morgan White and Tony Spurlock:

    Can you send me the powerpoint for the Source of Energy Supply you requested?

     

    Regards,

     

    Tony

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

     

    Hi Tony,

     

    It is from slide three in the attached file.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

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

    Morgan,

     

    I prepared the graph you requested.  I made some assumptions regarding the numbers to include in the graph based on the previous breakdown.  Please review to make sure these are consistent with your understanding of the previous graph.

     

    Regards,

     

    Tony

    -------

    Attached Files: 

  10. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - October 21, 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    TODOs:

  11. Multiple schools (OSU, UMich, Purdue) begin involvement with the creation of the survey

    Associated Project(s): 
    Big Ten & Friends Sustainability
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Thank you Mary and Daphne!  The way that Mary worded the question is great to me! 

     

    Daphne, if it is not too bold of me to ask, I was wondering if there might be opportunities to add more questions to the Survey?  I ask as I was recently emailing with the Michigan folks (copied) and both our institutions are interested in pulling together some waste related benchmarking data, specifically around their individual waste goals and how they measure it (hence the diversion rate calculation question).  I am hoping that there is a way we might be able to collaborate, whether that is collaborating through your current survey or perhaps supplementing the data.  That being said, I know very little about the survey, its timeline, the questions, etc.; thus, a collaboration may not be feasible. If you believe a collaboration might be feasible, I would be happy to coordinate a quick schedule where we could discuss how Purdue staff and/or students could assist.  I am interested to hear your thoughts!

     

    Thank you,

    Tony

     

    From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
    Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2022 8:43 AM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>
    Subject: RE: Big Ten Waste Management Survey: Diversion Rate Calculation

     

    ---- External Email: Use caution with attachments, links, or sharing data ----

     

    Daphne,

     

    Apologies for the delay- I was out of the office last week and am still getting caught up.

     

    Thank you so much for including that question in your survey!

     

    One item might be to ask, “What information do you include in your diversion rate report?”

     

    Ohio State includes the following:

    Landfill tonnage data

    Commingled recycling

    Reused pallets

    Recycled pallets

    Scrap metal

    Landscape waste

    Composted food scraps, biodegradable materials, coffee grounds, and animal bedding from labs

    Biodigested food waste (ex. enviropure systems)

    Donations of furniture and other items

    Motor oil

    Tire Recycling

    Cooking oil recycling

    Donated food

    Mattresses

    Paper shredding

    Batteries

    Recycled toner cartridges

    Donated books

    Reprocessed medical devices

     

    We do not include construction waste or manure from farms. We also do not estimate avoided materials (ex. weights kept out of landfill through projects like implementing hand dryers or reusable containers). Instead, we just assume those numbers will be kept out of the landfill data.

     

    I’m looping in Tony to make sure I got to the hear of his question. Please let me know if you need anything else! Mary

     

    Mary Leciejewski
    Zero Waste Manager

    Pronouns: She/Her/Hers 

    Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
    1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
    (O) 614.292.3637
    fod.osu.edu/sustainability

     

     

     

     

     

    From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 11:58 AM
    To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
    Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: Big Ten Waste Management Survey: Diversion Rate Calculation

     

    Hi Mary, It was great to meet with you and the other Big Ten schools last week! Per the request to include the diversion rate calculation as a part of the comprehensive survey, could I inquire about OSU’s process? ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍

     

    Hi Mary,

     

    It was great to meet with you and the other Big Ten schools last week! Per the request to include the diversion rate calculation as a part of the comprehensive survey, could I inquire about OSU’s process?

     

    Thank you,

     

    Daphne

     

    Daphne Hulse (she/her)
    Zero Waste Coordinator
    Facilities & Services | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    +1 (217) 333-7550 |     dlhulse2@illinois.edu
     
     

  13. Campus Sustainability Celebration - 10/17/22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Energy iCAP Team
    Education iCAP Team
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan

    The 2022 Campus Sustainability Celebration was a huge success! Thank you to all who participated! The PowerPoint presentation is attached, and the agenda for the event was as follows:

    • 3-3:15 PM – Welcome
      • Jennifer Fraterrigo, on behalf of Director Madhu Khanna (iSEE)
      • Chancellor Jones
      • Vice Chancellor Susan Martinis (OVCRI)
    • 3:15 – 3:30 PM – Holistic initiatives
      • Plastic reduction (Jen)
      • Clean energy/Solar Farm 3 (Morgan)
      • Greener Campus Program (Meredith)
    • 3:30 – 4:40 PM – iCAP Team presentations
      • Energy
      • Transportation
      • Land and Water
      • Zero Waste
      • Education
      • Engagement
      • Resilience
    • 4:40 – 5 PM – Student groups (SSLC, SSC) – Jack Reicherts and Maiah Caise
      • Closing remarks by Jennifer Fraterrigo (on behalf of Madhu Khanna)
    • 5 – 6 PM – Celebration - refreshments, roundtable forum with each iCAP Team, student tabling session  
    Attached Files: 

  14. F&S, North American, and Essity introduction

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Cleaning Products and Practices

    Hi Pete, Macie and Daphne!

     

    We were excited last week for you to hear more about the Circularity and paper recycling program that Essity has been utilizing in other areas of the world. Bryan from Essity would like to get his colleague, Mike Kapalko, on a call together to discuss this opportunity further with University of Illinois! Daphne, if Pete and Macie haven’t filled you in, this is an opportunity to use current paper recycling on campus and have it be used to create paper product with Essity. We can inch closer to Zero Waste on campus!

     

    Please let us know if there are dates and times the week of October 31st to set up a Zoom call. Perhaps an hour or so.

     

    Thanks in advance and we are excited to discuss this in more detail and see what next steps would look like!

     

    Regards,

    Zach

     

  15. Week 3 - Check in meeting

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

    In this meeting,  potential ideas for secured bicycle parking were discussed as ways to promote awareness among the campus community. A capstone proposal outlining the final objectives and deliverables was drafted and Sarthak helped support this discussion sharing an Excel sheet that has all of the goals, current status, and plans for the future of some mentioned ideas towards achieving the said objectives with challenges that are yet to be tackled. 

    This week, Aparna is going to try to get in touch with the transportation team from other universities that have achieved the Gold BFU status to gather some ideas specific to raising awareness about bike thefts. This would navigate the research better. 

    Aparna is also spending her initial time on the project learning about the Bike registration process and other initiatives that are already ongoing at UIUC to help understand the way forward. She also has access to the iCAP portal to update and document the weekly meetings to keep a track of the project progress.

  16. RECs & Carbon Offsets for Scope 1, 2, 3 Emissions

    Associated Project(s): 
    Carbon Offsets for Major Users [ARCHIVED]
    Develop Local Carbon Offset Program [ARCHIVED]

    Below is an email from Serena Armendaris with Carbon Solutions Group:

    Hey Morgan,

    My name is Serena Armendaris and I work for a firm called Carbon Solutions Group (CSG). We specialize in environmental credits & projects for ESG claims and have been in the business since 2006. Our Sustainability offerings include:

    • North American Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) 
    • International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-RECs)
    • North American Carbon Offsets (CO2)
    • International Carbon Offsets (CO2)
    • DirtRoad Electric Vehicle Charging - turnkey, revenue-positive electric vehicle infrastructure 
    • DirtRoad ESG - Carbon offsets from our DirtRoad platform - at a ten-year fixed price - an excellent alternative for the recently introduced SEC carbon disclosure rules

    Currently, Reporting Year 2022 Wind RECs are offered @ $1.90/MWh and US Carbon Offsets are @$9.25.

    Do you think anyone on your team might have time for a 15 minute introductory call to discuss further?

    Thanks and regards,

    Attached Files: 

  17. Clinton, IL landfill (owned by Green For Life)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Use Landfills with Methane-capture Technology [ARCHIVED]

    From: David Bryant <david.bryant@gflenv.com>
    Sent: Friday, October 14, 2022 12:21 PM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: Clinton Landfill Methane

     

    Daphne,

     

    Clinton Landfill currently has a 3rd party electrical generation plant at the facility that produces 3000 kw of power from landfill gas. It has been in operations for approximately 15 years. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

     

    Thanks

     

     


    David Bryant | Landfill General Manager I

    GFL Environmental

    24501 McMullen Rd, Hopedale, IL 61747
    | david.bryant@gflenv.com | www.gflenv.com

    Confidentiality Notice:  This email message (including attachments, if any) is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, proprietary, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender and erase this email message immediately.

  19. Week 2 update: Objectives for capstone

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

    Questions and doubts regarding the literature review done in the past week were discussed including a capstone report outline highlighting the main topics of research. More research work to follow in the coming week to help familiarize with the project's background. Aparna got contact information from the transportation department of UCLA and Arizona State University to discuss the project with their transportation team as the 2 universities have achieved the Gold BFU status and hoping to get a sense of direction or any leads on this. She is also in touch with Prof. Lindsay Braun who is her capstone advisor, and Briana Barr, Thomas Valencia, and Lily Wilcock from the City of Urbana who are working on similar projects.

    The idea was to bring more concepts and recommendations for a bike-friendly university to the table. We might also try to involve the Student Sustainability Committee, which uses a comprehensive evaluative process to fund a project that incorporates student involvement and an ability to spark change on campus. Aparna would help identify a cause as a part of the bike-friendly project which would also serve as a student-led project to apply for the SSC funding. An excel sheet that charts out the current status of the project were shared by Sarthak for better clarity, which also includes feedback from BFU to help plan for the future and achieve the desired goal.

    Three main objectives of the proposal would be -

    1. To get the BFU application drafted and ready to submit by the month of May
    2. Ideas for SSC funding for the Bike Friendly University Project
    3. Educate students and create a plan for bike thefts so that incoming students are aware of how to protect their bikes and encourage them to use this mode of transportation.

    An overall capstone proposal that outlines the said objectives and a work plan will be shared in the upcoming week. Access to the iCAP portal will be granted soon to chart out real-time updates and minutes of meetings.

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