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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  1. Solar Urbana-Champaign

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Power on Campus

    From: Marta Monti <marta@midwestrenew.org>
    Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2022 4:34 PM
    To: White, Morgan <mbwhite at illinois.edu>
    Subject: Solar Urbana-Champaign is back!

     

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    Solar Urbana Champaign is back for 2022

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    2022 marks the seventh year for the Solar Urbana Champaign program. Since 2016, this non-profit-led program has educated 1,292 people about their solar opportunities with our Solar Power Hours presentations, and of those folks, 242 properties decided to go solar.

     

    In partnership with our competitively-selected installer, GRNE Solar, and with support from the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), the City of Urbana, and our growing partners, we're excited to help central Illinois residents go solar and save on their energy costs!   

     

     

    Find us online:

     

     

     

     

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    First Benchmark Reached!

     

    Our group buy program uses the power of bulk purchasing to create an economy of scale: the more people who participate, the larger the savings become! This year's program has already passed the first 50 kilowatt benchmark, meaning that participants can look forward to additional savings. Join today and share with friends so we can achieve lower costs for everyone!

     

    Please help spread the word:

     

    Please share the program website or this email with your friends and neighbors or post it on your social media pages.

     

    Remember: the more people that go solar through the Solar Urbana Champaign program, the lower the cost for all!

     

     

     

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    Pull out your yard sign, it's Grow Solar season!

     

    Not sure where it went? No worries, it's been a while. Let us know where to drop it off and we will get you a new one. 

     

     

     

    - UPCOMING SOLAR POWER HOURS -

    Share this schedule with a friend and invite them to start their solar journey with you!

     

    8/11, Thursday: Solar Power Hour, 6:00-7:00 p.m. at Papa Del’s Pizza Factory, 1201 S Neil St, Champaign, IL

    8/17, Wednesday: Solar Power Hour, 6:00-7:00 p.m. at Danville Public Library, 319 N Vermilion St, Danville, IL

    8/26, Friday: Solar Power Hour, 6:00-7:00 p.m. at Big Thorn Farm & Brewery, 14274 600 North Rd, Georgetown, IL – co-hosted by Big Thorn Farm & Brewery

    8/31, Wednesday: Solar Power Hour, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on Zoom (click to register)

     

    — BROUGHT TO YOU BY —

     

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    Questions?

    Throughout the program, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know. I can be reached at marta@midwestrenew.org.

    Sincerely,

    Marta Monti

    MREA Solar Program Manager

    Midwest Renewable Energy Assn (MREA) 

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    The Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) promotes renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable living through education and demonstration. To learn more about our work, visit midwestrenew.org. 

     

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  5. Incorporation of Post Consumer Pizza Boxes in the Recovered Fiber Stream Study - WestRock

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    A study was conducted to analyze the impact of incorporating post-consumer pizza boxes in the recovered fiber stream. More specifically, factors such as grease and cheese were primarily observed. The summary of the findings includes the following:

    • The number of pizza boxes placed on the market in the U.S. annually is estimated to be 3 billion boxes equating to 600,000 tons of corrugated board. Pizza boxes represent 1.7% of the 35.9 million tons of corrugated containerboard produced in the U.S. annually.
    • If all pizza boxes were recovered for recycling, they would represent approximately 2.6% of the OCC stream or 2.2% of the OCC and mixed paper stream combined.
    • Pizza boxes currently found in the recycling stream have an average grease content of approximately 1-2% by weight level.
    • Grease is hydrophobic and when pizza boxes approach a 20 wt% concentration of the furnish, grease interference with inter-fiber bonding begins to result in significant paper strength loss (~5%). At pizza box concentrations under 10%, paper strength loss is low.
    • The strength loss as a function of “greasy” fiber and pre-consumer board was almost linear in the 0-20 wt% blend level.
    • Cheese, comprised of fats and proteins, is hydrophilic and does not hinder hydrogen inter-fiber bonding of fibers. Cheese tends to solidify and get screened out during the pulping process.

    To read the study in its entirety, see the attached file.

    Attached Files: 

  7. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - July 15, 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Michael showed updates to the iCAP Portal:

    • Added instructions below each map on live site
    • Added image gallery for each theme, e.g. Dev site Energy Theme page (currently on dev2, not yet moved to live site)
    • Metrics: removed "(Tracked by ...)" from titles
    • New Project nodes default to "Sticky at top of lists" so they show up at top of search results
    • Collections: changed Project Updates to look like other 3 sections; show only 1 update
    • Collections: migrated Collections page updates to live site
    • Image Gallery: made bg behind images white instead of blue, so transparent images don't have blue background

    TODOs:

    • Confirm it's safe to delete Collections on a dev site before deleting Collections on live site
    • Project Collection page bug: project hierarchy shows all Collections for each project rather than only current Collection
    • Create project page bug: input fields are overflowing their containers in Firefox
    • Show listing of public/private projects

  11. Energy Source Options Final Design Report 5/6/22

    Associated Project(s): 
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy

    The attached document is entitled Energy Source Options Final Design Report. Which is a report done for ME 470 Senior Design. 

    The report details research on the use of compressed CO2 as a refrigerant. The goal of the report was to determine if this system would be viable option for providing green energy on campus.

    Attached Files: 

  13. 2022 TEACHAD Webinar: Case study from the Michigan State University South Campus Anaerobic Digester

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Foodwaste
    Anaerobic Digester at Beef and Sheep Study
    Develop Local Carbon Offset Program [ARCHIVED]

    Dana Kirk, Associate Professor at Michigan State University, presented a webinar on May 31, 2022 titled "Universities go green! A case study from the Michigan State University South Campus Anaerobic Digester", which also featured Marcello Pibiri, Senior Research Engineer at Energy Resources Center UIC.

    In case you missed the live webinar or if you would like to view the recorded session again, go to https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/7048417514261610508. You can register with your name and email to watch the recording. Also attached is the presentation by Dana Kirk from this webinar.

    Marcello and his team at ERC organize the New Technical Education & Analysis for Community Hauling and Anaerobic Digesters (TEACH AD) Program to educate people about Anaerobic Digesters.

    Attached Files: 

  14. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - June 24, 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal
    • Michael will look into automation options for filling in the Menu Settings Parent Item (for breadcrumbs) automatically from the Project Parent field
    • Michael will also look at possibilities for expanding the menu length, beyond the built in limit that drupal includes by default
    • The menu settings
    • Is there a way to make sure every project has "sticky at top of lists" automatically? Michael will check - Drupal treats them all as a node, so he can see if Projects can start with "sticky" by default
    • He fixed the image rotation issue
    • On the header layout, he added a view gallery link and moved the project name to align with it. The view gallery link on header layouts shows up even if there are not images associated - so what should we do?  We can add help text for the layout options, to note how it works (related to images, and possibly other things) - we added this in this meeting.
    • Add a third layout called "Fancy Project Layout" - mirror the Header Project Layout and keep the Gallery in the Fancy Project layout, but remove it from the Header layout
    • We also looked

  18. Save Soil Movement - June 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Monitor Soil Health

    Ayush Gupta shared the following message: there are walkathons happening across 60 cities for the Save Soil movement in the States in June. Check it out here and consider participating if you happen to find yourself in one of the cities.

    https://www.consciousplanet.org/walkathon?mkt_tok=MTcyLUVFVS0xOTAAAAGE8zVRsrjyXQ5nVug3pTNsAodzSzhsF8biyXjk-RPUhF6kySegwdhhlpGrm9QbEscE5WZjkujeo47tWtq2Z-UVScbjilsNh1qbL1noUOZ3Y2COy_s

  19. Water bottle reduction at the Union

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Per J.B. Bailey, the Assistant Director for Programming, the Union includes marketing on all events that the Union has water filling stations near where the event is occurring and encouraging students to bring their own bottles to fill up there. The goal is that this will allow us to reduce the amount of disposable cups we provide at our events where drinks are provided. The board has also discussed not providing plastic water bottles as give-a-ways moving forward. 

  20. Meeting with Lisa Jackson re: new student swag

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Sustainability in New Student Orientation
    Campuswide Zero Waste events

    Meredith Moore and Jennifer Fraterrigo met with Dr. Lisa Jackson, Director of New Student Programs within Student Affairs to discuss new student swag. The goal is to promote sustainability and reduce plastic waste. The meeting notes are attached. 

    Attached Files: 

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