Here is the initial rough estimate for the Armory Avenue bike path for the section by Gregory Hall:

• Remove tree roots and bushes  $4,000
• Remove Erns and remove bases  $8,000
• remove walks and new dirt  $6,000
• replace concrete  $32,000
• $50,000 total

The cost of landscaping is not included in this estimate. We will be using the SSC funds available + the bike fee money for this bike path section.

Sarthak Prasad was hired and rejoined the F&S department as the Sustainable Transportation Assistant as a full-time employee. He resumed work on July 16,2020.

Dr. Evan DeLucia, Director of iSEE, responded to Meredith Moore with the following email: 

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Good morning, Meredith

I’ve had a chance to review the iWG recommendations and discuss them with iSEE leadership. Both recommendations, the Environmental Leadership Program and Student Sustainability Ambassadors are creative, will provide students with new opportunities to engage in sustainability learning, and will have a positive impact on our iCAP goals.

The iWG should be aware that we are launching test modules as part of the leadership program this fall semester. iSEE has hired a coordinator to develop several learning modules, likely full day programs, on topics such as ‘environmental communications’ and ‘effective interviewing strategies’. We will use these modules to recruit faculty into the program, build partnerships, evaluate financial expenses, and evaluate student interest. If all goes well, these modules will serve as the components of full program. Once we have a better sense of the curriculum, we can also initiate fund raising activities.

The ambassadors program has real promise to advance campus’ iCAP goals and to more fully engage students in sustainability activities. That said, iSEE is not prepared to launch this program at this time. Not for lack of merit, but rather for lack of bandwidth. To properly launch the leadership program mentioned above is a significant undertaking and we want to make sure we do it well. While iSEE is not prepared to launch this program at this time, we will take an initial step to explore its viability by discussing the proposed course offering with NRES.

Please extend my thanks to the iWG and the SWATeams for their dedication to making Illinois more sustainable.

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See transmittal of Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program to iSEE here.

See iWG assessment of Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program here.

See SWATeam recommendation and submittal of Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program here. 

For future updates, please refer to the Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) project.

"Why doesn't the company installing the solar panels at U of I put them over the parking lot? I would provide shade for the cars underneath and would eliminate having to kill whatever would be underneath them in the fields."

The best option for building solar panels is ground-mounted, said Morgan White, the associate director for sustainability at the University of Illinois.

"As part of our Climate Leadership Commitments the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a goal of producing at least 25,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) per year from on-campus solar," she said. "When we evaluated options for meeting this goal, rooftop solar, solar over parking areas, and ground-mounted solar were all considered. The most cost-effective option is ground-mounted solar, and it also allows for larger-scale installations.

"For a sense of the scale, the two solar farms will be a total of 75 acres, while the largest parking lot on campus is less than 15 acres.

"When installing solar panels over parking areas, there are additional infrastructure and labor costs to raise the solar panels above the ground level. Although we do not currently have any solar over parking areas, Facilities & Services is working with the Parking Department to evaluate potential locations for a pilot installation. We are also continuing to install rooftop solar on individual buildings."

Solar panels are on the following five Urbana campus buildings:

— Business Instructional Facility

— the Activities & Recreation Center

— Wassaja Residence Hall

— University High School Gymnasium

— Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Building.

"I'd also like to emphasize that the ground-mounted solar panels do not harm the plants under them. After building the first Solar Farm, we learned that there was an excellent opportunity for growing useful plants under and around the panels," said White. "This is a great opportunity for creating a multi-functional ecosystem, with pollinator supportive plants and protected areas for small animals and insects."

https://www.news-gazette.com/toms-mailbag/toms-mailbag-june-26-2020/article_65ef2976-09b9-526a-848d-1419c905b0ec.html

Good afternoon,

My name is Meredith Moore and I am the Sustainability Programs Coordinator at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) on campus. We are very excited to share the first draft of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) 2020! The iCAP is our University’s comprehensive strategic plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This attached document consists of eight key themes (Energy, Transportation, Land & Water, Zero Waste, Education, Engagement, Resilience, and Implementation/Funding), each of which contain actionable objectives to guide our sustainability plans for the next five years and beyond. It includes content and graphs without the design and images which will be incorporated later this summer. We would appreciate your feedback on the iCAP content at this form and invite you to share this information and link with any students, faculty, staff, or community members. We are interested to hear what you like about this document, suggestions for improvement, and any additional comments you would like to share with us.

Your review and feedback of the iCAP is a critical step in the drafting process! We have hosted in-person and virtual public forums to achieve this, and we are now accepting feedback on the draft itself. You can also find the PDF iCAP draft, as well as our feedback form, on our website here, or by using go.illinois.edu/iCAP2020. Please submit all feedback by Friday, June 26. You do not need to read the entire document to provide feedback; if you have a particular interest area, feel free to comment specifically on that topic. Thank you for your time and effort, and we look forward to reviewing your feedback! Please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Meredith

--
Meredith Moore
Sustainability Programs Coordinator

Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1101 W. Peabody, Urbana, Suite 338 (NSRC)

217.333.0119 | mkm0078@illinois.edu

sustainability.illinois.edu

Please consider the environment before printing out an email.

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the May 2020 Buyer's Share amounts by hour, totaling 1892.7 Megawatt hours. See attached file.