Professor Lavey presented a seminar through the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) last week on governments' efforts to promote cleaner trucking services.  The focus was on tools beyond legislation and regulations, especially imposing  low-emissions conditions on access to properties and applying environmental preferences in government purchases.  Here is the short description:

Technologies to cut truck emissions are available and cost-effective, and should be encouraged by a range of government and private actions. In 2013, Chicago approved the expansion of a railroad terminal contingent on retrofitting dozens of trucks with clean diesel filters. Illinois agencies are reforming freight and package delivery purchasing programs to implement the Transportation Sustainability Procurement Program Act of 2013. Similarly, the U.S. General Services Administration is applying new environmental preferences in selecting transportation vendors and tracking their performance.

See the video on ISTC's website.

Revolving Loan Fund Selection Committee,

Thank you to all who participated in the special vote. We received a majority vote of four “yes” responses, so the project is accepted. Our Business Office will get the MOU written and we will move forward with the work very soon. The terms of the loan will be outlined in the MOU and will be in accordance with the signed agreement dated 12/03/2015.

Again, thank you to all who participated and we’ll be in contact with you very soon regarding the next selection meeting.

Josh Whitson

The University has recently hired a student  and purchased a bicylce from the Campus Bicycle Shop to start a courier bike system. This is to replace vehicle deliveries on campus.    

NRES Professor Warren Lavey helped the University become the first academic institution to join the EPA's SmartWay program.  See the NRES press release.  It was picked up by the Pontiac Daily Leader.

When Auxiliaries have projects funded by the Revolving Loan Fund, they first sign this MOU with the F&S Utilities and Energy Services unit.  That way, the Utilities and Energy Services staff can make the appropriate payback transfers each year for that specific agreement.

These projects were selected for FY12 RLF funding, in this priority order:

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Lighting Retrofits

RLF Requested: $1,500,000

This project is part of a campus-wide effort to upgrade all T12 fluorescent light fixtures to yield improved lighting quality for the users while decreasing operating and maintenance expenses.  This project involves energy-saving upgrades to lamps and ballasts of existing fluorescent light fixtures in (53) campus buildings.  We are requesting funding in the amount of $1.5 million, although the work is scalable and any funding amount can be successfully applied.  The total campus need for lighting retrofit is approximately $3.1 million.  Partial grant reimbursement of $800,000 is available.

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Occupancy Sensors

RLF Requested: $500,000

This project will install occupancy sensors for control of lighting and HVAC in approximately (30) campus buildings.  As a result, energy use will be decreased up to 30% in affected areas.  This is an expansion and continuation of projects in the past two years, which have focused on installation of occupancy sensors in student classrooms. We are requesting funding in the amount of $500,000, although the work is scalable and any funding amount can be successfully applied.  The total campus need for occupancy sensors is over $6.5 million.  Partial grant reimbursement of up to $40,000 is available.

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LED Exit Signs

RLF Requested: $250,000

This project will replace existing exit signs with efficient LED fixtures in approximately (14) campus buildings.  As a result, energy use will be decreased, life safety systems will operate more reliably, and maintenance needs will decrease dramatically.  This is a continuation of projects funded in FY07 and FY08. We are requesting funding in the amount of $250,000, although the work is very scalable and any funding amount can be successfully applied.  Partial grant reimbursement of up to $7,000 is available.

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Per the RLF Agreement, the initial round of projects to be considered for RLF funding was developed internally by F&S staff.  The potential project list attached here.

As part of the ICECF 2009 Lighting Retrofit, 426 T-12 fixtures in Gregory Hall were replaced with the more energy-effiecient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 68,862 hours. The simple payback for this project is -4.1 years. There are 777 T-12 fixtures in Gregory Hall remaining to be switched.