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Projects Updates for place: Abbott Power Plant

  1. Update as of 11/16/16

    Associated Project(s): 
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

    The past couple weeks have been productive and busy. Follow up emails were sent to those people who filled out our enrollment form but did not reply back after the initial email and already some good responses have come of that. A couple people said they misunderstood and didn't realize that their department would have to purchase the bicycles so they said they weren't interested. A couple said they received the info and were talking to the appropriate people within their departments. A couple others had meetings setup with myself due to the follow up emails. 

     

    This week I met with Illini Emergency Medical Services who have a bicycle fleet that they use during University events to ensure rapid medical response times. We discussed what was going well for them and what could be improved. They said they would like more publicity so I said that they should absolutely try and get the word out more about their efforts. 

    This week I also met with the Student Planning Organization, the RSO that manages Urban Planning department bicycle fleet. They have 3 bikes that I got to see. We discussed the potential of encouraging more faculty and visiting people's use of the bikes as well as branding for their bikes in an attempt to differentiate them from private bikes. 

    I have also been working on an infographic on "Why Bikes" that details the benefits of cycling on campus. I am hoping this can be passed around with other bicycle fleet documentation we send out. There are a couple drafts still and they are attached to this update as a private file. 

     

     

  2. EGEN SWATeam Meeting (11.9.16)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    PPA for National Petascale Computing Facility
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Geothermal on Campus

    The EGEN SWATeam held their fourth meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:

    • Guest presentation by Yu-Feng Forrest Lin to discuss his work on investigating campus geothermal properties
    • View draft recommendation for Petascale offsets
    • Review draft recommendation for on-campus solar
    Attached Files: 

  3. Analysis of Existing Bicycle Fleet Survey Responses

    Associated Project(s): 
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

    After receiving responses from four different active bicycle fleets on campus after about 3 weeks of having our survey active, we wrote up an analysis of the responses. This analysis is attached to this post as a .pdf file. 

     

    This past week we continued reaching out to people that we have either met in person about potentially starting bicycle fleets on campus. Doug Wolters, Director of Operations for ACES, was able to reach out to the business managers of ACES to share information that we sent him. I also sent emails to a couple people that took our survey requesting a short meeting so we can further discuss their program's success as well as any ways we can improve their bicycle fleets. 

    Attached Files: 

  4. Update on Bicycle Fleet Progress from August to October 2016

    Associated Project(s): 
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

    Here is an update of what Lily Wilcock and myself (Logan Ebeling) have accomplished concerning departmental bicycle fleets on campus from late August to late October.

     

    We began with a goal of assessing the health and status of current departmental bicycle fleets on campus. Offhand, Lily knew of the following programs:

    • Kinesiology department
    • Living Learning Community in LAR
    • Urban Planning department
    • Building Operations and Maintenance
    • Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning

    In an attempt to reach out to those programs and other ones that we potentially did not know about, we developed a survey for people involved with those programs to take. A link to that survey was sent out in an E-Week advertisement on October 2nd. A screenshot of that blurb in the E-Week is attached to this post. We are still waiting on responses from that survey (so far we have about 3 responses). 

    Another goal was to advertise to departments that starting a bicycle fleet was even a possibility. Anecdotally, it seems that many people are unaware that the University is encouraging bicycle use for employees. To address this, we developed a short enrollment form that people could fill out if they wanted more information on starting a departmental bicycle fleet. A link to this enrollment form was also sent out in the October 2nd E-Week advertisement. We had around 10 replies to this enrollment form and sent out an email to the respondents with more information and an offer to meet and discuss possibilities for a bicycle fleet for their department. 

     

    One goal of mine was to develop two checklists to have available to people to aid in sending out information to people. These two checklists are completed and we have been sending them out to people where appropriate. The two checklists are attached to this post and they are:

    1. A checklist for maintaining existing bicycle fleets
    2. A checklist for starting a bicycle fleet

    These checklists drew heavily off of information in the Departmental Bike Sharing Manual from 2014 (attached to this project's main page). 

     

    Attached Files: 

  5. EGEN SWATeam Meeting notes (10.12.16)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan (2015 iCAP)
    PPA for National Petascale Computing Facility
    Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
    Rooftop Solar Potential

    The EGEN SWATeam held their third meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:

    • Development of formal SWATeam recommendatino to the working group regarding offsets for Petascale
    • RECs - does this get us to our goal?
    • Potential recommendations for rooftop solar
    Attached Files: 

  7. Student solar efforts renewing for fall 2016

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    Niharika Kishore, masters in Urban Planning (MUP) student, and Corey Weil, sophomore in Electrical and Computer Engineering, are working with Morgan Johnston on the iSEE objective for on-campus solar.  Niharika will continue her efforts for promoting rooftop solar to meet the iCAP objective for 12,500 MWh/year of on-campus solar energy generation as part of a MUP capstone project this year.  Corey will volunteer in various efforts to support the development of solar solutions for campus, from the Net Zero Energy ECE efforts to advocating for solar energy funding.

  8. Possibility for rooftop solar on Mechanical Engineering Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential

    After the August 5th presentation by Niharika Kishore to College of Engineering facilities contact Greg Larson, Greg spoke with Mechanical Engineering facilities contact Damon McFall about roofotp solar for the Mechanical Engineering Building (MEB).  Morgan Johnston explained that MEB had been left off the list Niharika worked on because of the upcoming Capital Programs project in that facility.  Greg indicated that they are interested in pursuing rooftop solar for MEB.  Potentially the design could be included in the Capital Project design effort, and the installation would need to be funded separately.  This roof could hold approximately 130 kW array.

     

  9. New Effort Towards Promoting Departmental Bicycle Fleets

    Associated Project(s): 
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Independent Student Projects

    August, 2016, a new initiative towards promoting departments to start their own bicycle fleets began. Lily Wilcock, Active Transportation Coordinator, took on myself (Logan Ebeling), a student intern to help with this project. I am participating in the project as part of ENVS 491, a class required for my Sustainability Minor. 

     

    This project is an evolution from the Departmental Bike Sharing project (see Associated Projects) and is using materials from that project and is drawing off its success. 

     

    We met August 24th at the Campus Bike Center to discuss goals for this semester. We settled on two broad goals: First, assessing the health, challenges, and success of already existing departmental bicycle fleets and second, promoting the formation of new bicycle fleets on campus.  

  10. Niharika Kishore sending email to potential facilities

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    Niharika Kishore will send an email to potential facilities for adding rooftop solar, in support of the 2015 iCAP objective.  The draft email is attached and the list of potential facilities is as follows:

    Building Estimated Yearly Output (kWh/yr)
    Physical Plant Services Building 791,522
    Activities and Recreation Center 725,562
    Law Building 395,761
    Ikenberry Dining Hall 382,569
    Abbott Power Plant 263,841
    Digital Computer Library 263,841
    Plant Sciences Laboratory 164,900
    Timothy J. Nugent Hall 164,900
    Institute of Genomic Biology 158,304
    Richard T. Ubben Basketball Complex 151,708
    Oak Street Library 151,708
    Bousfield Hall 145,112
    Garage and Carpool 125,324

     

    Attached Files: 

  11. Niharika Kishore is working on developing a rooftop solar RFP for design

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    Today, Morgan Johnston met with Niharika Kishore to discuss the rooftop solar iCAP objective.  Niharika is going to review the work already done, in the iSEE solar box folder, and draft a proposal for getting the engineering design work done for a set of building.  She will be working towards meeting the FY20 on campus generation goal of 12,500 MWh/year, and possibly additional installations for FY25.

  12. Art and Design Building solar design

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    A group of seniors completed the attached report for the Art and Design Building, for rooftop solar.  They recommended a flexible solar material, with micro-inverters.  The Art and Design department is interested in working with a student in the fall to seek funding for the rooftop solar from the Student Sustainability Committee.

    Attached Files: 

  13. Archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    Utilities Master Plan for Energy Production and Distribution

    The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), completed in 2010, identifies several goals related to energy production and distribution on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus. The iCAP called for a detailed study of the University's Energy and Utility systems. That study is now ongoing and is intended to be interactive with the sustainability goals of the iCAP. The University is working with a multi-disciplinary consulting team to study the requirements and opportunities necessary to safely and reliably meet the current and future campus energy needs. The areas of study will examine factors including safety, system reliability, environmental impacts, environmental permit requirements, cost, budget constraints, pending/likely changes in legislation and regulations related to energy utilities, fuel costs, industry trends, innovative technologies and sustainability. Note that the study is limited to the Utility enterprise. Comments regarding improvements in transportation and buildings should be made directly to the sustainability office.

    To that end, we are reaching out to the broader campus community to understand what ideas you have in mind that might help the University community meet our energy-related iCAP goals and objectives. If you have specific ideas we would love to hear from you. Please use this form to offer suggestions.

  17. Jul 9 2015 Minutes

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan (2015 iCAP)
    Offset Emissions from Plane Trips
    Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
    Appropriately Staff Sustainable Transportation Efforts
    Reduce Emissions from Transportation
    Develop Scenarios for Converting the UI Fleet to Renewable Fuels
    Appropriately Staff Zero Waste Efforts
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Utilities Master Plan for Energy Production and Distribution
    Energy Conservation and Building Standards (ECBS) SWATeam
    Reduce Emissions from Energy Consumption
    Sustainability Council

    see file

    Several SWATeam recommendations were discussed.  Also, an update from the Sustainability Council was provided:

    "Review of Council Meeting/Status of iCAP Approval - The Sustainability Council meeting went very well with lots of good discussion. There were not too many serious objections to the iCAP. They would like to see financial information, such as cost-benefit analysis on projects. This information will be included in the study for accelerating our carbon neutrality date. The cover letter from the Chancellor affirming our commitment will include language about the current fiscal climate in Illinois. The Chancellor was keen to be able to reach carbon neutrality by 2035. Other concerns were in regard to the net zero space item and they suggested a space audit be included in the iCAP."

    Attached Files: 

  18. EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review recommendation - Unit response - Denied

    Associated Project(s): 
    Utilities Master Plan for Energy Production and Distribution
    eGen Recommendations Summary
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam

    Facilities & Services unit rejected the recommendation. F&S's response was sent to the iWG and EGen SWATeam on June 15th, 2015. However, this recommendation led to the EGen004 Electrification Study recommendation.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen004 Electrification Study here.

    See Transmittal of EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review to the unit here.

    See iWG Assessment of EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review here.

  19. Rooftop Solar Student Project

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    Brendan McDonnell is working with F&S to identify the best buildings on campus for rooftop solar.  Brendan is a MechSE graduate student working toward an MS in ME with a certificate in Energy Systems Engineering, and this is his summer capstone project.  Professor Elif Ertekin is his advisor for the project, and Morgan Johnston is his supervisor at F&S.   The files Brendan is collecting are stored in the iSEE Solar box folder at https://uofi.app.box.com/files/0/f/2802975201/iSEE_-_Solar_Working_Group....

  20. EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review recommendation - Transmittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Utilities Master Plan for Energy Production and Distribution
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    eGen Recommendations Summary

    Following the completion of iWG Assessment, the recommendation was forwarded to the Facilities & Services unit on May 29th, 2015.

    See iWG Assessment of EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen002 Utilities Master Plan Review here.

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