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Projects Updates for theme: Transportation

  1. Overview of SmartWay, by Warren Lavey

    Associated Project(s): 

    Many purchasers require that their trucking carriers participate in the SmartWay Transport Partnership.  In addition, purchasers can participate in SmartWay as shippers (as UIUC Housing did), which facilitates the tracking of emissions from their carriers and allows them to compete for awards presented annually by EPA.

    Here are some examples.

    1. The State of Illinois' contract for Small Package Air and Ground Parcel Delivery Services, signed in 2014, requires that the carrier "must maintain its enrollment in the USEPA SmartWay® Program and continue in 'good standing', by submitting required data annually, for the duration of any awarded contract without backsliding."  "Backsliding" refers to maintaining the carrier's annual SmartWay performance ranking (1 to 5).  See State of Illinois Contract CPOGS15001 (attached), Section 1.5.1 and Attachment A.  This contract is available for agency and university use.  The RFP required that bidders participate in the SmartWay Transport Partnership.
    2. A federal contract -- Domestic Delivery Services 3, for the General Services Administration and at least 14 other participating agencies, signed in 2014 -- includes the following provision:  "Contractors are required to belong to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay Transport Partnership, a voluntary partnership between the Federal Government and the trucking industry, to improve the environmental performance of freight and small package transport by adopting fuel and emission-reducing strategies. As an alternative, contractors may also report GHG emissions directly to GSA and the Department of Energy through the annual GHG inventory process which is followed by federal agencies."  See GSA, "DDS 3 Green Features Fact Sheet"  http://www.gsa.gov/portal/getMediaData?mediaId=196419.
    3. Federal Executive Order 13693 ("Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade", March 2015) directs agencies to apply preferences in purchasing for SmartWay participating carriers and SmartWay products.  See Section 3(i)(ii): "[T]he head of each agency shall, where life-cycle cost effective, beginning in fiscal year 2016, ... promote sustainable acquisition and procurement by ensuring that each of the following environmental performance and sustainability factors are included to the maximum extent practicable for all applicable procurements in the planning, award, and execution phases of the acquisition by ... purchasing sustainable products and services identified by EPA programs including ... WaterSense certified products and services (water efficient products); Safer Choice labeled products (chemically intensive products that contain safer ingredients), and SmartWay Transport partners and SmartWay products (fuel efficient products and services)."  https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/19/executive-order-planning-federal-sustainability-next-decade
    4. The SmartWay Excellence Awards for 2014 recognized seven shippers for moving 98 percent of their products and merchandise with high-performing SmartWay carriers: Lowe's, The Home Depot, Hewlett-Packard, Johns Manville, Kimberly-Clark, S. C. Johnson, and Nordstrom.  http://www.epa.gov/smartway/about/documents/awards/420f14052.pdf   As another illustration, Best Buy strongly encourages its carriers to participate in SmartWay, contractually requires all of its over-the-road trucking and intermodal business to be handled by SmartWay partners, and provides SmartWay partners prime docking times and locations. http://www.fleetequipmentmag.com/best-buy-an-active-smartway-shipper-partner/
  2. Jul 9 2015 Minutes

    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."

  3. Award Letter - Demo Cargo Bike

    The idea for the project came after noticing most trucks on campus are only hauling small loads compared to the capacity they were made for. We believe we could switch many transportation tasks over to human powered vehicles. We are hoping we can use a demonstration cargo bike to show different departments how they can use sustainable transportation rather than large fossil fuel powered trucks. We want the departments to see how useful cargo bikes can be and then buy their own. This would not only save money, reduce pollution and congestion, but open up opportunities for student workers who do not have driver’s licenses to do these tasks. This would open up more jobs for students on campus as well as let them participate in sustainable transportation which they could then take and implement after they graduate.

  4. Award Letter - Bike Share

    In Spring 2011, SSC funded a bike sharing feasibility study, and it established a three-tier approach to bike sharing. However, it was found that no improvements to developing a bike sharing could begin until the bike infrastructure was significantly improved. In the last 4 years, there have been vast improvements and new infrastructure plans are continuing to be implemented.

    The UIUC Pilot Bike Share program is a proposal for a two year pilot bike share program. This pilot program will be a 50 bike fleet. It will be using a new approach to bike sharing through smart locks. Smart locks contain all the technology for the bike-sharing program linked to a smart phone. The smart locks will allow for versatility in the type of bikes to use within the system and where the bikes could be located. iSEE is exploring a collaboration with BitLock for the smart locks and Neutral Cycle for the bikes.

    This two-year pilot bike-sharing program is in with collaboration with CUMTD, City of Urbana, City of Champaign, and CUPHD (CU Bike Share Task Force) in creating a bike share program on campus that can be scalable into the community. The desired outcome is to design a bike share program that is equitable and gives students the best access to traveling around campus, while reducing our carbon footprint.

  5. Award Letter - Japan House Bikes

    Japan House and the University of Illinois Arboretum request funding to provide bike racks on their grounds. There are currently no available bike racks in the 57-acre Arboretum and Japan House grounds. Japan House is the site of University classes and the Arboretum is frequently used as a resource for classes from units such as Landscape Architecture, and Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. In addition, the Arboretum and the Japan House Gardens are a major recreational resource for students, faculty and staff and the general public. The Japan House offices are located at the site and students routinely ask where they should lock up their bikes. Currently, with no bike racks, bikers are forced to lock bikes to benches, lampposts, etc. Funding is supplied for the installation of two six loop bike racks and pavers (to ensure that the surface is permeable), and related biking signage.

  6. Award Letter - Makers Bike Seat

    The Makers UIUC Bike Seat Project is a student-centered venture to design, produce, and distribute an environmentally-friendly and economical bike seat cover in order to promote biking on campus. By providing a way of protecting bicycle seats, we are addressing the problems of biking in adverse weather conditions. Our intention is not only to design a product made with environmentally friendly materials, but to encourage the use of eco-friendly transportation as a whole.

  7. Award Letter - Solar Car

    This project is to build and test a scaled-down prototype of the electrical system of a solar car. The major parts of this prototype are the solar array, maximum power point trackers (MPPT), rechargeable batteries, and a load. The solar array will be made of flexible silicon crystalline solar cells encapsulated (to protect from debris and enhance performance) and mounted on a contoured composite panel that mimics the surface of our car body. The applicant will design and build our own MPPT which is a variable DC/DC boost converter that raises the voltage of their array. The MPPT has a feedback loop control to ensure maximum output from the array under different insolation and temperatures. The rechargeable batteries will be Li-ion batteries that will act as a buffer energy source when sunlight is not available or is insufficient to power the system. Although Li-ion batteries have a high energy density, they require a battery management system to ensure safe and optimal operation. Thus, they will purchase a battery management system that is suitable for our car. Lastly, the energy generated by the solar array will power a load, which will be a motor planned to be borrowed from another team.

  8. Bike recycle event, KellerWilliams Realtor RED Day Bicycle Recycle event

    Associated Project(s): 

    Happy Bike Month Everybody,

    We have lots of bike-related events going on in May.  And as the use of bikes and the local bike community grows, we will have more and more bike events.  This is all good.  Champaign County Bikes will try to share local bike information and keep everyone informed. (A growing task for us, and one of the reasons we need to grow and add capacity!)  For now, during Bike Month - our Bike Month calendar and resources are at www.CUBike.org  A more complete and ongoing bike event calendar that draws from many of our local bike groups is at our CCB website, www.champaigncountybikes.org.

    I just want to quick highlight a new event, one I just received some information on tonight.  I believe it’s good that all of us who share leadership roles in our bicycle community are well informed, given that that we might be asked about any bike-related event in town, including this new event.  Scott Bechtel and his staff at KellerWilliams Realtor are hosting this RED DAY Bicycle Recycle event, and as I understand it are promoting it primarily within their extensive network of contacts, and then generally in the community.  One of our CCB members knows Scott and they have had some conversations. This is how CCB knows of RED DAY.  Red Day falls on our local Bike to Work Day, Thursday, May 14.

    You can find more information at:  www.KWChampaignRedDay.com, at KellerWillimas, or their Facebook page.

    Thanks for everything all of you are doing to make Champaign County an awesomely Bicycle Friendly Place!

    Jeff

    Jeff Yockey

    President

    Champaign County Bikes

    jeff@champaigncountybikes.org

    www.champaigncountybikes.org

    217 565-1785

     

     

     

  9. May 21 2015 minutes

  10. bike warehouse cleanout

    Associated Project(s): 

    Michelle,

    I have removed all bikes from the warehouse.

    James

    From: Wahl, Michelle
    Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 6:27 PM
    To: Roedl, James M
    Cc: Johnston, Morgan B; DeLorenzo, Stacey; Calloway, Jason Robard; Wise, Michael Anthony
    Subject: Re: Bike Pick Up!

    That is awesome thanks for the quick reply! I will let Kari know tomorrow! 

    Michelle 
    Sent from my iPhone


    On Apr 28, 2015, at 5:18 PM, Roedl, James M wrote:

    Michelle,

    I can work with Kari and should be able to get all of those bikes out by Friday the 1st.  If that works for you.

    Thanks,
    James

     

  11. Quad Day registration

    Associated Project(s): 

    From: quad-day@illinois.edu [quad-day@illinois.edu]
    Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 1:03 PM
    To: Roedl, James M
    Subject: Quad Day Registration Confirmation

    This is to confirm that we have received your 2015 Quad Day registration. However, this does not guarantee you a spot for Quad Day until a balance check has been done on your credit card or RSO account.
    If you have any questions, please email quad-day@illinois.edu.

    Organization Name: The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign
    Organization Type: Non-Profit, Community Organizations
    Primary Name: James Roedl
    Primary Phone: 217-244-1196
    Primary Email: jmroedl illinois.edu
    Second Contact Name:
    Second Contact Email:
    Payment Type: CreditCard
    Payment Amount: $28.00

  12. iCAP Working Group Agenda for 4/2/2015

    Dear iCAP Working Group Members,

    As a reminder, we will be meeting this Thursday at 1:30 (and also next Thursday, 4/9, at 1:30).

    This week we will discuss the timeline for completing our work on the iCAP, and then turn our attention to the 7 attached formal recommendations we've received from the Transportation and Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling SWATeams.  Please review these in advance of the meeting, so that we can discuss them most efficiently.  If you will not be able to join us due to a schedule conflict, please email me in advance if you have any particular concerns.

    Next week (4/9), we'll be joined by Kent Reifsteck and Mike Larson from F&S, and also Scott Willenbrock from the Energy Generation SWATeam, so that we can discuss what the iCAP should say about charting a pathway for clean energy for our campus.

    Thanks,

    Ben

    Professor Benjamin J. McCall

    Associate Director for Campus Sustainability Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus-sustainability@illinois.edu

  13. April 2 2015 minutes

  14. Previous description in iCAP Portal - paragraph removed

    Associated Project(s): 

    Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS) has played a large role in leading this discussion and is working with Facilities & Services to try to implement a bike share program before Fall 2014. AITS hopes to partner with other departments on campus to create a cohesive and connected bike share system within the University.

  15. Previous description in iCAP Portal

    Associated Project(s): 

    Transportation Demand Management (TDM) in Facilities & Services is finalizing the 2014 Campus Bike Plan, a master plan to direct our efforts for future bicycle infrastructure improvements and program development.  The official public comment period for the Campus Bike Plan ended in April 2013, but additional feedback is always welcome via the online bicycle feedback form.

    The draft 2014 Campus Bike Plan was available for public input during a four-week period, and members of the campus community were encouraged to review the plan and submit their comments and feedback via the online Campus Bicycle Feedback Form

     

  16. Safety "Zine" idea

    Associated Project(s): 

    I have been working with Jeff and there were two things we thought would be a good use of resources.  The first is a safety  booklet.  It would be modeled after a "zine" which is a DIY publication that is popular with young people.We were thinking it would be cool to have the same guy who did last year's Bike Month t-shirt illustrate the zine with content we provided. - James Roedl


     

  17. Traffic Skills 101 course

    Associated Project(s): 

    The second idea we wanted to pursue was putting on the TS 101 courses.  The normal cost that Cynthia charges is $65 per person.  We thought we could contract with CCB $400 or $500 to do a full day lunch provided TS101 training for 10-15 people.  It would be offered to students and staff who wanted to learn more about safety and promised to be a safety advocate.  This would save money over the total cost of training and allow a larger group of folks receive serious safety training. - James Roedl
     

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