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Projects Updates for theme: all

  1. Connecting F&S, TDM, and Wellness through student engagement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Encourage Active Transportation

    The UIUC Wellness Director Michelle Guerra, the Active Transportation Coordinator Lily Wilcock, and the F&S Director of Sustainability Morgan Johnston, are planning to identify a student to engage in the cross-section of the sustainability, wellness, and transportation efforts for this campus.  There are several aspects of these efforts that overlap, yet it is difficult to find time to keep each other informed.  The student could provide an important connection between these areas, while also learning of the inherently interdisciplinary aspects of sustainability, wellness, and transportation.

  2. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Mechanics Classes at the Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was a big one! We had the shipping event on Friday wherein we loaded 363 bikes and a whole bunch of spare parts, wheels, cables, etc. into a giant steel box to be shipping off to  Tanzania to help doctors get to remote villages and students get to class. Very good stuff, indeed!

    Due to the event on Friday the shop was closed, limiting our visitors to 68 for the week. We grossed a mere $362.50. We sold 5 memberships for $150; not a single bike nor any build-a-bikes. We did sell $62 in tubes, so we’re helping keep people on the road, even as visits dwindle.

    This week I will finish clearing out the bike warehouse of the remaining bikes. Working Bikes is coming down to take 40 or so of the bikes we have no need for as well as to help move the bikes we do want back to the CBC, which will be tremendously helpful. I will also coordinate with a new TBP member who has interest in leading a basic maintenance class. And of course building bikes and the Sisyphean task of organizing inventory and parts.

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  3. Update from John Marlin to potential volunteers

    Associated Project(s): 
    LAR Native Plants

    Hello,

    Most of you have had some direct involvement with the LAR LLC planting that is in progress.  It started last spring and now has a ~$5000 grant from the Student Sustainability Committee. The past two weeks have seen a lot of progress as plants were removed from propagation beds and transplanted to the front and N side of LAR. 

    Here are a few shots with some of you featured.  I will make more available later to individuals.  

    The recent planting contains mostly woodland wildflowers that are currently dormant.   the straws mark the locations so we do not plant over them during the next couple weeks.   Hopefully they will survive the winter since there are other plants that go in early in the spring.

    The LLC has some weeding tools and watering cans in the building that LAR students can access.   We will need to water plants and do some weeding this week.  If you have a break or get done before dark you might be able to do some weeding on the S side of the building.  Gwenna or I may have to show you what to take out. 

    We are likely to have some more planting next weekend.   Probably Saturday (and maybe Sunday) morning around 10.  Sunday afternoon some of us will be with Red Bison at the South Arboretum Woods near the pollinatarium by Lincoln and Windsor.   Any of you are welcome there. 

    Attached are also a couple posters showing the kinds of woodland plants that are going in.

    John C. Marlin

    -----------

    The files are on the main project page.

  5. November 4th, 2016 Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Support the MTD Bus System

    Meeting minutes 11/04/16

    -          Ankit showed us a video showing how some cities like Singapore are using tracking systems ( using cards) to track when people are getting on and getting off. This may improve the bus schedule. We could possibly using cards to track.

    o   MTD would have to put systems of the busses. Would require funds to implement this idea.

    o   Yangfeng mentioned some problems that could be associated with it. We must be careful if changing the bus schedule. Will MTD be open to the idea? It is quite some change.

    -          What we will talk to Ben about: one proposal on campus fleet, proposal on air travel to understand behavior, and parking proposal to change behavior. We will ask him what’s next, what’s on the agenda, and about further tasks to do. We need some more guidance.

  7. archived info - previous project background

    Associated Project(s): 
    Plant Sciences Window Shades [ARCHIVED]

    Per the SSC website, "The installation of energy/shade curtains in the plant sciences laboratory greenhouses will decrease energy usage needed for heating and cooling, increase natural light quality, decrease the use of high intensity supplemental lighting, and decrease energy usage by the application and removal of whitewash. Energy shade curtains have the potential to save between 20-55% in energy use. This project is an expansion of a 2010 SSC loan that helped install energy shade curtains in nine greenhouse rooms, plus additional grant funding to install meters in rooms with the curtains and rooms without. To date, the rooms with the energy/shade curtains have used an average of 32.3% less electricity and 28.8% less water used for cooling rooms in the summer months. Expanding these energy/shade curtains will produce even greater savings..."

  8. 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: 

  9. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week we had 76 visitors, maybe one of the lowest totals for a full week this semester. It did coincide with cooler weather, so that helps to explain it. As far as the numbers go, we grossed 824.03; we sold 4 memberships for $120; one refurbished bike for $190; and one Build-a-Bike for $145.

    Last week I prepped for the bike shipment that will happen this Friday at 10am. Jim Sims dropped by, which was cool. The new outdoor fix-it station pumps arrived, another very cool thing. We got a great deal on some winter riding gear from our supplier, which should help get more people riding once it gets really chilly. I spoke with Simon Pokorny who is still interested in teaching a basic maintenance class, so when his schedule opens up a little, we will coordinate on that.

    This coming week I plan on prepping more for the bike shipment as well as ramping up publicity for it. The APO volunteer core is having trouble generating more interest due to transportation constraints so I will discuss options with them in advance of the event.

    Sincerely,

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

     

  10. SWATeam assessment for FY16

    Associated Project(s): 
    Changing Usage of Individuals

    Status: In Progress
    • Several initiatives underway focusing on student engagement — including Illini Lights Out and Eco-Olympics.
    • Initiatives are continuing for staff and faculty engagement — Certified Green Office Program, Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP).
    • Forming a plan to work toward a Green Labs program that would focus on reducing energy consumption in labs (e.g. fume hoods, refrigeration).

    Attached Files: 

  11. Campus map with street and parking lights

    Associated Project(s): 
    LED Campus
    LED Exterior Lights

    On October 28, 2016, Chad Kupferschmid provided Morgan Johnston and Sarthak Prasad with the campus map with all the street and parking lights owned by the campus or the city of Urbana or Champaign. The main purpose of this map was to help with determining the boundary of the campus so that they could recommend which street lights should be preferred for the immediate projects.

    Attached Files: 

  14. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was a good one and ended on a high note—Friday was beginning-of-the-semester level busy. We had 95 visitors. Our gross sales were $1,268.60; we sold 10 memberships for $300, one bike for $150, and one build-a-bike for $140.

    The major goings-on last week was the bike census on Wednesday. It went well! We collected a lot of useful and important data. I was interviewed about the event by the Daily Illini. Lily did a tremendous job organizing and executing the event. The service manager at Champaign Cycle stopped by and introduced himself; it’s always nice to have a face-to-face with other bike shops in town.

    This week I will be prepping bikes and pulling the good ones at the warehouse, scrapping the pile of junker bikes that Neutral kindly donated, building more for-sale bikes as well as some new storage shelves for the shop.

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  15. Long-Term PPA Recommendation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Clean Power Agreements Off-Campus

    In Spring 2016, a recommendation was submitted to allow longer-term contracts for the purchase of renewable power. The institute for Sustainability, Energy, and the Environment (iSEE) is currently reviewing this request with campus legal counsel and Purchasing departments to determine feasible options and potential next steps.

  17. Biomass Boiler at Energy Farm

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy
    Biomass use on Campus
    Biomass Boiler at the Energy Farm

    Construction is underway in Fall 2016 to install a 200 kW biomass boiler at the Energy Farm. This system will initially satisfy all heating needs for the greenhouse onsite, and will replace the current propane heating system. In the future, more buildings may be added to the boiler system.

  18. Geothermal Profile Project

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy
    Geothermal on Campus
    Geothermal Test Well at Energy Farm

    Beginning Fall 2016, a team at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS, a division of the prairie Research Institute) led by Illinois Professor Yu-Feng Forrest Lin is conducting a series of detailed observations of the geothermal profile on campus - including high-resolution temperature profiling and thermal analysis. The team will drill to 330 ft and install a geothermal loop and fiberoptic cables. Results will help determine the feasibility of implementing geothermal systems on campus by identifying costs and possible challenges.

    Professor Lin has coordinated with faculty from the University of Wisconsin to incorporate lessons learned from their implementation of a geothermal exchange system at the nearby EPIC health care systems campus in Verona, WI.

    Professor Lin's team began drilling on 9/19/16. Daily drilling progress is logged and can be found by clicking this link.

    Attached Files: 

  19. Participation in the Campus Sustainability Celebration

    Associated Project(s): 
    Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam

    SWATeam Memebers Chibuihe Asonye, Brent Lewis, and Joseph Edwards represented the team at the Campus Sustainability Celebration at Alice Campbell Alumni Center. During the celebration team members talked to campus community members about their work on the team and the progress on the ICAP goals. 

     

    Attached Files: 

  20. 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: 

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