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Projects Updates for theme: all

  1. Anaerobic Digester progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass use on Campus

    The scope for an anaerobic digester with a methane capture at the Beef and Sheep Facility on South Farms has been completed and the project will be opened for a Quality Based Selection of an appropriate engineering firm.

  2. 12 proposals for the Solar Farm

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 1.0

    The Request for Proposal for a Solar Farm Public-Private Partnership on South Farms resulted in 12 proposals for the Solar Farm.  The technical evaluation committee worked on reviewing and scoring each proposal, and provided some clarification questions to the UI Purchasing contact person.  The committee will meet again in May to identify a preferred vendor.

  4. Beyond Coal student group joint celebration at Abbott Power Plant

    Associated Project(s): 
    Stop Burning Coal at Abbott Power Plant

    F&S and the Beyond Coal student group portion of Students for Environmental ConcernS (SECS) held a joint celebration at Abbott Power Plant to recognize the efforts that have been made to reduce coal usage for campus.  There was a discussion about the additional projects F&S is pursuing and the financial decision makers for campus.

  5. "Smart Campus" Goals Set

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Conservation Efforts

    F&S Executive Director Jack Dempsey is working with the F&S Energy Division to clearly describe the “smart campus” goals for direct digital controls, real-time metering, and optimization of the campus power supply and demand decision making.

  6. Bicycle Project Updates: bike racks, bike parking, bike sharing, bike to work day, campus bike project

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Bicycle Use

    The SSC bike parking award is for $225,000 to install approximately 1,000 new bike parking spaces on existing concrete throughout campus. 

    The SSC and the Illini Union agreed to support improvements at the southwest corner of the Illini Union, where there are existing “donut-hole” bike racks.  These will be removed over the summer and replaced with stainless steel U-loops.  Additionally, the F&S Grounds division has agreed to plant an additional tree in that area, which will increase shading for the bike parking.

    Through Champaign County Bikes, the University has acquired 22 Varsity Bicycle Racks (which will hold a total of 44 bicycles) from Park-a-Bike in order to run a year-long pilot test of the racks. 10 of these racks will be installed for the year near the Union and the remaining 12 will be distributed in various high-visibility locations on and near campus, to be determined.

    The graduate student working on sketches for the Campus Bicycle Network improvements has completed a majority of the campus owned pathways.  In some cases, this has included site visits to specific areas, with the Transportation Coordinator and the Landscape Architect for campus.

    The SSC-supported Bike Sharing Feasibility Study student intern held a review meeting with the Bike Sharing Steering Committee.  The report is substantially complete and will be available this summer.  As part of the Feasibility Study, F&S released a bike sharing survey to the campus and surrounding community in late March, and accepted responses throughout April. The Survey received 1,168 responses from students, staff, faculty, retirees, visitors and members of the community. F&S is working with the UI Bikes section of Engineering 315, Learning in the Community (LINC) course, to analyze the data from the survey responses. Students from the LINC course also conducted a focus group with undergraduate students in conjunction with the survey in order to dive deeper into the topic of bike sharing with focus group participants.

    In preparation for the third annual C-U Bike to Work Day (BTWD), staff organized fundraising, publicity, volunteers, bike stations’ supplies, registration, and riders’ incentives. The University led the efforts to organize BTWD this year, in partnership with local governments and other agencies. BTWD is an opportunity to encourage and support new bicycle commuters across C-U, including students, staff and faculty of the University, in an effort to create a mode shift toward more bike commuting and less automobile commuting.

    SSC granted a funding request from the Campus Bike Project (CBP) which will allow the current part-time hours of the CBP shop manager, a University employee reporting directly to F&S, to be expanded to full-time. The grant also includes a small stipend for part-time student employees to help staff the CBP.  Sustainability Staff have been working with CBP representatives to develop the position description and conduct a job search, which attracted over 30 applications. The search committee, which included sustainability staff from F&S, as well as Bike Project volunteers and members, is currently in the process of narrowing the pool down to select a qualified candidate.

     

  7. CUUATS reported Grainger lighted crosswalk not recommended

    Associated Project(s): 
    Encourage Active Transportation

    The Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS) prepared a report on the efficacy of the Grainger lighted crosswalk on Springfield Avenue at the Engineering Quad.  Due to high maintenance needs, difficulty with the light activation system, and a false sense of security for pedestrians and cyclists crossing Springfield Avenue, this system is not recommended for future locations on campus.  Safety for people crossing high-traffic streets can be enhanced with alternative lighted crosswalk systems that are more effective and provide more consistent safety improvements.

  9. ICECF review for light funding, new DCEO grant updates

    Associated Project(s): 
    Seek External Grant Funding for Implementation

    Hosted a site visit from Bob Romo at ICECF to review lighting upgrades they funded previously.

    DCEO has a new grant available for Steam Trap replacement and Pipe Insulation.  The F&S Maintenance Division qualifies for this grant program, so we will submit a grant request in May.  Calculated funding request for the DCEO Boiler grant.

    Received final award documents for DCEO EEPs grant.

     

  11. Recycling e-waste, containers, and bikes on campus

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    IGBA held an e-waste recycling event on campus and in the research park.

    F&S provided recycling containers for the Illinois Marathon.

    Sustainability Staff helped the Campus Bike Project (CBP) to prep 350 old, abandoned bicycles from last year’s campus-wide cleanup in order to donate them to an organization, Working Bikes, which will refurbish the bicycles and ship them to Uganda to be donated to those in need of affordable transportation. Staff and CBP volunteers worked for over 12 hours to prep the bikes and over 4 hours to load them onto a truck to be taken to Working Bikes’ Chicago location.   The Parking Department was also involved, as the timing of the donation was critical in order to clear out Parking’s warehouse to make room for this year’s campus-wide cleanup of abandoned bicycles. 

  12. Spring iCAP Forum Held

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Engagement and Outreach

    At the spring iCAP Forum, sustainability staff presented a status update about progress towards meeting our commitments in the Illinois Climate Action Plan.  This included a broad overview of the various initiatives that are currently underway and a summary of the next steps in this process.  After the presentation, participants were asked to work in groups to provide feedback about setting priorities for further iCAP implementation.  A summary of the feedback will be available after the Spring 2012 semester.

  15. Portal construction under development

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    The iCAP Portal has been approved for support from the Office of Sustainability/Chancellor, and construction of the portal is under development.  Initial entry screens have been created and were shared at the iCAP Forum on April 16.  The backend database will be developed over the summer 2012. 

  19. SSC supported “Weatherization” project coming to conclusion

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings [ARCHIVED]

    The SSC supported “Weatherization” project is coming to its conclusion.  The six RSO teams that participated in this program have submitted their reports to the Weatherization intern, and the F&S Maintenance Division has identified the costs of the recommended improvements.  These will be summarized and implemented after the Spring 2012 semester.

  20. USGBC student chapter discusses conservation programs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Competitions
    USGBC IL Higher Education Sub-committee [ARCHIVED]

    The Illinois student chapter of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) met with staff to discuss an energy and water conservation program they would like to initiate in FY13.  This would require some meter upgrades which could be implemented in conjunction with the Energy Dashboard project.  In the fall, the students would organize conservation competitions between various residence halls on campus, to promote, highlight, and celebrate sustainable behavior.

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