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Projects Updates for theme: all

  1. Trash Cleanup 10/19/22 - Data

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Facilitate campus-wide sustainability events

    The trash pickup on 10/19/22 was a great success, with beautiful weather and a lot of fun, too! We had more than 70 people volunteer, a record turn out. We picked up enough trash to fill an entire dumpster. Most groups helped track and characterize the waste, too. The categories and data are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  2. Trash Cleanup 10/19/22 - Email to participants

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Facilitate campus-wide sustainability events

    Hello!

    Thank you for attending the Campus Trash Pickup on 10/19! You were among more than 70 volunteers who helped make campus cleaner that day, a record turnout! Additionally, the data you collected about the kind of waste you found helps us characterize University of Illinois’ waste stream, so we can know what outreach we need to carry out in order to decrease waste and litter on campus.

    In just an hour and a half, we collected enough waste to fill an entire dumpster (we had to put overflow trash in blue receptacles, too)! Data highlights include more than 300 plastic straws, cups, and utensils; 225 beverage cans, 35 plastic bags, and countless cigarette butts. This is amazing!

    At the event, many of you had ideas about future trash pickups, such as adding an educational component before or after the event, and more. If you have any ideas and would like help or to collaborate, do not hesitate to reach out to this email! We can’t do this without your help!

    We took a lot of awesome photos from this event, as well. Check out this Box Folder for pictures.

    Looking for more ways to be involved in sustainability?

    Thanks again for joining us during Campus Sustainability Month’s trash clean up. Please let us know if you have any questions or ideas for future events.

    Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

    Emily Dickett, iSEE Sustainability Intern

  3. Week 4 - Check in meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Friendly University Status
    Reduce Bicycle Theft on Campus
    Independent Student Projects

    This week Aparna got in touch with the staff of transit services from Arizona State University to understand their approach to achieving the Gold BFU certification. 

    Sarthak and Aparna also had a quick overview of the materials shared and brainstormed ideas/recommendations to raise awareness in the campus community as well as keep bike thefts in mind. 

    The next steps would be to familiarize with the topic better, collect all the research materials and make notes/highlight the existing implementation, and make comments on these.

  4. 10-26-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola

    On October 26, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Anthony Mancuso, Jake Slager, Daphne Hulse, Sarah Carten, Pete Varney, Bryan Johnson, Marty Kaufmann, Jen Fraterrigo, Meredith Moore

    Agenda:

    1. How to hear from basketball game attendees (survey, open-ended feedback)?

    2. How to keep this momentum going for future collaborations between Coca-Cola, iSEE, F&S, DIA?

      1. Quantifying results. Compare typical basketball game waste production with this event.

      2. Recycling infrastructure/logistics. Look into the possibility a dedicated recycling container at State Farm Center. Supplying blue bags. Incorporating recycling containers to the second floor where logistically feasible.

        1. Temporary “Don’t Waste It” bins will be placed here for the zero waste game.

      3. Cultivating a dedicated, core group of students/volunteers.

      4. Touring Memorial Stadium in the future — understanding how the operation works there.

    3. How do we make it clear what is and is not recyclable?

      1. Other than student volunteers engaging with attendees, is there a more passive option worth pursuing?

      2. Zero waste game logistics: what if an attendee has a half-full drink they are ready to recycle?

        1. Shawn, Pete might have an idea.

    4. What game day messaging do we want to give for advertisements (what are we wanting to achieve)?

      1. “America Recycles Day” (November 15) — drawing attention to the Keep America Beautiful program.

      2. “Zero Waste” — consistency with the iCAP chapter.

      3. “Use the Bin” — building off of this ongoing initiative?

      4. “Don’t Waste Your Shot to Recycle” — building off of the Don’t Waste messaging.

      5. A way to incorporate a fun basketball term in the event tagline?

        1. Slam dunk, shot.

    5. Graphic design that showcases all of the involved parties of the event? This is how I (Daphne) think we can best reach out to RSOs, relevant groups, to help us promote the event in advance on social media.

      1. Coca-Cola, DIA, F&S, SSLC, Illini Pride, Orange Krush.

      2. Who will be in charge of creating this graphic?

    6. Volunteers

      1. Meredith: any update on SSLC meeting with Illini Pride and Orange Krush?

      2. Who is in charge of creating a form for interested student volunteers?

      3. Coca-Cola Heartland: We’d like to open up the opportunity for student volunteers first, but if we don’t reach our 40-50 sign up goal, we would like to reach out to the Heartland group

    7. Do we have a Don’t Waste hashtag?

    Discussion:

    • DIA typically does standardized responses for basketball, so we can’t commit to anything right now.

    • Jen: scan a QR code, and quickly respond to a couple questions. Half-time or short-break in the action.

      • Feedback may be more based on our diversion rate, rather than the attendees.

    • What questions would we be asking?

      • Leichert scale 1-5, or yes-no.

      • Do you support having more emphasis on recycling?

      • How do you feel about zero waste emphasis?

      • Is it helpful or harmful? Neutral?

      • Did you notice that this was a zero waste event?

      • How well did we bring this to people’s attention?

    • Lightshow or pre-game trivia specific U of I recycling, Jake has generic Coca-Cola trivia.

        • Marty thinks this could be possible.

      • Marty will bring back to his group for discussion.

    • Messaging:

      • Definitely include “America Recycles Day” → action item for the next day, after the game

      • One or two screens we can use, says Marty (thanks to these partners, groups, Keep America Beautiful)

      • As we observe America Recycles Day tomorrow, we are proud to make tonight a Zero Waste game!

    • Meredith: SSLC had the meeting, 5:30 show up at SFC for training, meet and greet until 6, stand by stations.

    • Student volunteer sign up:

      • iSEE newsletter - captive audience first.

      • Neither Orange Krush or Illini Pride leaders showed up at the Monday SSLC meeting, so we need to reach out to them to make sure they have buy-in.

      • Tuesday Newsletter, as well as Instagram (student-based)

      • Reconvene next week (Tony) to see if we reach out volunteer goal (40-50 individuals)

    • Don’t Waste Hashtag?

    • Coca-Cola will do the logo (Zero Waste Game) for consistent branding with YAH Agency

    • Ongoing #DontWaste hashtag → consistent messaging, auto-tag when taking selfies

      • YAH Agency.

    • Heartland Coca-Cola team has let us know that we can incorporate local Coke team.

    • Lucy, Coca-Cola ambassador can help with messaging.

    • Dozen or so iSEE student employees who are dedicated to sustainability events, interested folks in educational programming, possible that iSEE could have interns take lead on creating a group to keep things going for future events

    • Long-term goal, iSEE and F&S don’t have to be involved with every game, more embedded with athletics. Laying the foundation for this year

    • Will be helpful if we have the bins out there, strong infrastructure to support these events

    • Illini Lights Out is a model — commitment to being involved; same way as having a group committed to helping with events. Listserv to blast to events for those who are interested in events.

      • Meredith is working with Zoe: starting with iCAP ambassador program. Will be a giant listserv of trained volunteers.

      • Service organizations, frats and sororities.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  5. Reasons for Recycling Rate Decrease

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Recycling Rates

    The reasons for the putative decrease in recycling rate include the increase in plastic production, flat change in recycling capacity, and China no longer accepting our recyclables. A Time magazine article further suggests that the estimated 9% recycling rate from 2018 was inflated because most of the plastic we sent to China was landfilled or incinerated. Another interesting point: an estimated 30-36% of collected PET is wasted in the recycling process.

     

    The original report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/US-plastics-recycling-rate . Table 2 provides estimates and sources.

  7. 10-24-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola

    On October 24, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Daphne Hulse, Meredith Moore, Jen Fraterrigo, Shreya Mahajan, Marty Kaufmann, Aaron Finder

    Agenda:

    1. F&S has ~27 old “Don’t Waste It” recycling bins stored in the Waste Transfer Station. We estimated ~14 bins will be used on game day. We will use the old bins and allow Jake time to find a more durable option for the updated “Don’t Waste” branding.

    2. Jake to provide t-shirt renderings for green volunteer shirts and Coca-Cola branded giveaway shirts. Shirt cost will come from the mutual sustainability fund.

    3. Toured the State Farm Center: we are working with the facility to determine the logistics of separating the blue recycling bags from the compacted landfill bags for game day. We provided them dimensions for our recycling container; waiting to hear if it is acceptable. If not, we will place blue bags in the compactor and have to sort them out at the Waste Transfer Station.

    4. Concessions: Drinks (plastic bottles and aluminum cans) will be recyclable. Some of the items (the souvenir cup (plastic 5), paper Coca-Cola cups (lined with plastic film), and food containers (greasy boxes, foil) will not be recyclable).

      1. Thinking about how to advertise what is and is not recyclable to attendees…

    5. High resolution logos have been added to Box.

    6. Surprise & Delight Activation Reward Giveaway items are being sent to F&S. 50 reusable tote bags (filled with a t-shirt, hat, reusable straws (4 per pack), and thank-you messaging card on recycled paper).

    7. Student engagement: based on the tour, we think the best way to engage attendees and ensure the correct items are being recycled is to have pairs of volunteers in green shirts come out during time-outs to walk through the seating areas with blue bags. There are 12 “internal entrances” to the stadium, ~24 students needed.

    8. We expect not every student volunteer who signs up will show up, so we suggest recruiting around 40-50 volunteers total (pairs walking around the seats, floaters, bin guards, a few volunteers at entrances greeting attendees)

      1. Jake has offered to relay a message to the Coca-Cola Heartland team (the team regional to our area) to see if we can recruit any of them for volunteers — do we want to do that? Or stick with only UIUC student volunteers?

    9. Identified opportunities for outreach (publicity contacts).

      1. When to reach out to student RSOs to promote? Do we have a graphic design we will use (Coca-Cola’s Don’t Waste?)

    Discussion:

    • Zero Waste game updates:
      • Orange Krush and Illini Pride meeting with SSLC.
      • Doors open at 6, starts at 7.
      • Meet on sight at 5:30? Marty suggests.
    • Zoom meeting prior to game for the volunteers
    • What if the bottles and cans are half full? Where do we throw it out?
    • Open up the volunteering opportunity to students first, and then open it up to Heartland folks if we can’t get 40-50 student volunteers.
    • Graphic design? Jen will reach out to iSEE publicity, F&S comms director, DIA comms.
      • What we want, and what we are asking? Marty thinks we have graphics, but what we need is our message. It would be good to showcase the partnerships here (different logos of the different depts involved).
      • Marty will find the point person, dept meeting this afternoon.
    • How are we creating a foundation for future events? We have the momentum here, so use it as a platform for partnership going forward. Increasing this behavior at future events. Meredith, how might we have a dedicated group assisting for the future?
      • Marty: know that there are things that we can improve upon (blue bags, needing more bins on the second floor, logisitics with F&S). Can’t commit to how frequent. Don’t see an issue, and ideally it would work to change behavior. Some of which will be fast, some will be short.
      • A way to evaluate attendees experiences? Marty is not sure, he will ask at the department meeting. Football gets standard post-game question/feedback. The basketball games is probably by season, rather than game (because there are so many games).
      • Quantify what difference is made — F&S will do this. Ask Shawn about this.

     

  8. CIF Geothermal Exchange Borefield Information Resources

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)

    Below is an email from Andrew Stumpf regarding the CIF's Geothermal Exhange Borefield.

    From: Stumpf, Andrew J <astumpf at illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, October 24, 2022 9:39 AM
    Subject: Re: CEE190 Instructor meeting

     

    Hi Eric,

     

    Yes. The report is available on IDEALS https://hdl.handle.net/2142/111796, so publicly available. Correct, John has been doing further study on the CIF building. He has been working with me on the research… his PhD exam is next Monday, so pretty busy. I’ve only had a brief tour of the mechanicals when it was first built, so I can’t really comment about the system inside. Dr. Tugce Baser in CEE tbaser at illinois.edu I believe received a more detailed tour, so you might want to reach out to her. Here is some information about the mechanicals published for an ASHRAE award the building received.

     

    Best,

    Andy

     

    Attached Files: 

  9. Agri-Voltic PPA

    Associated Project(s): 
    Agrivoltaics: Crop Production and Solar Panels on the Same Land

    Below is an email from Tony Spurlock:

    Ben,

     

    Attached is a summary of UIUC’s response to Legal Concerns with PEI entering into the PPA related to the Agri-voltaics project.

     

    Mike,

     

    We do not see any hard cost savings from having PEI do the PPA as opposed to University Purchasing, but we would expect PEI to be able to get it done more efficiently its greater flexibility and expertise in procuring energy commodities.  The timing for this project is critical to be able to do the research as planned.

     

    Regards,

     

    Tony

    Attached Files: 

  10. Draft Scenarios for Comprehensive Energy Planning Document

    Associated Project(s): 
    Clean Energy Plan

    Below is an email exchange between Morgan White, Rob Roman, and members from the iWG and Energy iCAP Working Groups:

    Hello iCAP Working Group,

     

    One of the iCAP 2020 objectives is to develop a Comprehensive Energy Planning Document that includes clean energy and energy efficiency solutions to identify the best path to meet our climate commitments.  To that end, I worked with a team of students last year who developed the attached ABE 469 report, describing options to consider. 

     

    Our intention is to hire a consultant to calculate the costs and benefits of various pathways for our campus, and the attached “Comprehensive Energy Planning” document is a first draft of scenarios to be evaluated.  We will go through this document during our discussion today.

     

    I’m also including a list of buildings that use steam inside the building, so that you can be aware of the reasons we don’t just turn off Abbott Power Plant, which co-generates steam and electricity for the campus facilities.  Many other buildings are heated with steam, through the district heating system, but they convert it to hot water or forced air once it gets inside the facility.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

    ---------------------------------------

    Energy iCAP Team,

     

    I attached several documents related to scenario development for energy planning. Please see the trailing email from Morgan White for additional explanation. We are still in the early phases of this effort and welcome your input. The iWG will be discussing scenarios at our next meeting on November 7 @ 9AM.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Jennifer

    ---------------------------------------

    A couple of thoughts:

     

    There probably should be a list of major capital projects that are targeted for completion in say the next 10 years.  We typically cut the energy usage in the range of say 50 -75% on major renovation projects examples of this are the Everitt lab remodel, Undergraduate Library,  MRL via the ESCO project, ..etc.   Examples of old buildings that need funding and/or are waiting for projects to be delivered are at Bevier Hall, Newmark  civil engineering, Turner Hall, Main library, ..etc.   There are probably others that I am not thinking of immediately.  We have to find ways to reduce the campus energy load in my opinion.  I agree that space evaluation needs attention.

     

     

    Thanks,

     

    Karl

    -------------------------------------

    Morgan,

     

    Who was included on these emails. The addresses are general lists, so I cannot see who is included. Apparently Karl is one of them. The topic would, on the surface, indicate that it would be appropriate to have UES involved.  But, maybe not. Can you share your thoughts on level of involvement?

     

    Thanks,
    Rob

    -----------------------------------

    Hi Rob,

     

    I forwarded the invitation to the Sustainability Subcouncil and Council meetings to you today.  You may recall attending the council meetings last November to talk about the Utilities Master Plan, the F&S Energy Management Plan, and the idea to do a Comprehensive Planning Document, as suggested in the iCAP 2020 and recommended by the Energy iCAP Team.  At that time, the Council agreed that F&S and iSEE should work together to develop a scope for a consultant to develop a comprehensive planning document for how we can meet the carbon-neutral energy goals.

     

    In the spring, I asked a student group to gather more information about what to include in the scope, and last week UOCP posted an RFP to hire a consultant to update the Deferred Maintenance facility condition assessment (expected to take about a year from when the consultant is on-board).  There are several studies and analysis available and underway, but the specific scope of what we want to hire a consultant to do for this comprehensive energy planning document is not completely resolved. 

     

    I believe UES should take a very active role in developing the scope for this plan, requesting funding through campus, and seeing it actualized.  The iCAP Teams are advisory and they are advocacy groups, but the authority is still held within the campus hierarchy.  As the Sustainability person in F&S, I am here to assist and facilitate meeting the iCAP objectives.  I propose we officially call this project a UES project, with you as the lead and with me as part of the team helping it happen.  What do you think?

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

     

    PS. The iCAP Energy Team includes the following people, and Meredith, Jen, and I get all the iCAP Team emails.  Would you like to get these emails, as well?

    Primary Contact: Tyler Swanson

    Project Leader: Aman Mehta

    Team Members:

    • Paul Foote
    • Yun Kyu Yi
    • Tim Mies
    • Damon McFall
    • Roman Makhenko
    • Andy Stumpf
    • Shannon Anderson
    • Martha Kubakh
    • Karl Helmink, non-voting
    • Mike Larson, non-voting

     

    Here are the related emails. 

    ---------------------------------------

    Hello Morgan,

     

    Thanks for the detail below. I do agree that the creation of a long term comprehensive energy provision planning document needs heavy involvement from the utility production and distribution staff, along with those with in depth engineering knowledge of end use devices (i.e.; building HVAC, process flows, etc.). Therefore, it does seem appropriate to have UES be the lead in this work.

     

    I am unclear if your thought is to include this comprehensive energy study with the deferred maintenance study, but I would strongly advocate for them to be separate efforts and documentation.

     

    I do agree that UES should seek input from the campus community in the development of this plan, and keep the iCAP team as an ally in our efforts. Please include me in any emails and meetings involving this topic as we get started. I would ask that the leadership of the iCAP team be the first to present the topic to executive leadership of the campus in an effort to obtain initial funding. Of course, UES will partner with them do develop the proposal and presentation, but I believe their leadership is crucial to securing the necessary resources to move this initiative forward.

     

    I am happy to discuss in more detail at your convenience.

     

    Thanks,
    Rob

  11. Updated FY22 figures for current energy inputs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Clean Energy Plan

    Below is an email exchange between Morgan White and Tony Spurlock:

    Can you send me the powerpoint for the Source of Energy Supply you requested?

     

    Regards,

     

    Tony

    --------------------------

     

    Hi Tony,

     

    It is from slide three in the attached file.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

    -----------------

    Morgan,

     

    I prepared the graph you requested.  I made some assumptions regarding the numbers to include in the graph based on the previous breakdown.  Please review to make sure these are consistent with your understanding of the previous graph.

     

    Regards,

     

    Tony

    -------

    Attached Files: 

  12. Week 4 - Plastic Reduction Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    Plastic Free Challenge
    Campus Sustainability Month

     

    Welcome to the final week of the Plastic Reduction Challenge! We cannot believe how quickly October is flying by and we are so grateful for your dedication to the process of tracking and reducing your plastic waste. You have one week left to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and try something new to decrease your waste! If you find that you have managed to either recycle or reuse items in your daily life, why not try something new by helping someone else or sharing a few tips with us! If you have not already, please submit your Week 3 Google Form by Monday.

    This Thursday, we will send the final tip of the challenge: how to go forward and live sustainably, even when the Plastic Reduction Challenge ends. You did not do all of this hard work to revert back to using disposable items. Now, it is time to use what you have learned and help others in their own path to waste minimalism. We encourage you to start thinking about what tips you will incorporate into your daily lives, what you still plan to work on and work toward, and everything you have learned this past month. Until then, enjoy your final week. As a group, let’s try to generate the most amount of points yet!

    Here is the Week 4 Google Form. Please submit the form by Halloween (Monday, October 31). We look forward to checking in on Thursday with information about the end of the challenge, including the prize raffle.

    Remember to reach out with questions, comments, or stories about your challenge experience. Do you have any feedback for us? Is there anything you particularly enjoyed or would like to see changed? We would love to hear.

    Have a great week and finish strong!

    Attached Files: 

  15. Take the Drinking Water Survey!

    Associated Project(s): 
    Drinking Water Survey
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Reduce Single-Use Plastics

    Take the survey here!

    This survey is the result of a recommendation by the Zero Waste iCAP Team and is intended to gain a better understanding of drinking water behavior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    The survey is broken into eight sections. Section one asks demographic questions, sections two through seven ask you to respond to statements on a 1-5 scale, and the last section asks open ended questions. Please answer as truthfully as possible. The survey should take no more than 5 minutes. 

    Participants will be entered into a drawing for a $50 Illini Bookstore gift card!

    To get involved or share your ideas, please contact sustainability@illinois.edu.  

  18. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - October 21, 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    TODOs:

  19. Energy iCAP Team Recommendations to Improve Energy Efficiency

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy iCAP Team

    Below is an email exchange between Tyler Swanson and Karl Helmink:

    Hello Karl,

     

    My name is Tyler Swanson, and I am the clerk for the Energy iCAP Team. I am reaching out to you today to hear your thoughts on a couple of ideas myself and the energy team chairs have had for improving energy efficiency on campus.

     

    First, would it be feasible to recommend a facilities standard that requires any new buildings to be either net-zero or to have the capacity to generate clean energy on sight, such as solar or geothermal? This was thought of as a way to reduce the energy impact of developing new buildings across campus.

     

    Second, would it be feasible to recommend a facilities standard that sets a higher energy standard for new buildings and renovations on campus? I saw that CEJA requires the state of Illinois to create a new stretch code by the end of 2023, and I wondered if there have been any conversations about this at F&S.

     

    Thank you for your time!

     

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Tyler Swanson

    ----------------------------------

    Tyler,

     

    My comments would be that both of these topics have been discussed in the past.

     

    1. The codes set the standard for energy consumption and I think that we still have a campus standard that asks for us to be x% above the code.   It is more cost effective to have a solar farm than to put panels on each new building.  My best thought / suggestion would be to spend say $20 million a year on fixing old buildings (deferred maintenance)  and installing new modern systems and retire say 1960-1980 energy intensive mechanical systems. The net zero buildings are very expensive.  So  in my opinion a better way to spend the money would be to upgrade/ renovate existing structure rather than building new buildings which add to the campus square footage.  Net zero buildings are very expensive and potentially take money away from energy saving deferred maintenance projects like ESCOs.

     

    1. You guys should probably understand the history on this item.  Tom can probably help with that.  Staying with professional codes/standards such as ASHRAE is probably the most viable option at this point. It might be worthwhile inviting Tom to a meeting to discuss the latest on the codes.  There is some history on this subject.

     

     

    Thanks,

     

    karl

  20. Week 3 Check In - Plastic Reduction Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    Plastic Free Challenge
    Campus Sustainability Month

    Good morning!

    It’s Thursday so you know what that means… time for our weekly check-in! You are almost done with Week 3 of the Plastic Reduction Challenge. There is just over one week left until the end of the challenge. We are sad to realize this, too. We love communicating with you and building our community of sustainability enthusiasts. How have you improved since Week 1? What more do you have to learn?

    During Week 2, we raised our group average to 12.75 points! This number is outstanding! Not only did our group improve from Week 1, but this number reflects largely positive actions by the entire group. This number is equivalent to refusing plastic (+8 points) and picking up litter (+5 points), while also throwing away no plastic. Wow!

    This week, let’s focus on avoiding plastic in the home: the kitchen, the laundry, and the bathroom, specifically. Have you noticed how heavily food products are packaged? Do you know that dryer sheets and cleaning products contribute to plastic waste? The attached weekly tip includes ways to avoid plastic while making and storing food, cleaning, and doing laundry. This week’s tip is a particularly good one to share with friends, roommates, and family members, as well!

    Please remember to submit your  Week 3 Google Form by Monday, October 24. Feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns at any time. 

    Late to the challenge? No worries! Check out the Box Folder for any materials you may have missed.

    Enjoy the rest of your week and we will talk to you again on Sunday.

     

    Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

    Emily Dickett and Jenna Schaefer, iSEE Sustainability Interns 

     

    Attached Files: 

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