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  1. Weekly Update: Abandoned bicycles, Working bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All,

    Pretty slow week. Had the iCAP sustainability celebration on Tuesday, which was great. Always fun to see/hear from other parts of campus that are working towards a better future for our campus. On the flipside, I had the displeasure of reporting a dangerous F&S driver that same day and then a dangerous MTD driver on Thursday.

    Todd came by and cleared out scrap on Friday which was welcomed.

    As of this morning, I communicated with Working Bikes that we will not be doing our annual abandoned bike donation as Parking did not collect bikes last spring, due to COVID, and thus we have no bikes to donate to them. It hasn’t been decided/communicated whether Parking will collect later in the fall/winter or wait until spring. This will also negatively affect how many bikes we’ll have for sale next spring, as the pool of available bikes is lower. But of course, most of the abandoned bikes were being donated and for sale numbers were always more dependent on our ability/time to build more than a dearth of bikes.

     

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 11 (7 UIUC-affiliated)
    Sales: $225
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Misc parts: 8 for $55

     

    Thanks!

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. F&S and UIC status update call in regards to SmartWay

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    Discussions continue in regards to University of Illinois System's EPA SmartWay affiliation status. Kate Yoshida, UIC Program Director of Sustainability, met with Morgan White and Sinead Soltis to brainstorm departments across both campuses that would benefit from learning more about the SmartWay program. Morgan and Sinead shared their plans to present to iSEE, F&S Transportation, the Illini Union, and other relevant departments that will assist in recognizing our status of being an affiliate.

  3. Municipal Approval Status of Tree Species Data Table

    Associated Project(s): 
    Urban Biodiversity Master Plan

    Bianca Han, an undergraduate student, compiled a table that compares the approval status of various tree species by municipality (Champaign, Savoy, and Urbana). The table highlight inconsistencies in biodiversity policies. As examples, scarlet oak and blue ash appear to be prohibited in Champaign, approved in Savoy, and not addressed in Urbana.

    The table also illustrates possible sources of information developed in one municipality that could be used in others. For example, crabapple appears to be approved in Champaign but not addressed in Savoy and Urbana; English Oak appears to be approved in Savoy but not addressed in Champaign and Urbana; and river ash appears to be prohibited in Savoy but not addressed in Champaign and Urbana.

     

    Attached Files: 

  5. eweek announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainable Food Practices

    Food for Justice | Food for Thought, with Artist Seitu Jones

    Artist Seitu Jones will join a panel of Champaign-Urbana residents to talk about local food insecurities and the needs, desires and hopes of the community. This discussion, moderated by Urbana arts and culture coordinator, Rachel Storm, will feature Dawn Blackman, Ruby Mendenhall, Jennifer Monson, Magdalena Novoa, and Bobby Smith II, in conversation with Seitu Jones.

    October 26, 5:30–7:30 pm • Map

    Sharon Irish • Center for Advanced Study and Dance

  7. October 2020 construction progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 2.0

    For this month's progress, the fence has been installed and the statistics are as follows:

     

    191 rows with motors and partial torque tubes.

    103 with all torque tubes and ready for panels.

    79 rows of panels.

     

    These numbers are included in each other, i.e., the 103 is included in the 191 and the 79 is included in the 103.

    Thank you,

     

    Sushanth Girini

    Management Engineer,

    Facilities & Services,
    UES-Utility Distribution, UIUC

  8. Student collaboration: Promotion of bicycle registration system

    Associated Project(s): 
    ENG 177 GFX Global Sustainability Scholars
    Bicycle Registration

    Sarthak Prasad met with Shayna Talpallikar to discuss her proposal to promote bicycle registration on campus. Bicycle Registraiton has been mandatory for years, as explained in the University Bicycle Ordinance, and the university should promote it more like that. There is a new national registration system, with a one-time $10 registration fee, and it is available to all - students, faculty, staff, alumni (in C-U area), departmental bicycles, as well as the residents of Urbana, Champaign, Savoy, or any other Champaign County residents.

    Shayna expressed interest in helping us out with this project and how we can achieve it. We discussed two main ideas, and thought adding signage to major bicycle parking areas to be the best option right now. Another option was to have Bicycle Registration days or events across campus where we give out free donuts and raffle option to those who register. However, this idea was discouraged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Please see attached some notes from the meeting. A recording of the meeting is also available.

    Attached Files: 

  9. F&S Sharing SmartWay status with UIS

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    F&S Sustainability reached out to Cindy Ervin, the University of Illinois-Springfield Transportation Supervisor, about our system's status as a SmartWay member. Attached is the letter sent to share this information, along with other important resources on getting involved as a SmartWay partner along with its benefits. 

    Attached Files: 

  10. Weekly Update: Abandoned bicycles, Sustainability Celebration

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All,

    Mike, a semi-regular at the old shop, walked in on Friday for his appointment, looked around and said, “What’d you have to do to get upgraded to such a nice spot?”

    Just another positive review of our new space.

    I coordinated with Parking to do more frequent pick ups—but smaller loads—of abandoned bikes, which should allow for a better flow of bikes in and out of the bike center. This should be more manageable for myself and my staff going forward, as well.

     

    This week is a Campus Sustainability Celebration on Tuesday, a CBC staff meeting Wednesday evening, and warm weather to close out the week, which usually equals some more traffic, but we’ll see if that holds during a pandemic.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 14
    Sales: $178.20
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Misc parts: 4 for $40

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. Illinois Monarch Project- SIGN THE PLEDGE!

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainable Landscapes Plan

    The Illinois Monarch project is an organization that collaborates with both public and private partners, interacting on all levels for the protection and the enhancement of habitats that support monarch butterflies and other pollinators. This project calls for the involvement from individuals to whole cities, with the goal of adding 150 million new milkweed stems to Illinois’ landscape by 2038!

    As an individual, I call onto you to also sign this pledge and get involved to support our state’s insect!

    See here for a link to the pledge:

    http://illinoismonarchproject.org/pledge/

     

    In addition to signing the pledge, I encourage you to also take the time to look deeper into all the great work this organization has done and plans to do: http://illinoismonarchproject.org/

     

  12. Solar thermal at ARC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Thermal at ARC

    The meter tracking production of the solar thermal panels on the ARC stopped working.  When investigated, we found that the controller was replaced a while back and the incorrect program was loaded. This caused the HW MBTU TOT to no longer totalize. The programming is being fixed and should be totalizing properly. Next month we should see good data resulting from this repair.

  14. Campus Sustainability Celebration

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan
    Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP)
    Freezer Challenge
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Climate Leadership Commitments
    Major Annual Events
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)

    iSEE and F&S are excited to invite you to the Campus Sustainability Celebration 2020! This is an annual event that is especially exciting this year with the signing ceremony of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) 2020, (once every five years) and the presentation of energy conservation and Freezer Challenge awards. Everyone is invited and encouraged to stay afterward for a social-hour!

    Campus Sustainability Celebration

    October 20, 3 pm • Map

    Meredith Moore • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

    baseline_wifi_black_18dp.png This opportunity is available online.

  15. Mini-Talks on the Economics of Sustainability

    Associated Project(s): 
    Funding for Sustainability
    Facilitate campus-wide sustainability events

    You're invited to the first ever Mini-Talks webinar from the Center for the Economics of Sustainability (https://ceos.illinois.edu) on October 28th! Join us during the lunch hour for four bite-sized talks on cutting-edge research in sustainability economics. Register here by October 26th. https://go.illinois.edu/ceos-minitalks 

    Mini-Talks on the Economics of Sustainability

    October 28, 12–1 pm • Register by 10/26 • Online/Zoom

    Isaac Wisthuff • Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

    baseline_wifi_black_18dp.png This opportunity is available online.

  16. Sustainable Issues and Opportunities for Handling End-of-Life PV Modules

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Power on Campus
    Achieve Zero Waste
    ISTC Sustainability Seminars

    According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar power is the fastest-growing energy source in the U.S. and this growth will continue to rise. At the moment, only a few states have adopted solar PV end-of-life handling policies. Thus, a lot of modules may end up in landfills. The panel discussion will be on barriers, policies, and sustainable opportunities for end-of-life PV modules.

    Sustainable Issues and Opportunities for Handling End-of-Life PV Modules

    October 22, 9:30–11 am

    Jennifer Martin • Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

    baseline_wifi_black_18dp.png This opportunity is available online.

  17. Research news for BlueWaters Supercomputer

    Associated Project(s): 
    PPA for National Petascale Computing Facility
    Carbon Offsets for Major Users [ARCHIVED]

    Applications are now being accepted for time on Blue Waters supercomputer. One of the world's most powerful computing systems, more than 16 million node-hours were allocated to campus projects over the last year. This is the final year of operations; submission deadline is November 2.

    --From: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/1581349436.html

  18. Research News about regenerative ag.

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainable Agricultural Practices

    The recently launched Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (IRAI) brings together Illinois researchers and stakeholders across the U.S. to "create agriculture and food systems resilient to climate change, improve soil and water quality, and enhance food security." IRAI will offer seed grants to interdisciplinary research teams, and an informational webinar will be held on October 30.

    -- From: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/1581349436.html

  20. eweek announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Funding for Sustainability

    Mini-Talks on the Economics of Sustainability

    You're invited to the first ever Mini-Talks webinar from the Center for the Economics of Sustainability (https://ceos.illinois.edu) on October 28th! Join us during the lunch hour for four bite-sized talks on cutting-edge research in sustainability economics. Register here by October 26th. https://go.illinois.edu/ceos-minitalks 

    October 28, 12–1 pm • Register by 10/26 • Online/Zoom

    Isaac Wisthuff • Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

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