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  2. draft recommendations

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam

    Egen gang,

    I apologize but I am not able to make the meeting today.

    I have taken a first VERY ROUGH pass at an Energy Generation document based on the document that Ben sent out this weekend, as well as the format and content of the previous report.

    Please note that the targets are something that I put down to get us started thinking.  We will certainly need to review the %’s to insure they both “push the envelope”, but are also achievable.

    I tried to capture all of the strategies that I recall having been discussed.

    When we reach some consensus on the targets and strategies, I will be happy to help putting some of the supporting text down for review as well.

    Mike Larson

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Director of Utilities Production

    Attached Files: 

  3. SSC Water Working Group

    Hello everyone,

    This is a friendly reminder that our first Student Sustainability Committee Water Working Group meeting will be held tomorrow (Tuesday 10/14) in the Illini Union room 404 at 5 PM. 

    Agenda:

    1. Introductions

    2. Funding process and criteria

    3. Phase 1 applications

    I am looking forward to meeting everyone!  Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Julie

    SSC Water Working Group Chair

  4. Funding Deadline

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
     

    View this email in your browser
     

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    Apply Now for Funding from the Student Sustainability Committee – Deadline This Sunday!

    The Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) reviews, recommends and funds over $1.1 million in sustainable projects annually that increase environmental stewardship, inspire change, and impact students.  Past projects partially funded by the SSC include the Sustainable Student Farm, the ECE Building, and the Sustainability Living-Learning Community in University Housing.

    The SSC is now accepting funding requests for the Fall 2014 funding cycle of the 2014-2015 academic year.  All projects working toward a goal of improving sustainability at the University of Illinois are encouraged to apply.  Student-led projects are welcome, but must be affiliated with a campus department and have a faculty or staff member as a sponsor.  For full funding criteria or to complete an application, please visit the SSC Website.  Applications are due by 11:59 PM THIS SUNDAY, October 19th for consideration in the Fall 2014 Funding Cycle, and projects will receive notification on whether they are invited to the next step in funding consideration by mid-November.  Projects submitted after this deadline will have consideration deferred to the Spring 2015 funding cycle.

    If you have any questions, please visit the SSC’s website or email Sustainability-Committee@illinois.edu.

    Announcing a new course offered in Spring 2015 -- Monitoring and Evaluating SSC Projects
    Adjunct Professor Warren Lavey is teaching a new class this Spring: ENVS 299 (Independent Studies of Environmental Topics) (2 credits, meeting Wednesdays 4:00 pm - 4:50 pm)

    Enrollment limited to three juniors, seniors, or graduate students involved with the Student Sustainability Committee (present or past members or participants in a working group)

    Stronger processes for monitoring and evaluating the performance of projects will help the SSC learn from and communicate the benefits of its efforts.  This course will teach the tools for financial, environmental and other assessments, and apply them in developing information useful for the SSC's current and future work. Students will research and submit two 10-page reports -- one evaluating the performanceof a project funded several years ago, and the other analyzing the monitoring provisions and expected impacts in a pending proposal.  Each student will work with the SSC to select important projects to research.  Students will interview staff involved with the projects, collect data, research the performance of similar projects, and develop a customized framework for monitoring and evaluation.

    Enrollment in this course is limited and students will be selected by the professor.  If you would like to apply, please download and complete the application at http://ssc.union.illinois.edu/bootstrap/is_application.pdf.

    Please submit via email by November 1 to lavey@illinois.edu.  Applicants will be informed of the selections by November 10.
     

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  5. iCAP Forum

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois: A Climate Action Plan (2010 iCAP)

    Sustainability Day Event: An update on the Illinois Climate Action Plan

    It is time to evaluate — and update — the Illinois Climate Action Plan, our campus sustainability roadmap. The campus and local community is invited to join iSEE on Sustainability Day, Oct. 22, for an iCAP Forum from 1 to 4 p.m. in Illini Union Room 314B. You'll get updates on progress toward 2010 goals and hear about and discuss proposed revisions for the 2015 version. RSVP: http://bit.ly/1BIPn4K

    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment • Sustainability at Illinois

  6. comments on draft from Olivia Webb

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    I'd like to add a strategy: to review purchasing policy to curtail unnecessary purchases in general. I would also like to note the previous iCAP strategies in this report: this is important when saying things like "several of the previous strategies are unlikely to be implemented at UIUC". 

    I also think that this sentence-

    On several measures of purchases and waste, UIUC has been performing worse than in the iCAP

    baseline year (2008) – such as more total waste and landfill, and lower weight of recycled commodities.

    should be changed to have better wording, like:

    Compared to the iCAP baseline year (2008), the University has been displaying poor performance on several measure related to purchasing and waste: the total amount of waste sent to the landfill has increased, and the amount of waste diverted to recycling has decreased.

    Finally, I feel that references to UIUC should be changed to "the University", not an acronym.

    If the exact wording will not be adopted in the new iCAP, the last two suggestions are somewhat irrelevant.

  8. draft recommendations

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation iCAP Team

    Dear Colleagues:

    I have tried to compile the information we discussed into the next draft of our report (attached).

    It would be good for us to try and agree on the content before I convert it into the requested format for out chapter.

    Do you think you could take a look at the draft and use "track changes" to make any edits.

    Please get the draft back to me by end of business on Wednesday so I can start working on the final version of both our report and the re-formatted version.

    Many thanks for your help and hard work

    Wojtek

    Attached Files: 

  11. iWG follow up letter

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam

    Dear Al,

    Attached please find a reply from the iCAP Working Group regarding the wind PPA process.

    By the way, thanks so much for your participation in iSEE's Roundtable this week...sorry we didn't get a chance to chat!

    Cheers,

    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

     

    Attached Files: 

  12. Minutes from September

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    Dear iCAP Working Group,

    First of all, I'd like to invite each of you to join us for the iCAP Forum from 1-4 pm on October 22 (Campus Sustainability Day), where the SWATeams will present their recommendations for the 2015 iCAP.  More details are appended below, along with a link to the RSVP form.  I hope you can join us!

    Second, I attach the minutes from our last meeting.  I apologize for the delay in getting these to you, but iSEE has been swamped in the past few weeks as we hosted both a Congress on sustainable agriculture and a roundtable on sustainability education.  Please let us know by October 15 if you have any corrections.

    Finally, I wanted to let you know that Morgan recommended separating the wind PPA process issue from the utilities master plan issue.  I took her advice, and sent the attached letter on the wind PPA process to Al Stratman today; I will follow up in ~10 days with a separate letter about the master plan.

    Thanks again for your service on the working group!

    Cheers,

    Ben
     

    Join us at iSEE’s iCAP Forum

    What has the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus done to reach its Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) goals? Where have we fallen short? What’s next?

    It’s time to update the iCAP, and we need input as we evaluate where we are — and where we want to be. The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) invites you to attend a iCAP Forum from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 22 — Sustainability Day — in Illini Union Room 314B. The event is an opportunity for the Sustainability Working Advisory Teams (SWATeams) to seek public input on their proposed 2015 revisions to the 2010 iCAP, and for iSEE to recognize sustainability leaders on campus through the Certified Green Office Program and the Energy Conservation Incentive Program.

    All faculty, staff, students and community members are invited to attend the forum and give valuable feedback to SWATeams. We need campuswide investment in the sustainability movement as we target ambitious goals here, including carbon neutrality by 2050. RSVP at http://bit.ly/1BIPn4K

    Attached Files: 

  13. Update from Ben McCall

    Associated Project(s): 
    Topical iCAP Teams

    Dear SWATeam Members,

    First, I want to formally invite each of you to attend the iCAP Forum from 1-4 on October 22.  Below I append more details, along with an RSVP link.

    Second, I wanted to remind you that your team's recommendations for the 2015 iCAP should be presented by one (or more) of you during this Forum.  Please let me know who will be presenting for your team.

    Finally, please remember that the iCAP Working Group (iWG) requests your recommendations in written form by the end of October, using the format of the example chapter attached to this message.  The iWG will then synthesize the recommendations from all of the teams, along with the public input from the iCAP Forum, into a draft of the 2015 iCAP.  I expect we'll be sharing that draft with you all as soon as it's available to solicit your feedback.

    Thanks again for all of your help as we plan for a more sustainable campus!

    Cheers,

    Ben
     

    Attached Files: 

  16. Step 1 Proposal Received

    Associated Project(s): 
    Japan House and Arboretum Bicycle Parking

    Japan House and the University of Illinois Arboretum request funding to provide bike racks. Although the Arboretum and Japan House are administered separately (Japan House through the College of Fine and Applied Arts, and the Arboretum through ACES, Japan House sits within the Arboretum and the two units often collaborate on projects.    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,  Crops Sciences, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and others. In addition, the Arboretum and the Japan House Gardens are a major recreational resource for Illinois students, faculty and staff, and yet currently, there is no bike parking or encouragement for students, faculty and staff to bike to reach these grounds. Currently, bikers are forced to lock bikes to benches, lampposts, trees, and other structures inappropriate for this use and sometimes permanently damaging to the trees or structures. The Japan House offices are located at the site and students routinely ask where they should lock up their bikes.   Funding is requested for the installation of two six-loop bike racks mounted on sufficient permeable pavement for easy access and grounds maintenance and relating biking policy signage.  

    Attached Files: 

  17. Decentralized billing note

    Associated Project(s): 
    Identify Internal Funding Sources

    During the development of the 2015 iCAP, the iCAP Working Group discussed a semi-final draft of the document. At that time Nancy Obrian noted that decentralized billing for UIUC had been tried by Larry Faulkner 20 years ago. 

  18. Note on iCAP 2015 objective 3.1

    Associated Project(s): 
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy

    Objective 3.1 is for the SWATeam to lead an exploration of options for 100% clean energy and submit recommendations. F&S staff workload is too high to handle the exploration of options, so F&S will provide data and provide comments. Ben McCall and Scott Willenbrock will develop a plan for how to achieve carbon neutrality. They will make a document with potential options, pros, cons, and costs. 

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