Text copied from email

Subject: Water Reduction Challenge Wrap-Up

Hello!

This was the final week of the Water Reduction Challenge–congratulations for making it through! We hope that you have enjoyed the challenge and have picked up some steps to take to reduce your daily water use. We have enjoyed seeing students, staff, and community members get involved throughout the month and share their water reduction stories. If you have not already done so, please submit your Week 4 Google Form with an uploaded point grid by Tuesday, May 2nd. As a reminder, for each submission at the end of the week, you’ll be entered into a raffle for sustainability prizes! We will randomly choose winners and inform them soon.

It may be the end of the challenge, but continue to learn more about and get involved in sustainability initiatives at the University of Illinois and in your community! If you have not already done so, sign up for the iSEE newsletter at this link for a weekly email including upcoming events and sustainability news. In addition, check out these other ways to get involved in sustainability:

·        Look for events on the comprehensive Sustainability Calendar

·        Check out the iCAP Portal where we list and track our projects and progress

·        Read the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) to learn about the campus’ sustainability goals 

·        iSEE offers a sustainability minor and certificate in environmental writing here: SEE Fellow Program.

·        Look into joining an iCAP Team. There are a limited number of student voting positions available; please reach out if you are interested because there may be an opportunity!

·        If you are on the Illinois campus, check out our Greener Campus Certification opportunities (for offices, events, and Greek chapters)

·        Sign the Use the Bin Pledge to always recycle and use the recycling bin!

·        Talk to your friends and peers about sustainability. Lead by example!

Congratulations again for your dedication to tracking your water use habits this month! Thank you so much for your participation, no matter if you submitted a grid once or every week. Continue to use what you learned throughout the month in your daily life, and tell your family and friends about what you have learned. Thank you again!

Text copied from email

Subject: Week 4 Water Reduction Challenge

Hello!

We hope you had a great Earth week and were able to celebrate by learning about how to reduce your daily water consumption! How is the challenge going? You only have one more week left—congrats! We have enjoyed seeing you all continue to track your water consumption and become more conscious of your water footprint. If you have not already done so, please submit your Week 3 Google Form with an uploaded point grid by Tuesday, April 26th. 

This week, reflect on the positive changes you have made in your life and think about how you can continue to take these steps after the challenge is done. While Earth Month and this challenge may be ending soon, that doesn’t mean you should stop conserving water! We hope that some of your positive actions have turned into habits so you can continue with them in the future. Read some final tips in this week’s attached tips document and learn about the importance of educating others about water reduction and other sustainability topics. 

Continue to keep track of your points for the final week of the challenge and submit your Week 4 Google Form and grid (attached) by Tuesday, May 2nd. As a reminder, you can join or start tracking your water even this late in the month. For each submission at the end of the week, you’ll be entered into a raffle for sustainability prizes! 

There are still several more events to celebrate Earth Month coming up this week! Come to iSEE, F&S, and the Illini Union Board’s trash pick up this Friday, April 29th. Volunteers will meet at Alma Mater at 3pm, and bags will be provided. Afterward, the final Illini Lights Out event of the semester will be at 5:30 pm in the Foreign Language Building lobby! Sign up here.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to share how the challenge is going for you, please email us. We hope that Week 4 goes well for you, and keep up the great work!

~Jenna Schaefer (iSEE intern) and Meredith Moore (iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager)

Text copied from email

Subject: Week 2 - Water Reduction Challenge

Good evening!

Congratulations on finishing the first week of the Water Reduction Challenge! How did it go? Did you find yourself thinking about how much water you use on a daily basis? As part of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), we think about water usage quite a bit. Objective 4.1 in the iCAP is to "reduce potable water consumption to 721,500 kgal/year by the fiscal year 2024, which is a reduction of 45% from the fiscal year 2008 baseline.”

We hope that you have found it insightful to reflect on your water-related habits each day and that you are looking forward to seeing yourself decrease your water use over the next three weeks. Going into week 2, use what you learned in week 1 to increase your point total and incorporate more environmentally-friendly actions. If you have not already done so, please submit your Week 1 Google Form with an uploaded point grid by Tuesday, April 11th. 

This week, we’re going to focus on reducing our water footprints in the bathroom. Did you know that the bathroom is the largest usage of indoor water; approximately 75% of the total amount of water in a household is typically used in the bathroom! Think about it - a half-filled bathtub holds about 50 gallons of water. You can additionally save water and energy by cutting back on hot water. Learn more about reducing bathroom water use in this week’s tips attached to this message; for example, focus on keeping shower length to a minimum (less than 5 minutes) and rewearing clothes instead of washing them right away. What other tips do you have for reducing water in the bathroom? 

Continue to keep track of your points this week and submit your Week 2 Google Form and grid (attached) by Tuesday, April 19th. As a reminder, you can join or start tracking your water at any point in the month. For each submission at the end of the week, you’ll be entered into a raffle for sustainability prizes!

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to share how the challenge is going for you, please email us. Don't tap out...have a great water-saving week!

Jenna Schaefer (iSEE intern) and Meredith Moore (iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager)

On May 24, Sarthak Prasad met with Gabe Lewis to talk about EVs. Gabe is the Transportation Planner at the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) and he currently leads the RPC Tech Committee which consists of 7 members – Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, Rantoul, St. Joseph, Mahomet, and Champaign County. Most recently, they had been talking about the feasibility of EVs in urban as well as the rural areas in the county.

We talked about the US DOT's Charging Forward, an EV toolkit, that is primarily focused on EV Charging in the rural areas: https://www.transportation.gov/rural/ev/toolkit

We also talked about Clean City Coalition. State of Illinois does not have a coalition, but Chicago has one and we could potentially reach out to them: https://cleancities.energy.gov/coalitions/

https://cleancities.energy.gov/coalitions/chicago

Also discussed the federal funding available through National EV Infrastructure (NEVI), Carbon Reduction Program (CRP), State and Local Planning for Energy (https://maps.nrel.gov/slope/), and EV Pro Lite (https://afdc.energy.gov/evi-pro-lite)

“Incandescent bulbs use more energy and produce more heat due to their engineering designs,” says Paul Foote, energy efficiency and conservation specialist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It’s important to shift to more energy-efficient alternatives to reduce the environmental impacts of incandescent bulbs from the utilization of fossil fuels for electricity, he added.

By mandating a minimum light output or lumens per watt, manufacturers make sure all bulbs can effectively light up a room, which ensures that consumers will avoid overusing energy with substandard bulbs to get the same level of brightness, says Foote. “When upgrading from incandescent bulbs to LEDs, we have noticed a 60 percent decrease in energy consumption on average, and therefore energy cost avoidance has reduced our utility bill by similar amounts for lighting,” he adds.

Popular Science interviewed Paul Foote at F&S as part of their article about the importance of lighting retrofits. the full article is available online at https://www.popsci.com/environment/light-bulbs-sustainability-energy/.