Attached are the notes from the March meeting for the Campus Tree Advisory Committee. 

From: Marta Monti <marta@midwestrenew.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2022 10:05 AM
To: jhoeflinger@gmail.com; Scott Tess <srtess@urbanaillinois.us>; White, Morgan <mbwhite at illinois.edu>; christina@faithinplace.org; Amanda Pankau <apankau@prairierivers.org>; alruedi@urbanaillinois.us; lawilcock@urbanaillinois.us; cjm@cityofmonticello.net; bamilton@piattfs.com; Dennis.Donaldson@savoy.illinois.gov; stacygloss@gmail.com; g-hazel@village.rantoul.il.us; jbustard@parkland.edu; kpfeifer@mahomet-il.gov; Paul.Storke@cityofdanville.org; nichole.millage@champaignil.gov; Kim Knowles <kknowles@prairierivers.org>; Andy Robinson <andrew.robinson.1980@gmail.com>; Cassie Carroll <casandcarroll@gmail.com>
Cc: Taylor Ball <taylorb@midwestrenew.org>; Peter Murphy <peterm@midwestrenew.org>
Subject: [THANK YOU!] Urbana-Champaign Solar Group Buy Celebrates Another Successful Year

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your support of the Grow Solar Urbana-Champaign program. It's been another successful program, with 16 properties decided to go solar, resulting in 120.12 kW of new renewable energy generating capacity in our region. We passed our 50 kW benchmark, resulting in an average household bulk buying discount of an additional $270.

Final press release for the 2021 program, if you're interested and would like to share with your networks. If you are able to help circulate the press release, or the results, that would be great. Let me know what you need from me if you are going to share the press release!

We have one final ask of you to help us wrap up the program: If you could be so kind as to fill out this program evaluation survey. The feedback you provide will help us continue to improve and facilitate more successful Grow Solar programs like this one. https://forms.gle/9MouKj8NKt3frqcP9 

This program couldn't have happened without your support. So whether you went solar yourself (congratulations!), or represented one of the partnering municipalities, neighborhood associations, or organizations, whether you co-hosted a Solar Power Hour presentation, or simply helped spread the word about the program to your network, thank you!

All the best, 

Marta

--

Marta Monti, she/her/hers

Solar Program Manager

marta@midwestrenew.org

414-988-7963

Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA)

3628 W Pierce St. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53215

www.midwestrenew.org

Grow Solar in your community with help from our team. 
Become a proud member of the MREA.

UIUC's plans for a new microreactor were featured in the April edition of "Nuclear News." The article highlights efforts to build a  "research, education, and training facility intended to help advanced reactor technology become a widely deployable, marketable, economic, safe, and reliable option for a clean energy future."

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Paul Foote - Energy Efficiency and Conservation Specialist

Karl Helmink - F&S Associate Director of Utilities and Energy Services

On 4/8/2022, the team met with Karl Helmink and Paul Foote. They both stressed an emphasis on energy conservation for the energy plan. They stated that a large problem stopping energy reduction is the “billions of dollars” worth of deferred maintenance that exist in campus buildings. This is in addition to the new buildings being constructed despite existing abandoned building space. They also informed us about the retro-commissioning team that they are both a part of. They reduce energy by an average of 25% for each building retro-commissioned and have saved the university over $100,000,000 in utilities since 2007. They do this by focusing on the “low hanging fruit,” this being scheduling, sensors and some maintenance. They roughly estimate that it will cost about 2 billion dollars to make the steam to hot water transition. This would take many years and about 10 boilers for redundancy. They recommend geothermal but warn that the university already has a lot of underground, so it would need to be placed carefully, possibly on the perimeter of campus. It would also still need a backup system (probably Abbott).

https://recyclingpartnership.org/plastic-iq/

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Mike Larson - F&S Director of Utilities Production

On 4/7/22, the team met with Mike Larson. This interview gave valuable insight on the transitioning to clean energy, as well as the challenges that go along with using renewable sources. In the short term, it is recommended to focus on conservation as well as carbon capture technologies. He does not believe carbon capture is feasible for the long term, but it could be a valuable technology to use while technologies such as nuclear are being developed further. He believes that when nuclear is commercially viable, it will be the best option for campus. He also thinks that electrification of the university could be positive, but only if the grid electricity becomes more renewable. At the moment, the efficiency of Abbot is greater than the electricity sources that power the grid. If the campus were to be electrified and converted to hot water, technology such as heat recovery chillers should also be considered.