Program Background:

The Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) is tasked with the allocation of the proceeds of two student environmental fees – the Clean Energy Technology Fee and the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee, to improve the sustainability of our campus. The committee has established a program to make funds available for efficiency projects that will be later returned for reinvestment in future projects.

Committee funds will be made available to the Office of Sustainability which will carry out an inter-departmental transfer to the Receiving campus unit. The Receiving unit agrees to return the transfer to the Office of Sustainability, in installments, as described on the next page, for reuse by the SSC.

Project Description:            

The Illini Union seeks funding to retro-commission the Illini Union Bookstore building, and to install Occupancy Sensors in the Illini Union building. The Illini Union Bookstore building contains both academic and auxiliary units, and the SSC loan will allow for complete retro-commissioning of the building. Retro-commissioning is expected to cost $113,000; the RCx process identifies defective components within the HVAC systems, reconfiguring and controlling them to function more efficiently, decreasing wear and tear and extending their service life by 20 years (as part of a regular preventative maintenance program), as well as reducing building energy consumption.

The SSC loan will also provide $67,000 to install lighting occupancy sensors in the Illini Union, in food service preparation areas, restrooms, office areas and meeting rooms, which will reduce energy and lighting use.

Terms:

The Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of the Office of Sustainability transferring an amount of $180,000 to the Illini Union completion of this work. These funds are to be drawn from the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee account managed by the SSC, as needed to complete the project. All funds requested from the SSC must be expended before 30th September 2010, else the unit must apply for an extension.

The Illini Union agrees to return the funds provided by carrying out annual transfers to the Office of Sustainability due on the 15th of August of each year in the following manner:

$20,000 – Due 15th August 2011

$40,000 – Due 15th August 2012

$40,000 – Due 15th August 2013

$40,000 – Due 15th August 2014

$40,000 – Due 15th August 2015

The Office of Sustainability will direct them back to the Committee’s account. The Illini Union will provide a close-out report about the project after installation. The Illini Union will also appropriately publicize the Committee’s support of these projects.

All funds provided by this transfer will be used in a manner consistent with University of Illinois policies and procedures.

This proposal looks to improve the energy efficiency of campus computing by expanding the use of thin client hardware and infrastructure. The effort will build on previous successful thin computing studies, scaling up the initiative to make thin clients available to a wider campus audience. Thin clients use 95% less energy than traditional desktop computers, which can significantly reduce campus energy expense and carbon emissions. Further, thin clients have a 10 year life-span, compared to the 3-4 year useful life of a traditional desktop computer, resulting in better utilization and ultimately less e-waste. To encourage the expansion of this more sustainable model of computing, this project seeks to make thin clients available at reduced costs for campus units. $40,000 of the grant would fund thin client devices, licenses, and associated Terminal Server client access licenses (CALs) at a rate up of to $200 or 50% of costs, whichever is lower. At least 200 thin clients will be made available at discounted rates for campus units; additional funding will come directly from units’ allocated budgets for replacement computer hardware. Purchase commitments for atleast 100 devices have made made by the College of FAA, and additional commitments have been made by Swanlund System Services and Campus Recreation. The remaining $5,000 of the grant would compensate Webstore/CITES for server/virtual machine investments. As more and more locations will have thin clients visible, students, faculty, and visitors will realize the benefits of this sustainable computing solution. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $45,000.

The goal of this project is to construct a green roof atop the Link Gallery between the School of Art + Design and the Krannert Art Museum. This project will be implemented primarily by students and faculty of the School of Art + Design and will be in a highly visible campus location. It will help reduce energy costs at the facility and provide rain water for the surrounding gardens. As Facilities & Services is expected to cover half the cost of resurfacing the roof, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of partially funding the  proposal in the amount of $63,900.

Bike parking is essential for supporting green commuters as well as raising awareness and supporting biking on campus. In 2009, the SSC funded $10,600 for standard bike parking at three popular locations on campus, Freer Hall, the Undergraduate Library, and the Agricultural Engineering Sciences Building. Later in 2012, SSC provided $225,000 in order to replace old donut-hole bike parking with U-loop parking at the Armory, the Main Library, the Foreign Language Building, and other high-traffic areas on campus.

This proposal looks to continue to develop a student run farm at the Horticultural Pomology Farm on the southeast corner of Lincoln and Windsor. As a partnership between the campus horticulture program and students, the farm will significantly contribute to campus food needs by supplying produce to University food service operations. This will allow the campus to move toward a more sustainable agricultural model and reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with food transportation. Student volunteers and Crop Sciences employees will harvest, process and deliver fresh crops to University Dining Services, which will pay the prevailing market rate for the produce. This model should allow the project to bring in adequate funding in the near future, and the requested funds will be used to propel the farm to achieve self-sustaining operations in 2011. Further, a sign will inform the community of the farm’s presence and open houses will be held to introduce students and staff to this sustainable agriculture operation. This continued and expanded project will provide tangible evidence of campus commitment to responsible sustainable behavior. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $25,000.

The Prairie Project is a faculty development workshop with the objective of preparing faculty (and aspiring faculty) to teach on issues of sustainability and to introduce such material into existing campus coursework. The project will reach an interdisciplinary group of 18 faculty members who teach courses reaching thousands of students, and helping achieve campus objectives around sustainability education. This workshop will also serve as a pilot project for larger workshop activities in future years. Committee funds will be used to provide a modest honorarium for participants, who undertake to make modifications to a course that they will teach next year. This workshop is being hosted by the campus Office of Sustainability, and funding support in equal amounts is also being provided by the Office of Sustainability and the Environmental Change Institute. Thus the Committee recommends funding this program in the amount of $5,000.