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.

For FY2010, the Student Sustainability Committee chose to solicit proposals for the development or enhancement of courses related to sustainability jointly with the Environmental Change Institute. Such a program allows the Committee to select proposals to support, while leaving project management and administration to a better-suited entity. The program received ten proposals for consideration, out of which the following six proposals were chosen for funding:   ENGR 298 – LINC Bike Sharing – Prof. Bruce Litchfield - $5,000   LA 390/590 – Landscapes, Sustainability, & Human Health – Prof. Bill Sullivan - $2,420   PHYCS 150 – How Nature Works – Prof. Scott Willenbrock - $4,790   GEOG 130 - Social Science Approaches to Environment-Society Relations – Prof. Tom Bassett - $5,000   ME 470 – Senior Design – Prof. Stephen Platt - $4,000   BADM 532 / 533 – Sustainable Product and Market Development for Sustainable Marketplaces – Prof Madhu Viswanathan - $5,000   The ECI is committing $13,420 in support of an additional course and matching SSC allocations to two of the above courses. All courses participating in this program will meet program requirements established by the ECI and SSC, submit materials to the ECI for archiving and participate in the ECI’s annual symposium. Thus the Committee recommends funding this program in the amount of $26,210.

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.

The goal of this project is to install lighting sensors in classrooms in several University instructional buildings (e.g. the Armory, the Foreign Language Building and Loomis). The sensors will switch off the lights in these areas, after 30 minutes of inactivity, which will reduce lighting consumption by ~30%. Additionally, having these retrofits take place at the same time as additional lighting upgrades will reduce overall installation costs. Given the reduction in lighting and electricity usage, the high visibility to students of the target areas and student interest in this technology, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the full requested amount of $50,000.

The goal of this project is to support class projects to assess the impact on sustainability of the green roof atop the new Business Instructional Facility. Students will get the opportunity to make measurements of the filtration and thermal properties of the green roof. Additionally it is hoped that these projects will help establish the roof as a laboratory for future student and faculty research projects on this topic. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the full requested amount of $13,100.