iWG Meeting Minutes from 2-25-21
The iWG met on 2-25-21 to discuss the Energy 004, Energy 005, and Resilience 002 iCAP team recommendations. Meeting minutes are attached.
The iWG met on 2-25-21 to discuss the Energy 004, Energy 005, and Resilience 002 iCAP team recommendations. Meeting minutes are attached.
The Energy iCAP team made the following recommendation on 2/11/21. The Energy005 Modeling for Energy Code Compliance recommendation is attached.
The aim of this recommendation is to ensure compliance of current and recent projects with State of Illinois Energy Codes and Facilities Standards
The iCAP Working Group met on November 18, 2020 and discussed energy conservation funding (Energy004) after hearing a presentation by Josh Whitson, Tony Spurlock, Rob Roman, and Karl Helmink (F&S). The meeting minutes and presentation are attached.
Doug Wolters, the ACES Director of Operations, responded to Morgan White, co-chair of the iWG, with the following email:
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Good morning Morgan,
Many thanks to you and your team for your work on the development of the iCAP 2020!
The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) has a long standing commitment to sustainability and is fully supportive of the iCAP goals and specifically the SWATeam recommendation to “conduct a Feasibility Study to construct and operate an anaerobic digester on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.”
As noted in the recommendation, the feasibility study should be incorporated into the planning phase of the new Dairy Farm project. Although the 2017 Campus Master Plan indicates a new Dairy Farm at Lincoln Avenue extended, the timing and funding of this project are yet to be determined, confirming several of the comments and perceived challenges identified in the iWG Assessment and SWATeam Recommendation regarding the need to consider such items as project timing, funding, return on investment, resource allocation, and other financial impacts.
All the best,
Doug
See Energy001 Anaerobic Digester Feasibility Study - Transmitted
For further information about this project, see Anaerobic Digester at Beef and Sheep Study.
Following the completion of iWG assessment for Energy001 Anaerobic Digester, the recommendation was transmitted to German Bollero (ACES Associate Dean for Research) and Doug Wolters (Director of Operations, Facilities Planning and Management) on October 27, 2020.
See the submittal of Energy001 Anaerobic Digester.
See iWG assessment of Energy001 Anaerobic Digester attached.
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Good morning German and Doug,
On behalf of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group I am transmitting a recommendation from the Energy Sustainability Working Advisory Team (SWATeam) for your attention. This recommendation is to identify a lead researcher in coordination with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) to initiate a feasibility study for an anaerobic digester at the future dairy facility in the College of ACES. The original Energy001 recommendation from the SWATeam is attached here, as well as the iCAP Working Group’s assessment and an extended comment from one of our iWG student members, Jonah Messinger.
We appreciate your support during the development of the iCAP 2020, which was recently finalized and approved by Chancellor Jones at the Campus Sustainability Celebration. To see more, you can visit the iCAP 2020 page on the iCAP Portal at https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/icap-2020-illinois-climate-action-plan. As a reminder, the iCAP includes this statement on page 67, “A promising future technology for the campus is an anaerobic digester that could accompany the construction of a new Dairy Facility. The proposed digester would use organic waste to produce biofertilizer and biogas, which could be upgraded to renewable natural gas (RNG) and processed into renewable compressed natural gas (CNG). The renewable CNG could then be used as fuel for the campus fleet.” Thank you again for your assistance with the development of this plan.
For your info, the prior digester study was for an installation at the Beef and Sheep facility, and it was quite promising for research tied to ACES and Engineering. In 2014, we worked with Dr. Neal Merchen on the development of an ISTAR proposal with several of your faculty. That effort was stalled with some leadership changes, but it is still available to be reviewed and enhanced in connection with the future dairy facility.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or any member of the iWG. We look forward to hearing your response to the recommendation, and we ask that you provide an official reply by November 20 addressing how you plan to move forward with this recommendation. We look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Morgan and Ximing
Morgan White, Associate Director of F&S for Sustainability, responded to Dr. Ximing Cai with the following email. See the attached file for an overview of the building envelope testing pilot project.
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Hi Ximing,
Thank you for sharing the Energy002 SWATeam recommendation. As we discussed, F&S is pleased to move forward with this recommendation to do a Building Envelopes Pilot Project on campus. We have submitted a request to the Student Sustainability Committee, seeking their support to run this pilot project. We are also meeting with Bill Rose, the co-chair of the iCAP Energy Team, and several F&S team members to discuss first steps. I’ve attached a project overview here, which we can share with the iCAP Working Group.
Thanks,
Morgan
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See transmittal of Energy002 Building Envelope to F&S here.
See iWG assessment of Energy002 Building Envelope here.
See recommendation and submittal of Energy002 Building Envelope here.
For additional progress on this effort, see Building Envelope Pilot Project.
Following the completion of the iWG assessment for Energy002 Building Envelope, the recommendation was transmitted to Mohamed Attalla, Executive Director of Facilities and Services, on June 3, 2020.
See iWG assessment Energy002 Building Envelope attached.
See SWATeam recommendation Energy002 Building Envelope
The Energy SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/3/2020:
We recommend $10M per year (scalable) of funding for the next 5 years to implement critical projects that work in concert with energy performance contracts (EPC) and/or energy focused capital projects. EPC contracts are fulfilled by specialized, accredited firms known as energy service companies. The university uses EPCs to manage complex projects targeting facilities with high energy use, such as laboratories, maximizing energy efficiency and addressing sizable volumes of deferred maintenance issues along the way. The campus backlog on deferred maintenance is approaching $1 billion.
Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Energy004 Energy Conservation Funding with comments from the Energy SWATeam.
The Energy SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/3/2020:
We recommend that F&S commission an Energy Master Plan for the U of I campus that contains at least 4 scenarios under which the campus meets the iCAP goal of 0 GHG by 2050.
Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Energy003 Energy Master Plan with comments from the Energy SWATeam.
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This recommendation has been supplanted by Energy007 - Implementation of Comprehensive Energy Plan.
The Energy SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/3/2020:
We recommend that Building Envelope Inspection, Testing and Maintenance be performed as a method to improve building energy conservation to support the iCap 2050 goal of zero GHG emissions. Building Envelopes should be commissioned for all new construction projects. Existing Buildings should be inspected, tested, deficiencies addressed and maintained to achieve the best energy conservation possible for the building envelope.
Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Energy002 Building Envelope with comments from the Energy SWATeam.
The Energy SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/3/2020:
The College of ACES should conduct a Feasibility Study to construct and operate an anaerobic digester on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. The College of ACES should then proceed in accordance with the results of the Feasibility Study.
Recruit qualified faculty and staff and/or hire a contracting engineering firm to undertake this study and use the 2014 “South Farms Anaerobic Digester Feasibility Study” and David Rivera-Kohr’s “Anaerobic Digester at the U of I” presentation as references. This new feasibility study should help the University:
This study should be completed by FY22 (June 30, 2022).
Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Energy001 Anaerobic Digester Feasibility Study with comments from the Energy SWATeam.
Andy Stumpf provided the following response for eGEN010, "Yes. The summary will be compiled as part of a 'Living Labs' project proposed by the Illinois Water Resources Center."
See the iWG Assessment of eGen010 Geothermal Feasibility Study here.
See the SWATeam recommendation eGen010 Geothermal Feasibility Study here
Dr. Mohamed Attalla, Executive Director at F&S, responded to Dr. Ximing Cai, iWG Chair, on August 27, 2019 stating, "We will review options for incorporating geothermal into existing campus documents, and share our thoughts with the iWG before proceeding."
For further information about this project, please see Geothermal on Campus.
See the transmittal of eGen009 Campus Geothermal Policy Recommendation.
See the SWATeam Recommendation eGen009 Campus Geothermal Policy.