The campus is in the process of retrofitting older T12 fluorescent lighting fixtures by replacing them with more energy-efficient T8 (or T5) fixtures and electronic ballasts. The lighting retrofit proposed in the SAIC report would reduce campus energy consumption by ~1.6 percent; a very small amount of this is due to the use of occupancy sensors and day lighting controls. Extending this retrofit to smaller campus buildings, replacing other lighting fixtures (besides T-12s), and a wide deployment of both occupancy and daylight sensors (which can reduce lighting use by 20 percent to 80 percent depending on location) should be able to provide significantly more energy savings than predicted in the SAIC report. The campus target for energy savings from lighting is 2 percent.

This project was previously named "Maintain or Reduce Gross Square Footage" and referred to as "Net-Zero Space."

The Annual Meeting for Big Ten & Friends (BTAF) will be held on July 22, 2021. Inviting all members, this meeting will discuss the following, as outlined in a message from Lydia Vandenbergh, the Associate Director of Employee Engagement and Education at Penn State University (See the attached file to view the agenda:)

Greetings Big 10 and Friends Members,  

I hope you all have been able to take some time off after such a chaotic and challenging year. It is times such as these that we need to come together and support each other, sharing best practices and brainstorming solutions to barriers. Thanks to all who completed the pre-meeting survey in June to help us plan our July 22nd annual meeting, from 9am to noon EST, that will pursue those two goals, concentrating on several topics that the respondents highlighted:  

• Staff training (GOCP)  
• DEIJ connections with sustainability 
• Student co-curricular engagement 
• Engaging communities 
• Connecting health with sustainability 
• Sustainability curriculum pedagogy 

Please register for the Annual Meeting by July 21st. We recognize there may be some who cannot attend, and we encourage you to designate an alternative representative if possible. We will record the session and send out the recording and abbreviated notes to all on this list.   

One of our first items for discussion will be BTAF leadership, specifically whether we should have term limits for co-chairs, to encourage rotating the responsibilities among the BTAF universities. Lydia will be stepping down next summer as co-chair and Amy is willing to step down this August to enable the staggered transition of co-chairs. Please consider volunteering for this role. It does not require a significant amount of time and involves acting as coordinators for our network, specifically:  

• Scheduling periodic meetings 
• Creating agendas, invitations, etc.  
• Facilitating affinity groups: launching, defining scope, finding co-chairs, advertise to the group 
• Coordinating body with AASHE 
• AASHE webinar planning assistance, if needed 
• Maintain Share-Drive on Google – meeting minutes, contacts, files.  

We will keep the nomination form open until July 21st and hope that someone will join the fun of supporting the Big Ten and Friends group.  Also, if anyone has any changes for the BTAF membership list, you can find it on our Google Drive.  

We have scheduled the meeting for three hours and based on your responses, are changing the format this year to emphasize brainstorming sessions on the above topics, rather than updates from each campus. All participants will be able to self-select one of three brainstorming sessions in two rounds and we hope that each group can select a note taker who will report-out for the group.  The full agenda is attached.
 

At the end, we will have time to explore other topics that members highlight.  

Looking forward to connecting with you all and learning from your experiences. 

Lydia and Amy  

On July 6, 2021, Morgan White, Meredith Moore, Sarthak Prasad, and Avery Maloto met to discuss the organization of the iCAP Portal. Topics discussed include: (1) Language, (2) Hierarchy of the Project Lists, and (3) General Organization.

The minutes from this meeting, as well as a log of tracked changes, are included in the attached file.

Warren Lavey and Morgan White provided background information and helpful tips for joining the EPA SmartWay program as a university, with representatives from Boston University. 

The following links were provided by Warren Lavey regarding UIUC as an EPA SmartWay Affiliate:

1. EPA SmartWay Affiliate iCAP Portal Project Page
2. Interview with Warren Lavey @ UIUC, Conducted by Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council
3. iCAP Portal Project Update: Overview of SmartWay, by Warren Lavey

Morgan, Ryan, and Brent met in a conference room to review exact bin locations.  They got through page A.

On June 30, 2021 it was recorded that 24 buildings across campus now have at least one 3-bin.

In April 2017 three faculty members received $14,522 from the University Research Board to conduct preliminary investigations surrounding crop residue as a building material at both small and large scale. The results of those initial investigations proved very positive. This project primarily strives to turn corn stalks into a building project. Students will support Dr. Mark Taylor throughout the project, giving students research and professional development opportunities. The Student Sustainability Committee provided $47,000 in December 2017 to support the design and construction of a small mobile field station using agricultural waste. Upon completion, researchers and students will have a better understanding on how agricultural waste materials perform as a building material that can get used at a larger scale. Moreover, the campus will have a mobile field station that uses corn stock insulation.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is helping to promote and encourage participation in the Solar Urbana-Champaign program. 

The successful Solar Urbana-Champaign group purchasing program is available again in 2018. Since 2016, the program led to the installation of over 1 megawatt of solar on 138 properties across Champaign County. The program educated hundreds of individuals about solar and helped people save on solar through volume purchasing.
 
In 2018 the program expands eligibility to Piatt County residents as well. And, thanks to new state legislation, even more people can get access to solar. To increase awareness across Champaign and Piatt Counties, Midwest Renewable Energy Association partnered with Champaign-based Prairie Rivers Network, which champions clean, healthy rivers and lakes and safe drinking water to benefit the people and wildlife of Illinois.

Geothermal Urbana-Champaign is a public education and bulk purchasing program that makes going geothermal easier and more affordable for Champaign, Piatt, and Vermilion County home and business owners. Made possible through a strong partnership between the City of Urbana, Geothermal Alliance of Illinois, and Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Geothermal Urbana-Champaign uses several key features to lower the price of geothermal for all program participants.

Whether you adopt geothermal this year or in five years from now, we truly hope you gain a better understanding of this technology and the energy options available to you through this program.

Some Key Features to this Program:

• Public Education: Throughout this program, the MREA and GAOI will hold several free, virtual, hour-long informational events where you will learn the basics of geothermal, how it can save you money, and how the geothermal group buy program works.

• Economy of Scale: Which is just a fancy way of say “bulk purchasing.” Through the power of bulk purchasing this program’s high quality contractor is able to offer a below market price/ton. The more people that go geothermal through this program, the lower the price will be for everyone

• Competitive Contractor Selection: Led by the MREA, with help from a local advisory committee, the competitive selection process ensures that this program’s geothermal installations are performed by a high quality contractor at a below market price

• Community Support & Outreach: Our programs are supported by both the leaders and community members of Champaign, Piatt, and Vermilion Counties. With the help of your jurisdiction leaders, fellow community members, and you, the MREA is able to spread the word of this awesome opportunity throughout your community!

How to Participate

Start by watching one of our free, virtual Geothermal Power Hours. In this hour-long presentation you’ll learn the basics of geothermal, how it can save you money, and how the geothermal group buy program works. You can register for any of our winter events by clicking on the date of your choice below.

Afterward, you can sign up for a free, no obligation site assessment and quote with this program’s contractor by filling out this short form. 

The deadline to participate in this program is May 30, 2021, so don’t delay. Your geothermal journey awaits!

The iCAP 2020 objective 7.3 is: Increase visibility of campus sustainability efforts by joining the Green Sports Alliance through the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) by summer 2021. The responsible campus unit for championing this objective is DIA.

The University of Illinois was the first academic institution that joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership.  "As the first-ever academic institution to register in SmartWay, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign leads the way for universities and other institutions to work as shippers in SmartWay and engage with their carriers and suppliers to improve freight efficiency, reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions from goods movement while also helping enhance our nation's energy security,” said Christopher Grundler, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

• Article in the Pontiac Daily Leader.
• NRES press release on Illinois's path-breaking registration in the EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership 
• Illinois legislation on Sustainable Procurements of Freight, Package Delivery and other Transportation Services 

Title: SmartWay Transport Partnership

Description:

The University of Illinois is an Affiliate of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay Transportation Partnership. The SmartWay program aims to reduce global freight emissions by providing strategies for shippers and carriers to adopt more sustainable practices. While Dining Services joined the program in 2013, the University will now be able to make these changes on a campus-wide scale as an Affiliate.

SmartWay Transport®” is a registered service mark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

On Monday, June 28, representatives of the Engagement SWATeam met to discuss some of the sustainability engagement resources identified at our previous meeting (June 9), prioritize recommendations to draft over the summer, and identify future projects to pursue. Meeting minutes attached below.