Hi Andy and Fernando,

One of our key research partners for the Illinois Geothermal Coalition is Andy Stumpf (copied here).  He has asked if there are soil borings info for the Chicago campus.  Can you connect him with the right person?

“Hi Morgan, Do you have a contact at UIC who would have access to their geotech and soil boring records.. person similar to Beth. I have been asked to help out with the Solar Decathlon project because they are interested in adding geothermal to the design. They plan to design an educational design and innovation center that is on the UIC campus and would occupy the two parking lots at 1198 W Vernon Park PI Parking, Chicago, IL 60607. Soil boring/geotech information for nearby buildings could help the design. I am also mapping Cook County, so this information would also be useful for that project. Would also be interested to know if there are any major water lines in along Harrison Street or I-290. Maybe an opportunity to include wastewater heat recovery.”

Thanks!

Morgan

--------------------------------

Hi Morgan,

Thanks for the introduction. Nice to meet you Fernando. I am going to find out from the students who they are working with at UIC.

Best,

Andy

--------------------------

Thanks, it may be Fernando (He is out of the office).

I can pull files related to the 2009 Geothermal wells, but it might help to have a specific question to circulate. IS this accurate: Does UIC have any records of Soil boring/geotech information from past geothermal well drilling?

Regarding water lines – best to assume every where on campus has some utilities under it.  There is likely water on Harrison and Racine,

Andy Mitchell 

-----------------------------

Hi Andy,

Thanks for getting back to me. Actually, it would be possible to get access to or copies of the soil borings for all projects on UIC campus, not just the geothermal projects. The Illinois State Geological Survey maintains a database of geological, engineering geology, and geophysical information for the entire state. Here is snapshot for part of the UIC campus with engineering test hole delineated by the red dots and labeled by the total depth of the drilling. The data can be accessed through the ISGS’ ILWATER map service https://go.illinois.edu/ilwater. Currently, only the owner, location, and soil boring logs are available for most of the engineering borings, but we plan in the near future to provide access to the engineering geology data entered from the reports and if allowed by the owner/client a pdf of the scanned documents. The boring locations were digitized from the maps included in the reports or coordinates surveyed and provided with the logs. As Morgan knows, I am working with Facilities & Services here to digitize all the soil borings on our campus and provide them through the ILWATER map service. This effort is being funded as a student project that received a grant from the UIUC Student Sustainability Committee. If you are interested in having the UIC data served in a similar manner, let’s talk some more about how this is being done at UIUC. For much of the data the ISGS on the UIC campus came from research survey geologists or UIUC CEE faculty were involved with on the campus and from consultants involved in the project. Beyond the Illinois Solar Decathlon design project, this data is being compiled for the ISGS project to map the surface and subsurface geology of Cook and DuPage counties. This mapping is being done to update work that was done in the 1940s or early. The data is used to develop the maps and models of the geology which we make available to the public. Below is one of the cross sections we made this year for west to east cross section along Roosevelt Road. We plan by 2028 to have a 3D model of the geology available for Cook County. The mapping project is being funded by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Best.

Andy

---------------------------

Andy – this is exciting stuff and I’m confident we can share the records, once we locate them.

I’m out of the office most of next week, and Fernando is just back and will playing catch up.

When do you need this info by?

Andy Mitchell 

----------------------------

Hi Andy and Fernando,

Getting back to you about the geotech soil borings. I have shared with you the Box folder with the logs found so far. The logs in the files starting with “x” have been plotted and the information is available through the ISGS borings database https://go.illinois.edu/ilwater. The logs in the files starting with “g” have not been entered yet.

Best,

Andy

------------------------

Thanks for the nudge Andy.

I’ll connect with our manager Dave Taeyaerts about the best way to go about getting this.

When do you need the info by?

Andy Mitchell 

Here are updated slides from this morning.

Phil

Good afternoon Mr. Sims,

My name is Juliette Deley and my team, Team 9, recently presented to you as part of our final project for CEE 190, Project Based Introduction to Civil & Environmental Engineering. Attached to this email is the paper to our feasibility study on implementing a greywater system in the Campus Instructional Facility.

Again, thank you for taking the time to hear our presentation earlier today,

Best,

Juliette D. 

--------------------

Morgan, Jeremy, Katie and Mike,

I attended freshman level Civil Engineering class project presentations last week. One of the presentations was their study regarding greywater system at CIF. They sent me their report.

I have not had a chance to review and with this being a freshman level class not sure how much new information for you will be provided, but forwarding to you to let you know that students are interested about utilizing greywater systems on campus.

Thanks,

Jim

--------------------

--------------------------

Hi Angie,

I’ve reviewed this form (actually, Tim filled it out while I was with him), and I agree this small solar installation at UIUC should qualify for the IRA Tax Credit.  I understand that the next step is for you to review it, and then forward it to the Treasury Office for their review and processing.

Please let me and Tim know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Morgan

-----------------------------

Morgan,

Is this project actually a solar installation or just the interconnection?

From below:

“Project will connect existing 15kw solar panels to campus electrical grid.”

If this is not the purchase/construction of solar panels for original use, it is not property as described under Section 48:

equipment which uses solar energy to generate electricity, to heat or cool (or provide hot water for use in) a structure, or to provide solar process heat, except property used to generate energy for the purposes of heating a swimming pool,

I’m happy to set up a time to discuss if that helps.

Kimberly A. Maxwell, CPA

----------------------------

Hi Tim and Rob,

I’d like your perspective on this question about the small solar at the Energy Farm.  If you would like to discuss it, please let me know who to include in a call with the tax office.

Thank you,

Morgan

------------------------------

Hi Morgan,

Happy to discuss this further to determine if this project can meet the requirements for the credit.  Do we want to discuss internally first?

Best,
Tim

Michael McKelvey and Codie Sterner met on December 8, 2023 to discuss what information SSC would like to track and display about various SSC-funded projects. Major questions:

• What fields currently in the iCAP Portal are helpful to show for the SSC project listing?
• What new fields would be helpful for the SSC project listing?
• How closely does the current implementation of Project Funding align with what SSC would like to display?
• Discussion of envisioned listings/displays of information, metadata about projects (e.g. funding dates, status, etc.), and connections between different content types (e.g. project updates - how do we show only a project's updates which are relevant to SSC?)

See attached Notes document for details.

At Fridays event, 8,987 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $1,367 in energy costs. This also prevented 11 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 1,236 gallons of gasoline being consumed. That's a huge impact!

Student Sustainability Committee Admin toured (2 staff) on December 8, 2023.

Please see attached the iWG meeting notes from the meeting held on December 8, 2023. The iWG reviewed the key points discussed during the Sustainability Council.

The Education iCAP team met on Teams from 1-2 PM on Thursday, December 7th. The team discussed Sustainability in Study Abroad, the Sustainability Literacy assessment, and the Sustainability Internship Coordinator recommendation. Meeting minutes are attached.

Notes from our Campus Sustainability team meeting are attached.

Actions:

Miriam reaching back out to Ball State for more info on their program

Jen reaching out to DIA for a mtg-some direct requests for signage, staff support for recycling collection, getting volunteers

Morgan asked F&S to do an analysis of what could be accomplished with current $$ from carbon credit sales

Ask Daphne to look into options for SFC bins

Morgan would like for Madhu to speak to Paul Ellinger for his perspective on the carbon credit sales

Jen to reach out to Lowa and Alma about water quality testing

Miriam working to set up time with SSLC in Jan for a touch base meeting

-Elizabeth

The Transportation iCAP Team met on 12/1/2023 to discuss EVs on campus and action items for the Sustainable Fleet Replacement Plan.

14 campus events have been recognized by iSEE's Certified Green Events program this fall, and two fraternities were recertified Gold under the Certified Green Chapter program — Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity and the Triangle Alpha Chapter. The events included: August — New Student Convocation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker Visit, Illinois Promise Lunch, Exchange & International Student Welcome Event, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Visit, Dennis H. May Diversity Conference on Mental Health and Higher Education, ABA TechShow; September — CCFD Kick-off, Illinois News Broadcasters Association Reception, Men's Football Games (Suite and Pregame Events), 2023 Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Meeting; October — Illini Lights Out; November — weSTEM Conference, P&T Bookplate Reception.  

Hi Morgan,

I created a spreadsheet of all of the participants of the Billion Dollar Green Challenge. This spreadsheet includes the population size and loan amount. I thought it would be easier to sort through the information with this. I will try to find data about current energy savings to add to this sheet. But almost all of the institutions have very little information about what they have done with the loan amount. And if they do have information, it is minimum 3-5 years old.

I attached that document and my current word document. Still need to add a few more universities, but I wanted to see the numbers clearly before I picked a random one to look into.

According to this data we have the 9th largest loan fund. Ill focus on the rest of the universities above us in the list.

Thanks,

Quinn M. Connolly

The iCAP Resilience Team meet on 12/1 to discuss project updates and analyzed stakeholder engagement performance.

The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on 12/4/2024 to discuss updates with our membership in the Green Sports Alliance, the Coca-Cola Buy-Back program, and current hydration station standards. Daphne Hulse provided data from our former Green Tailgate events to show successes and challenges with waste diversion at football games. The Zero Waste Team will be collaborating with the Engagement iCAP Team to discuss how we can better our volunteer outreach. 

Hi Susan,

I hope this message finds you well after the holiday weekend. I wanted to reach out regarding the recent EPA notice of funding opportunity for the Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grant Program, which you may have already heard about. I attached the full notice of funding opportunity document to this email. The due date for applications is November 21, 2024. Community-based non-profits can partner with institutions of higher education on a collaborative project.

Track 1 applications, community-driven investments for change, covers a broad area of community conditions that could be assessed. One of the specific objectives covered is “reduce local pollution to improve public health.” I understand that building a HHW facility for the county would address pollutants that may otherwise end up improperly disposed of.

I just wanted to reach out and call your attention to this opportunity in case you hadn’t already heard about it. Do you think this could be useful for funding the HHW facility? If so, I’d certainly be interested in being involved!

Thank you,

Daphne

------------------------

Hi Daphne, 

This is definitely the best email I've received recently!!!  OMG. CCES is potentially so very interested. 

I'll be reviewing this and will touch base with you ASAP.  

Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. 

Susan Monte

-----------------------

Hi Jen, Morgan, & Pete,

Exciting news – big EPA notice of funding opportunity just released from the IRA for $2B, applications due a year from now. Community-based non-profits can partner with institutions of higher education on an environment justice project. The Champaign County Environmental Stewards have been wanting to tackle our lack of household hazardous waste facility here in Champaign County for some time. This would be a huge win for campus waste, too. Depending on what we scour in the notice of funding opportunity document (i.e. assuming we are eligible), this would be something I’d like to explore pursuing with CCES.

Thank you,

Daphne

-------------------------

Hi Daphne,

I skimmed the RFP (here) and noticed a strong emphasis on environmental justice. The program objective is “redressing environmental and climate injustices for communities facing legacy pollution, climate change, and persistent disinvestment.”

I think iSEE /the Resilience team can help with a proposal. It would be a good idea for us to discuss how best to do this.

One immediate thought I had was whether we could combine a hazardous waste facility with a facility for waste-to-energy conversion and build in job/economic opportunities in the community much like the Green Era Campus in Chicago. It doesn’t need to be an anaerobic digestor (although we certainly have enough organic waste generated regionally to support one).

Let me know what you think.

Jen

---------------------------

Hi Jen,

Good catch on the environmental justice piece. I like your line of thinking on how we can incorporate additional features into a HHW facility. I think it would be great to chat about this with the CCES and determine a shared direction. I’m waiting to hear back from Susan and would be happy to schedule this.

Thank you,

Daphne

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the November 2023 Buyer's Share amounts by the hour, totaling 2,202.9 Megawatt hours.

The November 2023 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the October 2023 Buyer's Share amounts by the hour, totaling 1,906.1 Megawatt hours.

The October 2023 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

The Land & Water iCAP team met on Teams from 1-2 PM on Friday, December 1st. The team discussed the meadow at Orchard Downs, revising the iCAP Land & Water objectives, and the development of an IPM plan for non-F&S areas. Meeting minutes are attached.