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  1. Lunch with an Expert: Native Plants for Storm Water Management

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rain Gardens on Campus
    Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas
    Build a Culture of Sustainability

    An effective rain garden is planted with suitable trees, shrubs, flowers, and other plants that allow runoff to soak into the ground and protect water quality. Please join us for a presentation by Kaizad Irani on rain gardens from the landscape design perspective followed by a discussion. Bring your lunch and your questions. No question too big or too small. Come, learn and have fun. 

    January 27, 12–1:30 pm • U of I Extension Champaign Co., 801 Country Fair Dr., Champaign

    Amanda Christenson • Cooperative Extension Service

  2. Deadline Jan. 31 for Sustainability Course Development Funding

    Associated Project(s): 
    Encourage Course Development or Modification

    Faculty and instructors have until month's end to apply for iSEE's 2020 Course Development Cohort program, targeted to intentionally grow sustainability course offerings across campus. The 2020 Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows will integrate sustainability components into an existing course ($1,000) or develop a new course with a sustainability focus ($2,000).

     

    Tony Mancuso • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

  3. From Plants to Energy - DI article about IBI

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI)
    Support the Illinois Biodiesel Initiative [ARCHIVED]

    https://dailyillini.com/features/2020/01/21/sustainability-biodiesel-soy...

    "An IBRL truck makes a half-mile drive to Ikenberry to pick up barrels of the leftover cooking oil from Ikenberry. Once at the lab, the team goes through pre-processing, processing and purification of the soon-to- be biodiesel.

    Since last summer, IBI has been in the midst of a major rehaul. The former 50-gallon batch processor is being upgraded to a 500-gallon processor. Over the past two semesters, the team has only picked up twice from Ikenberry strictly for testing purposes on the new processor. The project is expected to be completed this fall.

    One of the unique qualities of the RSO is the diversity of the work. IBI includes a production, soap and quality control team with other executive positions as well."

  4. FY19 Line Losses

    Associated Project(s): 
    Pipe Leakage Assessment

    Water purchased from IAWC:                                                     797,775 kgals

     

    Water metered and billed to buildings and plants:             786,447 kgals

     

    Water line Losses –                                                                             11,328 kgals

     

    1.4% loss

  6. Twin Cities Amateur Radio welcome Solar Farm presentation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 1.0

    Tuesday, January 14th, Morgan White was welcomed by the Twin City Amateur Rado Club to share all there is to know about the University's first solar farm. She spoke on the process of getting such a project on campus, and the good news about a second solar farm that will be on campus by Winter 2020

    Attached Files: 

  9. RFID Tag Fix Situation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Track Waste from Frontload Trucks
    From: Pai, Shantanu <spai@illinois.edu>

    Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 7:55 PM

    To: Hiser, Daniel William <dwhiser@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Varney, Peter W <pvarney@illinois.edu>; Patterson, Shawn L <spttrsn@illinois.edu>

    Subject: Loadman game plan

     

    Dan,

    Just spoke to John from Loadman and here's what I think we should do next. If the RFID tags we put in today at Orchard Downs don't get read in the morning route we should call Randy and have him come fix it. John helped me set up a view so I can see which tags get read and which don't  this way we can move forward with the iron workers on best locations for the tags as well. This is within the warranty of the system and would be something he should fix. In the meantime because we have all the landfill bins mapped by address on our Excel sheet we can geolocate them and start assigning pans to buildings. Once the RFID tag situation is fixed the tags can be added to it by John at Loadman. 

     

    Shantanu

  10. Weekly Update - Reopened for 2020, shop clean up, Build-a-bike

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week we reopened for 2020! Although, by the count of visitors and sales, you’d hardly know it. The junky weather never helps. This week projects to be a little warmer today and tomorrow, at least. We’ll see what happens next week when school starts back up.
    We currently have 2 – 3 bikes left in the shop that are not either for sale, being built up, earmarked for other projects, or junk not worth keeping.

    This week I’ll be working on scheduling my student staff for open hours shifts as well as our extracurricular events/programs like our fix-a-flat classes, etc. I’ll also be coordinating with Parking to get at least a few potential Build-a-Bikes in here for next week in case anybody wants to give that a whirl. And, of course, throwing old junk out.

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 17
    Sales: $12

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  11. Weekly Updates for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn--

    I did not carry out any zero waste activities this past week. I have a phone call with Morgan and Shantanu Pai coming up on Tuesday to go over zero waste coordination.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  12. archived - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    ECE Net-Zero Energy Building

    Excerpt from the ECE building website:

    "With the new ECE building the University is determined to achieve LEED platinum certification, and is striving for a net-zero energy design that will enable the building to supply all of its own energy. From a vast array of photovoltaic cells, to a chilled beam system to cool and heat the classroom tower, ECE wil accomplish a major campus addition with maximum space and minimal carbon footprint.

    “This is no small achievement,” explains ECE Professor Phil Krein. “Currently the Department of Energy reports only eight net-zero energy buildings in the U.S., and the largest is only 14,000 square feet. To achieve this in a building nearly 20 times that size reflects the University’s sincere commitment to sustainable design while capturing the spirit of a department that’s always pushing the limits of technological innovation.”

    In addition to its sustainable design, the building will incorporate many notable contributions of ECE faculty and staff, including the most recent LED and fluorescent lighting advances, energy conversion and systems that exploit new achievements in power electronics, and intelligent systems and interfaces that apply recent breakthroughs in computer technology. “In other words,” explains Krein, “visitors won’t just be entering the ECE building, they’ll be entering the ECE experience, enjoying the benefits of technology that had its genesis here.”

  14. Weekly Updates for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn--

    I did not have any zero waste activities in the past week. Morgan has organized a phone meeting with me and Shantanu Pai on January 14 to discuss zero waste coordination.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  17. Weekly Update - Winter break, testing Refurbished bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, This report is for the week of December 16 – 20.

    Not much to report as this time of year is always slow. Still had a decent number of visitors. We are not reopening until the 6th, so today and tomorrow I’ll just work solo in the shop. The weather will be nice today so I’ll be able to concentrate on test riding and final tune ups on our collection of refurbed bikes. As it stands, most of our stock of bikes are ready and for sale or in-progress builds.
    The numbers:
    Visitors: 36
    Sales: $324.90
    Bike (B-a-B): 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 5 for $33

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  18. Mahomet Lots (Lot F-4) Permeable Pavement Proposal to SSC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rainwater Management
    Rainwater Management Plans
    Use of Non-Potable Water (such as Greywater)
    Rainwater Capture Systems
    Land and Water iCAP Team

    Attached is the proposal, budget, and presentation for the upgrade of the Lot F-4 parking lot. 

    Attached Files: 

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