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  1. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Zero-waste activity this past week consisted of 

    • Emails and other preparation for participating in the Parapros Amazing Resource Race tomorrow. I’ll staff a table at iSEE, along with Micah Kenfield and hand out blue desk-side recycling bins with information about the campus recycling programs. Morgan has everything set up, so I’ll pick up the bins at her office in the morning and head over to iSEE to meet with Micah. 
    • I pinged Jordan Powers from Fisher Scientific for the name of the new Right Cycle contact at Kimberly-Clark. I believe the person will have been in the new position for about a week now, so hopefully, they are ready for us to post their contact information on the glove recycling page of the iCAP portal. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  3. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week seemed to pick up towards the end of the week. We had to herd people out of the shop at 5:30. Even with the street closure, people are managing to find us. I’ve taken the sandwich board sign off the trike and placed it next to the garage door facing east since most of our traffic is coming from that side nowadays. I’ll reconstruct the trike and start using it again once Pennsylvania is reopened.

     

    This week I’ll be bringing the student staff in during the mornings to help clean and purge since we’ll be getting a pan dumpster and some new furniture. The disruption won’t affect open hours, as most of the cleaning will be in the back end of the shop anyway. We’ve got a dumpster here until Friday, so the staff and I should be able to concentrate all the cleaning to the mornings and have things back to functional order in time for open hours.

     

    I think either this week or next I will be suspending First Visit Free. This past week it was already affecting usage/stand availability for members. I’ll put a bulletin on the Bike Project website alerting people to that fact when I institute it.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 79

    Sales: $468.00

    Memberships: 2 for $60.
    Bikes (Refurb): 1 for $170
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $56
    Tire/tubes: 10 for $50

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. Feasibility study to be done

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at WPP

    Due to the complexity of this project, F&S recommended conducting a feasibility study before installation.  It is estiamted to cost approximately $10K and take about one month to complete.

  10. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, had a strong and busy finish to the end of last week. I think the student population is making its way back in advance of the new academic year.

     

    Last week I ordered the light sets for Light The Night, although a snag has just been brought to my attention. I spoke to the customer service representative at Dero on Friday and beyond his giddy reaction to the squirrel problem, he told me that they have on-order a new all-metal pump head that will withstand all the abuse (and squirrels) that our campus can muster.

     

    This week is a TBP Members’ Meeting. I’ll also work on resolving the issue with the Light The Night order, scrap more bikes in advance of the Big Clean as well as begin rounding up some volunteers to help out for the event.

     

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 87

    Memberships: 5 for $150

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $330
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $105
    Tire/tubes: 6 for $29

     

    Sincerely,

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. Added Glove Recycling Locations to Project Locations Map

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    Several locations that have been participating in glove recycling were missing from the project locations map. Marya Ryan added them on July 29. They are Florida Avenue Residence Halls, Ikenberry Commons, Illinois Street Residence Halls, Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls, and Pennsylvania Avenue Residence Halls.

  12. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are last week’s updates on zero-waste activities: 

    • The glove recycling program participation web form is now live and posted on the iCAP portal.
    • The glove recycling drop-off instructions have been updated to show the new location of the trailer at PPSB; the new instructions are posted on the iCAP portal.
    • La Casa Cultural Latina is a new glove recycling participating site and has been added to the locations map on the iCAP portal
    • I learned that Jonathan McClintock, who had been our Kimberly-Clark contact, has moved to a different position. Jordan Powers of Fisher Scientific has promised to send me the name of the new contact in a week or so, once the new person is in place at K-C.
    • In response to a request on the CURC LISTSERV, I sent some photos of the conveyor belt system at WTS that Morgan passed along. The LISTSERV message bounced, and I have a note to the moderator to see if they can help get it through.
    • I sent an inquiry to CURC to see whether the results of the spring campus recycling survey are available yet. We participated in the survey. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  13. EUI at Fruit Farm Admin Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Fruit Farm Admin Building
    Energy Conservation Efforts

    Please see the attached Excel file for some Energy Use Intensity (MMBTU/GSF) and (kBTU/GSF) calculations for the Fruit Farm Admin Building.  I have also attached an Energy Star Portfolio Manager Technical Reference which gives numbers for average U.S. Energy Use Intensity by Property Type.  These numbers are given in kBTU/GSF for comparison.

     

    The good news is that the numbers have been decreasing from 2011 through 2017.  Since 2018 is not over yet it would not be fair to count that number, but from 2011 through 2017 the energy use intensity appears to have decreased to about half of its starting value!  The numbers range from about 299 MMBTU/GSF to about 153 MMBTU/GSF (about 45 kBTU/GSF to about 23 kBTU/GSF). 

     

    If you look in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager document, the UIUC Fruit Farm is on par with a small retail office (at the higher EUI levels from 2011) to a warehouse or other unoccupied space (at the lower EUI levels from more recent data).  This may be an indication of the level of activity of the facility, or it may just reflect the fact that you are getting a lot of geothermal energy (three to four units of geothermal energy for every one unit of electricity).  If you look in the table you will see that a laboratory is listed as 78.8 kBTU/GSF, which is about 3.5 times the 2017 calculated value of 23 kBTU/GSF for the Fruit Farm.

     

    Please note that the numbers I am comparing the Fruit Farm to are the site energy numbers in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager document, which reflect the amount of energy you are using at the site (meter readings).  Source energy numbers are higher and include losses due to energy conversion and distribution from where the energy was originally generated (likely a coal or natural gas plant in Illinois).

    - Frank Holcomb

    Attached Files: 

  15. Webform Now Available for Glove Recycling Participation Sign-Up

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    A web form is now available for departments to use when signing up to participate in the glove recycling program. Program participation instructions on the iCAP web page for the program have been updated to include the link. The form is to be used instead of emailing the zero-waste coordinator directly.

  16. Updated Glove Drop-off Site

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    The location to drop off gloves at the Physical Plant Services Building (PPSB) changed in the summer of 2018. The map showing the location was updated accordingly. It is still at PPSB but in a slightly different location there.

  17. BER Volunteers Identified Department Contacts for Outreach

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    In July 2018, BER student volunteers identified contacts for about 15 departments that purchase significant quantities of nitrile gloves but do not currenty participate in the glove recycling program. In the fall, volunteers will follow up with the contacts to inquire about interest in participation.

  19. Students invited to participate in the iSEE Congress

    Associated Project(s): 
    iSEE Congress

     

    CongressArt-v2-01-e1521481626989.png

    Registration has opened for “Sustainable Cities,” and iSEE is inviting instructors to consider sending their classes to one or more of its Congress sessions this fall!

    Read more and find the registration form on the Congress 2018 webpage >>>

    Instructors: If you would like a slide to share with students, please email sustainability@illinois.edu.

    In addition, iSEE will have two evenings for poster presentations at the Congress. Students, postdocs, and other researchers are invited to present their research on one of the “Sustainable Cities” themes. To register a poster, fill out the form >>>

  20. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was slow, for the most part. Felt like we got a lot of donations. Trained a new staffer, waiting on clearance to train one more. Still building and scrapping bikes on the regular. My checklist sheet for shop builds is working—for the most part. There are still detail things that the staff don’t really notice, a slack chain on a single-speed for example, or cable ends are too long. Overall, I think it’s helping but the details matter and very much can still result in an unsafe bicycle. I’ll look at revising it a bit this w eek.

    This will be Dennis’s last week here (I think, will check on this). He has been a great staffer and we’ll miss him!

     

    This week I will begin prep for our big clean out/purge at the beginning of August. I’ll poll the staff for availability and iron out the details for how many days we’ll be closed (best-case scenario: one day). We’ll begin August 6th. We’ll be pulling all the bikes out and moving furniture around to give a solid, deep clean, and toss out the junk that has accumulated. We haven’t ever done a big clean like this during my tenure here and it’s wholly overdue. While we might lose a day or two of open hours, the end result will be a better functioning and cleaner/easier to navigate space.

     

    This week I will also be getting in touch with Lexco about ordering PB Blinky lights for LTN 2018!

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 75
    Sales: $724
    Memberships: 7 for $210

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $220
    Tire/tubes: 11 for $88

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

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