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  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, still slow here. One of the student staff finished the three-wheeled bike and rode it home. That was easily the highlight of the week. Sale bikes are creeping upward but I’ve been selling a few here and there as well. Hovering around 20 total. I had Evan, a student worker, come in last week and help with shop builds.

    This week I will send out email alerts/reminders to all the current build-a-bikers that their tags are out-of-date. No one has been in to work on their bike since before Winter Break. One or two have come to update their tags but that’s been it. I’ll give them a week to reply and then transition those bikes to shop builds, which should help our stock of for-sale bikes.

    Sales: $455
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $270
    Bikes (b-a-b): 1 for $68
    Visitors for the week: 26

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  3. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are my zero-waste coordination updates from this past week: 

    • I met with two students from Business in Environmental Responsibility, a campus RSO. They are interested in volunteering to help with the glove recycling program. Not many of their members have cars, so they are not in a good position to assist with transporting gloves from collection sites to the trailer at PPSB, so we talked about help they might give with identifying locations on campus that use disposable gloves. I will consult with Morgan on whether we might use that information to promote the program more broadly across campus.
    • A lab in RAL is working on becoming a participating location. They are very interested but would like assistance with transporting gloves to PPSB. I will consult with Morgan on whether we have any options for them.
    • I contacted Rebecca Seymour, who manages the campus Starbuck’s locations. She is moving forward with providing used coffee grounds to John McNally, a local farmer who can use them for fertilizer. He had inquired about payment for providing transportation to pick them up, but we don’t have any funds for it. Nonetheless, he and Rebecca are moving forward with the arrangement, starting with the Starbuck’s located in the Illini Union. My contacts with the Sustainable Student Farm and a few other local farmers and the Urbana Park District’s gardening program did not result in any additional interest in the program. One or two contacts indicated that they could use the grounds but would need them to be delivered.
    • I updated the glove recycling page in the iCAP Portal to show that Krannert Art Museum is participating. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  6. Pollinator pocket maps

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Sustainability staff asked Lesley Deem at the Pollinatarium if the proposed pollinator pockets should be within a specific distance of each other, such as every half mile. Ms. Deem replied, “I think if we put them in the best spots available there will be enough coverage. For example, honey bees can fly for a few miles to find food. They use up less of their energy if it is closer but they should be able to find it even it is a mile or two away.”

  8. Water and Stormwater SWATeam Meeting 2/6/2018

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Green Infrastructure
    Water Audit / Inventory

    Meeting topics included potential for the team to move forward with a water audit of campus buildings, ways that nitrogen runoff could be monitored, and incentives the Parking Department would have in following through with adding green infrastructure to parking projects.

    Attached Files: 

  9. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was uneventful. Monday was the Bike Project Members’ Meeting which went well. The shop is still predictably slow. I’ve had good, consistent volunteer help this week. Cleaning and organizing is going very well because of them. Tubes are almost completely organized and sized, storage for new parts is coming along as well. Currently for sale are 19 bikes and should be 21 by the end of today.

    Business as usual this week as far as building bikes and organizing.

    Visitors: 30
    Sales: $155
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. Join the Student Sustainability Committee

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Student members are appointed by the Illinois Student Government each spring for the following academic year. Student members serve a one-year term. To apply, please complete an application at https://studentaffairs.illinois.edu/collaborations/campus-committees-and-boards.

    The Student Sustainability Committee is a group of 12 students dedicated to improving sustainability at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With the help of 10 faculty and staff that serve as member-advisors, the committee meets to review and vote on what projects receive funding and check in on those projects that have already received funding. Using two student fees, the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee and the Cleaner Energy Technologies Fee, SSC reviews submitted projects and distributes funding to projects that is deemed most beneficial to the University of Illinois. Both of these student fees bring in over $1.1 million annually, which is one of the largest sustainability fund of its kind in the United States.

  13. Final project reports for Fall 2017

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)
    Sustainability Minor
    Independent Student Projects
    Energy Dashboard Project
    Develop Local Foods Network
    Biomass use on Campus
    Smart Grid for Campus
    Retrocommissioning (RCx)
    Rain Gardens on Campus
    Solar Power on Campus
    Green Roofs on Campus
    Methane Capture on Campus
    Reduce Foodwaste

    The CEE 398 Project Based Learning and the Sustainability Minor's ENVS 492 Capstone students completed their nine fall 2017 reports.

    There were five projects completed for capstone partners:

    1. Energy Dashboards for Accenture
    2. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Johnson Controls
    3. Food Hub Study for The Land Connection
    4. Sensors and Green Buildings for CERL
    5. Biomass Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for Chip Energy

    There were four other projects completed by CEE students:

    1. Rain Garden Design
    2. Solar and Green Roofs Analysis
    3. Food Waste to Energy
    4. ADA Sidewalk Repair Cost Analysis
    Attached Files: 

  14. archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    Inventory Sustainability Courses

    Assess existing courses to identify which courses meet specific requirements in the learning outcomes, and identify gaps for future curriculum development

    Course listings for undergraduate and graduate levels were examined to develop an inclusive list of courses related to sustainability.  An online survey of department heads was conducted in Fall 2010 which served to verify the list developed, sought feedback on perceived gaps and desired future offerings, and gained insight about the degree to which the learning outcomes are being addressed (58 departments responded out of 165). The inventory is designed to help students identify courses by several categories, including whether a course fulfills a general education requirement and whether the course is undergraduate and graduate level.  The inventory revealed more than 250 courses and can be found on the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment website. 

    The inventory conducted at the time did not distinguish between sustainability related and focused courses.  Sustainability related covers only one aspect of sustainability, i.e., economic, social, or environmental, whereas focused covers all three.

  15. PWR efforts - update from February 2018

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    Morgan White send an email to the PWR SWATeam on February 4, 2018 saying,

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

    Hello PWR SWATeam,

    I am sorry I will not be able to attend the meeting on Monday.  Here is a quick update on various efforts underway.

    1.    Leah Berti is starting to present the “Use the Bin” speech for various groups at F&S.  She is also helping us get an online tour request form for the Waste Transfer Station and then she will help actually give the tours this spring.
    2.    Becky Jonas is going to meet with the facilities contact, Tim Prunkard, for the Hydro building and the Newmark Civil Engineering Building.  She will be mapping recycling and waste bins in the building.  She is also creating an updated online survey for the building occupants that she will give them before making changes to the bin locations.  Then Tim, Becky, and I will meet with the BSW supervisor for those facilities, Ramona Burns, and discuss changes we want to make.  
    3.    Linhan Yang is working with Lance Schideman and several other interested people to form a broad solution for keeping food waste out of landfills.
    4.    The SSC is working on getting a visit to the Danville landfill (which is where we send most of our trash) this spring.
    5.    Marya and Anna are creating an online glove recycling sign-up form and a flyer explaining how the glove recycling storage container works.
    6.    Pete Varney and Shaun Patterson have updated the lights and heating at the Waste Transfer Station.  This makes it easier for the workers to pull recycling from the sort line – but remember the first step is for our students, employees, and visitors to use the recycling bins in the first place.  They also will help us with getting more of the new labels.
    7.    Ryan Welch, superintendent of grounds, is reviewing the map of dual bin locations for North of Green Street.  I got pricing info from the first installation of the new-style bin, and it was close to $3,000.  That would be about $165K for north of green new bins, and we need to account for removing the old bins as well.  And that’s just part of campus, so the price of this effort will be significant.  I believe it will be well worth it, if campus can find the funds.
    8.    The feasibility study for the new baler has made it through the approval process and will be starting in February.

    Thanks,
    Morgan
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  16. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here’s what I have from this past week for zero-waste coordination activities: 

    • Drafted a glove recycling participant form and forwarded it to Morgan and Anna for comment
    • Drafted a glove recycling informational flyer and forwarded it to Morgan and Anna for comment, for information on permissions for using Google satellite images, and for information on F&S/UIUC templates to use for the final format
    • Updated the iCAP Portal map of glove recycling locations to include Krannert Art Museum; posted a project update on the site to document the addition
    • Continued communication with Rebecca Seymour at the campus Starbuck’s
    • Sent Morgan notes from my Jan. 24 call with Carly Rizor at UIC about their experience with Big Belly trash/recycling bins 
    • I replied to a request for a meeting with a student organization (Business in Environmental Responsibility) that would like to help with the glove recycling program. I told them I can have a phone call with them during the week or meet in person over the weekend. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  20. archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    Virtual Storeroom for Carbon Offsets [ARCHIVED]

    The 2015 iCAP chapter 8, objective 2 is, "By the end of FY17, develop an administrative mechanism to enable campus units to voluntarily purchase carbon offsets." During FY17, iSEE is executing a campuswide purchase of offsets. A starting inventory of carbon offsets will be put into a Virtual Storeroom, for internal purchases by campus units.  Through this website, units can directly engage in emission reductions, with the benefit of the initial bulk purchase.

    The Carbon Credit sales funding has been approved by Director of iSEE Evan DeLucia and Interim Executive Director of F&S Helen Coleman for buying 10,000 additional carbon offsets, to provide the initial inventory for a new Virtual Storeroom for carbon offsets.

    Background

    If your department is interested in reducing your carbon footprint from air travel (or other things), you can go online to the Virtual Storeroom and purchase (using a CFOP) offsets from iSEE.  iSEE will collect the funds from these sales to replenish the Carbon Offset storeroom inventory when it gets low.

    Some campus units (or individual faculty or staff) may wish to voluntarily offset their carbon emissions, for example, from air travel to scholarly meetings. iSEE could work with the Office of Business and Financial Services (OBFS) to develop an administrative mechanism that would allow such units to “buy in” to periodic campuswide purchases of verified offsets.

    By the end of FY 17, iSEE helps develop the virtual storeroom which stocks the carbon offsets instead of tangible goods. The carbon offsets will be stored in a virtual storeroom, where units can buy offsets to reduce their carbon emissions for any reason. For example, you can buy them to reduce the carbon emissions of steam, electricity, even university cars, and air travel, which is the main carbon emission source that needs offsets rather than reduction, according to the iCAP. The money what we spend in the virtual storeroom will be collected in a fund that will be used for the purchase of more carbon offsets, when the inventory is low.

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