Last chance to learn about solar at a Power Hour tomorrow at Common Ground

John Marlin (from Illinois Sustainable Technology Center) reported that the planting projects using SSC and ISEE grants are progressing well.

The majority of the large honeysuckle was removed from the South Arboretum Woods, mostly by the fecon machine at a cost of $20,000. Student workers (mainly NRES and ESE) are taking out the remainder with hand tools and chainsaws and finishing the resprouts and seedlings with limited applications of herbicide. The woods was actually a former research plot where many species of trees were planted in blocks very close together. A number of trees will have to be removed in order to allow for the others to grow well and to let light penetrate to the ground.

They also spent some time planting and weeding at plots at the Natural Resources Building, Burrill Hall, the Florida Orchard prairie and Lincoln Ave Residence (LAR) Hall. LAR contributed some funds toward planting.

A Boy Scout Eagle Project was conducted at the woods.  They worked on three occasions removing garlic mustard and honeysuckle.   The Master Naturalists have also put in quite a few hours.

Construction of a 5.87 megawatt (MW) Solar Farm on campus is under construction, after university and state officials approved power purchase and land lease agreements with Phoenix Solar South Farms, LLC.

Once installed, the Solar Farm will be one of the largest on-site university arrays in the country, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency statistics, producing 7.86 million kilowatt-hours per year, or approximately two percent of the electrical demand for the Urbana campus in fiscal year 2015.

Facilities & Services Executive Director Al Stratman said, “We are very pleased to see this long awaited agreement completed and signed, so the installation can begin. This unique and challenging project was only made possible through the dedication of many people working together and focused on achieving our renewable energy goals.”

In 2008, the chancellor signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, pledging to be carbon neutral by 2050. As a part of this commitment, specific goals for energy conservation and renewable energy were outlined in the 2010 Illinois Climate Action Plan. The Solar Farm will contribute toward the renewable energy used on campus for at least twenty years.

"The Solar Farm represents the success of numerous efforts, including those made by the many hard-working students committed to advancing renewable energy and environmental sustainability,” said Amy Liu, chair of the Student Sustainability Committee. “Its construction will be a historic project and a source of great pride for campus."

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The 20.8 acre solar farm, to be located along the south side of Windsor Road between First Street and the railroad tracks, was first approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in November 2012.

The Student Sustainability Committee funding commitment is attached here.

Alexia can’t make it to Monday’s meeting so she has forwarded an update from her meeting with Housing about the Eco Olympics.

As a part of B.K. Sharma’s research methodology, he will need a sample and will test it at the zero minute, 1 minute, 5 minute, 30 minute, 60 minutes, and 240 minute interval.

Japan is now implementing floating solar farms, on large bodies of water.  The water keeps the panels cooler than ambient temperature, so they are more efficent.

Rain gardens and barrels needed for study

We will be conducting a study regarding the ability of residential rain gardens and rain barrels to harbor mosquitoes. We are looking for households with rain gardens or rain barrels to participate in the study. The study will involve a brief survey regarding use and approximately one visit per month throughout the summer. Please email stormwater@life.illinois.edu to participate.

Catherine Elizabeth Wangen . Department of Entomology

We recently started testing (about mid-April) in our PAR (Pennsylvania Residence Halls).  Joe Glass, our Superintendent of Building Services will follow up with you.  I am interested in the independent testing. - John Humlicek

From: Illinois Provost [mailto:provost@illinois.edu]
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2016 7:08 PM
To: dddh-l@listserv.illinois.edu
Subject: Call for New Provost's Fellow Positions: 2016-2017

Dear Deans, Directors, and Department Head/Chairs,

Please share this announcement with your faculty, and consider making nominations yourself.  Note that nominations are requested by May 16, 2016.

The Provost’s Office seeks candidates for two Provost Fellow positions beginning in Fall 2016. 

The Provost Fellows Program is designed to develop leadership skills at the campus level for some of our most accomplished tenured faculty.  Fellows participate in a range of mentoring and learning opportunities, collaborate with colleagues in the Provost's and Chancellor's Offices and in other academic and administrative offices across campus, and assume leadership roles on critical campus strategic initiatives and projects, designed in conjunction with fellows' individual interests and longer-range career goals.

Our current Provost Fellows are:

• Professor Lauren Goodlad, Department of English
• Professor  Kelly Ritter, Department of English
• Professor Rosa Milagros Santos, Department of Special Education

We will focus on recruiting fellows interested in sustainability and special projects, as summarized below:

• Provost Fellow for Sustainability. The position will focus on the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) and the Fellow will play a leadership role in the sustainability initiatives related to campus space and facilities.  There may also be opportunities to participate in a variety of project based efforts, as well as standing committees which include faculty, staff, and students. 
• Provost Fellow for Special Projects. The position will focus on efforts to develop policies and guidelines emerging from campus budget reform discussions, explore strategic and curricular innovations, and realize our diversity and inclusion goals.  There will also be opportunities to help campus improve hiring and staffing policies and processes.

Provost Fellow appointments are for one year at 50% time, with some support for summer activities.  Fellows must be tenured faculty members. 

Deans and Department Heads/Chairs may nominate faculty members by sending their names and a short statement of their qualifications to provost@illinois.edu. Your assistance in identifying distinguished faculty with interest in leadership roles is critical to the success of this program.

Faculty members can self-nominate by sending a curriculum vitae and a short statement of professional goals to provost@illinois.edu. For self-nominations the Office of the Provost will seek the endorsement of the candidate’s dean and unit head/chair. 

Nominations are requested by May 16, 2016.

More information can be found on the program website:

http://provost.illinois.edu/fellows/index.html

If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact Vice Provost Abbas Benmamoun (benmamou@illinois.edu). 

Best,

Ed

Edward Feser

Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost

https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/355381

Facilities and Services and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment will host an Arbor Day celebration from noon to 1 p.m. April 29, on the Quad near Noyes Laboratory. Associate Chancellor Mike DeLorenzo will kick off the celebration by reading the Arbor Day proclamation. Attendees will be able to help plant the tree and take part in a trivia contest.

This week the team met to discuss how solar could be applied in a variety of different ways. We also talked about energy distribution and generation on some new buildings being constructed on campus. 

This week the EnGen SWATeam met to discuss some past recommendations that we have made, and also to consider ideas for future ideas that we would like to forward up the working group. 

http://thetab.com/us/illinois/2016/04/13/need-talk-destroying-campus-1408

Mikayla

Professor Scott Willenbrock shared this link with photos from the installation of solar on his home. http://www.newprairieconstruction.com/solar-panel-installation. 

A group of faculty, students, and staff are looking into the options for an Electrification Study for campus.  This would be a study that goes through the formal "Feasibility Study" process at F&S, starting with a "Qualifications Based Selection" or QBS.