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  2. Bike Code approved

    Associated Project(s): 
    Enforcement for Safe Cycling

    The University Bicycle Ordinance, referenced in CAM VIII-22. Bicycle Regulations, was approved by the CAM committee on May 15, 2014.  The plan was to have enforcement of the ordinance to begin at the start of the Fall 2014 semester.  During the fall semester, enforcement would be focused on education, with only safety-related citations being issued.

    The link below is the approved version of the ordinance.

    University Bicycle Code

  4. EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation - Assessment with all comments

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    eGen Recommendations Summary
    Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on August 28th, 2014, to discuss the EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation, and they started the assessment for this recommendation. 

    See the attached file for complete assessment with comments from all the iWG members.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA here.

    Attached Files: 

  5. EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation - Transmittal to the unit

    Associated Project(s): 
    Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    eGen Recommendations Summary

    The SWATeam recommendation complete with the iWG Assessment with comments from all the iWG members was transmitted to the Facilities & Services on August 28th, 2014.

    For any future updates on this item, please visit the Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) project.

    See iWG Assessment for EGen001 Wind PPA here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA here.

  6. Fall 2014 Charge Letter

    Associated Project(s): 
    Topical iCAP Teams

    Dear Colleagues,

    Attached please find the formal charge letter for the SWATeams, along with the campus sustainability procedures approved by the Chancellor earlier this year.  I expect to be able to provide you with additional guidance about the format for the revised Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) following the next meeting of the iCAP Working Group this Thursday.

    We have very important work ahead of us this semester, and I look forward to working with you as we chart the future for campus sustainability at Illinois!

    Cheers,

    Ben

    --

    Professor Benjamin J. McCall

    Associate Director for Campus Sustainability Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus-sustainability@illinois.edu

    Attached Files: 

  7. Enrollment information

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)

    Enrollment in the Certified Green Office Program will be open throughout the Fall 2014 semester. Don’t get caught enrolling at the last minute, though. The deadline to complete the five required sustainability commitments is December 15, 2014. We recommend that you and your office get started as soon as possible to leave extra time for additional commitments (see more below!). Office leaders must identify a Sustainability Ambassador before enrolling in the program.

    ENROLL HERE!

    After enrolling for the program, you can use this application to track your progress and send the completed form by December 15, 2014 to sustainability@illinois.edu. Once you complete the required commitments and email us the application (Excel spreadsheet), the iSEE team will review the applications from March to April 2015 and notify the award winners by April 10, 2015. The certificates will be presented during Earth Week 2015. The participants will also be mentioned on the iSEE website and publicized through our social media outlets.

    Nervous about getting things done? Don’t be! The iSEE team will be in regular communication with your office Sustainability Ambassador to answer questions and assist with implementation. We will regularly update our website with resources to help you implement sustainability commitments. In addition, we will hold four meetings throughout the semester to share best practices and discuss any challenges offices may face. Each meeting will center on a different commitment theme and give you ideas about how you can implement green practices:

    • August 28, 2014 – Introduction: Completing the five basic commitments (University YMCA, Latzer Hall) — RSVP HERE!

    • September 25, 2014 – Topic TBA (Illini Union, Room 210) — RSVP HERE!

    • November 4, 2014 – Topic TBA (Illini Union, Room 314B) — RSVP HERE!

    • December 4, 2014 – Topic TBA (Illini Union, Room 314B) — RSVP HERE!

    All meetings will be held between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

    Can’t make these meetings? The presentations will be posted on the iSEE website.

    Go the extra mile!

    Offices are encouraged to make additional commitments and perform additional acts to become a Bronze-, Silver-, or Gold-level Certified Green Office. Offices can choose from 17 additional commitments. The implementation deadline for these additional action items is March 15, 2015. To become a:

    • Bronze Certified Green Office – make 40% or more (at least 7) of the total additional commitments.

    • Silver Certified Green Office – make 60% or more (at least 11) of the total additional commitments.

    • Gold Certified Green Office – make 80% or more (at least 14) of the total additional commitments.

    The additional commitments can be found here.

    Resources

    The Certified Green Office Program application

    Promotional information and presentations coming soon!

    If you have any further questions, please contact Nishant Makhijani, iSEE's Student Intern for Campus Sustainability.

  8. August 2014 SSLC Meeting notes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Zero Waste Gameday Challenge Fall 2014
    iSEE Congress
    Illinois: A Climate Action Plan (2010 iCAP)

    iSEE leaders provided an introduction to the SSLC

    Six Objectives: Facilitate communication, facilitate collaboration, provide a forum for student leaders to voice their opinions to iSEE and thereby to the campus administration, help identify students who can serve on iSEE working groups or advisory groups, help identify potential interns, encourage more awareness about sustainability among student body

    Unofficial objective: Create political will/pressure to implement sustainability initiatives

    Topics covered:

    • 2010 iCAP progress toward 2015 objectives
    • iSEE Congress
    • Zero Waste Game Day
    • SSLC organizational structure
    Attached Files: 

  10. Announcing registration for Congress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Facilitate campus-wide sustainability events

    Registration open for major conference on campus

    As water and land for agriculture decrease and our climate changes, how do we feed the estimated 9 billion people who will populate the Earth by 2050? From Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment will gather 22 leading world scholars on campus to explore the issues. Register today for iSEE Congress 2014 — "Feeding 9 Billion: A Path to Sustainable Agriculture."

    Anthony D Mancuso • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

  11. Eweek announcement of program

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)

    iSEE Certified Green Office Program

    You are invited to reduce the environmental impact of your office by enrolling in iSEE's Certified Green Office Program. Participating offices will implement some of the best practices to conserve energy and resources. Although changes to each office will for the most part be small, the aggregate impact of many people’s actions will be large. Registration is now open.

    Nishant Makhijani • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

  12. Illinois named to 2015 Green Honor Roll

    Associated Project(s): 
    The Princeton Review Green Honor Roll

    Greetings,

    I am pleased to announce that last week your school was named to our 2015 Green Honor Roll. The Princeton Review – known for its education services helping students choose and get in to colleges – reported its seventh annual "Green Ratings" of colleges: a measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99.

    We tallied the rating for 861 institutions based on our institutional surveys of colleges in 2013-14 concerning their environmentally related practices, policies and academic offerings. 

    Twenty-four colleges, including yours, received the highest possible score (99) in the Princeton Review tallies this year. The list, which appears on our website at: www.princetonreview.com/green-honor-roll.aspx and in "The Best 379 Colleges" includes:

    (in alphabetical order)

    • American University (Washington, DC)
    • Colgate University (Hamilton, NY)
    • Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)
    • Columbia University (New York, NY)
    • Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
    • Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA)
    • Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
    • Green Mountain College (Poultney, VT)
    • Harvard College (Cambridge, MA)
    • Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
    • Lewis & Clark College (Portland, OR)
    • Portland State University (Portland, OR)
    • Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, CA)
    • Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA)
    • State University of New York—Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY)
    • University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA)
    • University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA)
    • University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs, CO)
    • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL)
    • University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, MA)
    • University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH)
    • University of Vermont (Burlington, VT)
    • University of Victoria (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
    • University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

    You may find the full press release on our website here: www.princetonreview.com/green/press-release.aspx  

    Please feel free to use this release in your own publicity or promotion outreaches.

    Should you have any questions regarding your rating or our green honor roll please contact me directly at 888-347-7737 ext 1237, (skoch@review.com) Media queries can be directed to our publicist, Jeanne Krier, at 212-539-1350.

    Thank you for your participation in this project.  It has helped insure that we convey accurate, up-to-date information about your school to millions of visitors to our website and to those who will use our guide The Best 379 Colleges.

    Sincerely,

    Stephen Koch

    Student Survey Manager

    The Princeton Review

     

     

  17. Prairie on TV

    Associated Project(s): 
    Prairie Restoration at Florida & Orchard

    Sandy Mason interviewed myself and Jessica Mondello this morning at the Florida—Orchard prairie.  I think it went well.  As usual there was an awkward moment or two as we groped for words.  It should air on the farm segments at 5:40 am tomorrow Aug 7, and another version next Tuesday.  It will likely also show up on Illinois Home page .net

    All the paths now have a thin layer of wood chips to prevent erosion.

    ~John Marlin

  18. New ESCOs for 18 campus buildings

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Performance Contracting / ESCO

    A long-term energy savings plan has been developed for 18 buildings which will consist of multiple agreements with Energy Service Companies (ESCO). These efforts are focused primarily on research facilities which have large energy demands and high potential for savings. The first contract associated with the plan has been approved by the Board of Trustees for $1.4M and will evaluate Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Engineering Sciences Building, Loomis Laboratory, Superconductivity Center, and Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory. An added benefit to these contracts is the ability to invest in upgraded systems using energy saving revenue which can improve facility operations and reduce deferred maintenance as well.

  20. resource about using wood for energy

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass use on Campus

    There are some environmental advocates who oppose using wood chips for energy. 

    This YouTube video includes the following description: "Forests are also one of our best defenses against global warming, absorbing vast amounts of carbon pollution out of the air. But power companies are increasingly proposing to burn whole trees for energy. Trees are not a "carbon neutral" fuel source. Just like coal, when trees are burned in power plants, the carbon they have accumulated over long periods of time is released into the atmosphere. Unlike coal, however, trees will continue to absorb carbon if left alone. So burning forests for energy not only emits a lot of carbon, but also degrades our carbon sinks. This video shows what happens to the balance of carbon between and forest and the atmosphere when we burn forests to produce energy instead of leaving them standing to continue to absorb and store carbon. Burning forests for electricity is dirty and destructive!" 

    It is shared by the Natural Resources Defence Council.

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