F&S Garage and Car Pool had provided IBI with a truck that could be used for moving waste vegetable oil as well as biodiesel.

Unfortunately the truck that was used has been transferred to another department. At this time I am not aware of any other suitable truck becoming available. The University's fiscal situation is such that it is highly unlikely that another truck will be available in the near term.

Collection and transportation of the biodiesel requires tanks and pumps. The size can vary depending on scale, but the equipment is needed regardless for efficiency. 

The SWATeam reviewed priorities for recommendations to make.

Morgan Johnston spoke with Mike Brunk with the City of Urbana about the Arbor Day Celebrations held by the City of Urbana in previous years. 

• The tree planted on the west side of Follenger Hall was for the tenth anniversary of Urbana’s Tree City designation in 1986.
• Urbana does a proclamation that the Mayor reads, usually signed by the Mayor of Urbana and the Mayor of Champaign. Urbana facilitates it,and they could add UI.
• They work with the park district, and build trees in the parks, invite a particular school with one or two grades.  They pre-plant the trees and have mulch piles, so the kids get to mulch the tree. Talk about the eco benefits of trees with a barrel of water and a five gallon bucket and a milk jug. 
• It is actually bird and tree day.  Entertain the kids, proclamation from mayors, newspaper, and event for kids.  Tree planting of some sort and an acknowledgement.

see file

Evan De Lucia and Allan Stratman agreed to fund Nishant Makhijani for the Spring [2015] semester and allocate $750k to the RLF Program.

An email containing more information is attached below.

The Board of Trustees approved the Bicycle Programs and Infrastructure Fee (aka Bike Fee) of $1.00 per semester.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-01-20/solar-farm-construction-start-spring-ui.html

http://www.illinoishomepage.net/story/d/story/south-farms-to-include-sol...

http://www.wics.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_20693.shtml

http://sustainability.illinois.edu/big-news-from-facilities-services-sol...

http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2015/01/21/dd-obama-no-challenge-poses-...

http://wgil.com/v3/2015/01/21/u-of-illinois-gets-ok-to-hire-california-f...

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/4798ffaa7e8a4a4d869ef07afe8be884/I...

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/ui-gets-ok-to...

http://www.energycentral.com/news/en/34977147/-Solar-farm-design-work-co...?

http://www.bnd.com/2015/01/21/3621109/ui-gets-ok-to-hire-california.html

http://myinforms.com/en-us/a/9878155-solar-farm-construction-to-start-in...

From: Johnston, Morgan B
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 3:18 PM
To: Welch, Ryan B; Johnston, Morgan B; Lewis, Brent Christopher; McSweeney, Kevin; Kling, Gary J; Lage, Stephanie M; Brunk, Mike
Subject: Campus Tree Advisory Committee

Hello,

I am writing to formally ask for your participation in the new Campus Tree Advisory Committee for calendar year 2015.  Superintendent of Grounds Ryan Welch and I will co-chair this committee, under the purview of Facilities and Services Executive Director Al Stratman.  Our goal is to achieve the Tree Campus USA designation from the Arbor Day Foundation by the end of this calendar year.  To that end, we would like your advice for the following items, as listed in the attached charge letter.

1. Assist with Tree Campus USA application by December 31, 2015.
2. Recommend policies for the maintenance, removal, planting, and landscaping of trees. 
3. Recommend a tree protection plan process for construction and trenching. 
4. Recommend a policy for enforcement, penalties, and appeals related to tree damage.
5. Develop a communication strategy to help make the campus community and contractors aware of policies, procedures, and goals of Tree Campus.
6. Plan an Arbor Day observance event for Arbor Day (last Friday in April).
7. Review annual expenditures related to tree maintenance.

We expect to meet for one hour approximately once per month, except during the summer months.  The first meeting will be set for early February.  Please let me know if there is someone who manages your calendar for you, and I will work with them to schedule the first meeting.

Thanks in advance for your help with this process!  I look forward to meeting with you next month.

Sincerely,

Morgan

Jerry Lauderdale provided the following link the Electric Vehicle charging station at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center: http://www.glescoelectric.com/projects.htm#.

To increase the use of renewable energy sources for campus electrical needs and meet the commitments set by the 2010 Climate Action Plan, the University of Illinois issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a firm to design, build, operate, and maintain (DBOM) a Solar Farm at the Urbana campus with a corresponding Power Purchase Agreement.  The Solar Farm will be connected directly to the University’s electrical distribution system in parallel with the electrical service provided by the local utility.

The University provides electricity, chilled water, and steam service to more than 50,000 people (faculty, staff and students) who work, learn, and/or live on the campus.  The electricity generated from campus is delivered to the campus via the University’s owned and operated distribution system.  Although the University’s grid is connected to the local utility transmission and distribution system, which receives transmission services from the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO), the University will use all of the electricity generated from the solar farm project.

Background

The University is seeking a proposal to lease 21 acres of land in the South Farms area, for the installation and operation of a Solar Farm.  The University will lease the land to the selected Proposer for $1.00 per year and establish a Power Purchase Agreement for the renewable energy.  The Proposer will be responsible for design, construction, permitting, transportation needs, operation, and maintenance of the Solar Farm, as well as connection to the University’s electrical grid.

ISTC will do the collection, sort and analysis.  We will bring the material to ISTC to sort on our sorting table.  Also, we will generate the report. - Bart Bartels

Morgan Johnston and Ryan Welch met to review next steps for the Tree Campus USA designation.  The charge letter is scheduled to go to committee members at the end of this month, with a first meeting to get scheduled in February.

During the fall ’14 semester, University Housing was able to acquire a recycling bin from MaxR through their Free Bin Friday promotional event. The bin was specifically designed for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign using our colors and logo, and currently resides at the entrance of 57 North inside the Student Dining and Residential Programs Building (SDRP).

A suggestion was made to use this bin, along with the recycling bins recently purchased for the main quad, to conduct a test to determine if the branding of a bin would impact recycling participation among our student population.

The test would be conducted at the north entrance of SDRP, and would take place during the spring ’15 semester once weather is more favorable for outdoor foot traffic. All existing trash receptacles would be removed and replaced with the MaxR bin and the appropriately signed bins for the main quad. The test would be conducted for a two week period with the containers switching places after the first week to eliminate positioning as a possible cause for false results. Data would be collected and analyzed by ISCT to determine participation and contamination rates for each style of container. The results would be available made available to various sustainability groups across campus including ISTC and ISEE.

The Waste and Purchasing SWATeam briefly discussed the policy but didn’t feel empowered to act on it.  

During the fall ’14 semester, University Housing was able to acquire a recycling bin from MaxR through their Free Bin Friday promotional event. The bin was specifically designed for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign using our colors and logo, and currently resides at the entrance of 57 North inside the Student Dining and Residential Programs Building (SDRP).   A suggestion was made to use this bin, along with the recycling bins recently purchased for the main quad, to conduct a test to determine if the branding of a bin would impact recycling participation among our student population.   The test would be conducted at the north entrance of SDRP, and would take place during the spring ’15 semester once weather is more favorable for outdoor foot traffic. All existing trash receptacles would be removed and replaced with the MaxR bin and the appropriately signed bins for the main quad. The test would be conducted for a two week period with the containers switching places after the first week to eliminate positioning as a possible cause for false results. Data would be collected and analyzed by ISCT to determine participation and contamination rates for each style of container. The results would be available made available to various sustainability groups across campus including ISTC and ISEE.

Ben McCall suggested a central repository of information about "how to deal with stuff" on our campus -- maybe a website called zerowaste.illinois.edu.  He suggested it could perhaps be a collaboration between F&S, ISTC, and iSEE.  Morgan replied with the recommend ation that we use an existing website with a short URL rather than set up a completely new one, and then get a short URL for it. 

The current pages for our campus are the F&S Waste Management and Recycling page at http://www.fs.illinois.edu/services/waste-management-recycling, and the iCAP Portal repository page at https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/themes/procurement-waste.

Urbana has a similar site at: http://urbanaillinois.us/residents/recycling-program-u-cycle/where-do-i-take-it.