With appropriate controls and monitoring systems this building and all others on campus could be integrated for additional efficiencies and advantages that go far beyond simply reducing electrical loads:

• All campus power generators and energy storage could be utilized more reliably and efficiently
• Buying and selling power over the grid could realize additional savings
• Researchers and students could use data from the campus grid for modeling software systems
• Researchers could develop proven secure and reliable dynamic load control systems
• Researchers could beta-test large systems developed elsewhere
• Researchers and students could explore cyber security technologies in new ways
• Researchers could further develop trustworthy validating systems

A partnership of researchers and campus power plant administrators* envision a way to very significantly enhance the role ILLINOIS has on the national stage of grid modernization, by using our own campus grid as a fully functioning and operational beta test site. ILLINOIS is unlike any other university, having an array of key complementary assets that make such an alliance compelling:

• A very significant financial commitment to improving campus energy infrastructure
• Diversified power generation capabilities (CHP, renewable energy sources)
• Significant energy storage capacity
• A for-profit university related organization that enables buying and selling electricity
• A microgrid with a single point of contact with the national grid
• Internationally recognized experts in computer science, electrical engineering, and bio fuels
• History of cooperation between academic and administrative departments
• Established institutes like the Information Trust Institute that are dedicated to developing trustworthy systems, validating systems intended to be trustworthy, cyber security, autonomous engineering systems, technical training and knowledge distribution.
• Established highly-trained support staff with a workload capacity for growth
• Strong reputation that draws top student talent; commitment to education excellence

Thomas,

My name is Mark Barcus and I am Dean Henson’s new assistant and he has asked me to work on the SSC weatherization project. I would like to set up a meeting with you and Morgan Johnston and myself to see where we are at. When would be a good time to meet?

Thanks

Mark

Mark A. Barcus

Assistant Superintendent

Building Maintenance

University of Illinois

Facilities & Services

barcus@illinois.edu

(217)-265-6566

The Office of Sustainability hosted the first monthly CCNet Sustainability meeting of 2012 on January 19. The meeting had 39 attendees, including faculty, staff, students, local government employees, and members of the community. There was a presentation and discussion led by SEDAC about the organization’s work and national energy trends.  CCNet Meetings will continue throughout 2012, taking place at noon on the third Thursday of each month, at the Natural Resources Building, room 101.

Sustainability employees from campus, Urbana, Champaign and the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) continue to collaborate. In January, we discussed each agency’s respective greenhouse gas inventories. It was decided that Champaign and Urbana will include any University emissions which fall within their respective jurisdictional boundaries in their city-wide reports. For the purposes of local reporting, the University will be considered a separate entity that overlays both cities, similar to any other business entity, rather than a distinct jurisdiction. It was also decided that a separate meeting will be necessary to specifically address transportation-related emissions and how each entity is tracking and reporting on these.

The YMCA/YWCA on Wright Street requested a meeting to discuss their sustainability efforts and how the University may be able to assist. They are working on building improvements and changes to their parking and outdoor space. We gave them suggestions of people they may want to contact for input and advice.

Sustainability staff attended an Illinois Green Business Association (IGBA) networking event and talked with IGBA board members about potential future collaborations.

The City of Champaign Recycling Coordinator requested information about the impacts of plastic and paper bags on campus facilities and the campus waste stream. She also requested letters of support for a bag ban from student environmental groups.

Sustainability staff attend monthly conference calls/webinars of the Governor’s Green Universities and Colleges subcommittee.  In January, there was a presentation at ISTC about weatherization of campus buildings, and the disconnect between LEED certification and weatherization practices.

The Office of Sustainability is working with MSTE to develop the Illinois Sustainability Portal, an online hub for sustainability-related information on the Urbana-Champaign campus.  We met with MSTE several times in January to develop the site architecture and database structure for the site. A preview of the site will be shared during Earth Week (April 16-20). When complete, the portal will be the go-to place for people to learn about all iCAP projects and goals, to submit ideas for consideration, and to research historical data about emissions and other sustainability metrics.  Additionally, project leaders will be able to report to the OS on their progress and plans. We envision this to be an incredibly useful tool going forward.

A fact sheet and frequently asked questions document were developed by F&S for neighbors of the proposed solar farm on South Farms. In February, the documents will be accompanied by a cover letter and sent to the mayors/leadership of surrounding jurisdictions, as well as residents in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location, to inform them of the proposed development.   Once the Request for Proposal (RFP) is complete and the Chancellor’s Capital Review Committee approves the project, the RFP will be published. The installation is tentatively scheduled for this fall.

The lighting retrofit project continues with funding from the Revolving Loan Fund, and is waiting for a grant anticipation account from OSPRA. The funding commitment from the RLF involves working with Energy Services, OBFS, and the RLF committee.

F&S met with key faculty to discuss collaboration opportunities related to implementing a smart grid on campus.  Additionally, the Director of Energy Services at F&S worked with the F&S Sustainability Coordinator and the Executive Director to explain the current status of the campus energy system, including data sources, control systems, financial considerations, and forecasting.  F&S will continue to document the status quo and the visionary smart grid concept, dubbed the Energy Management and Control Center (EMC^2).

F&S continues to work with a number of student groups and individuals on bicycle-related projects:

• Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Grace Kenney has returned from a semester abroad and is now completing the Bike Sharing Feasibility Study this spring, as well as implementing departmental bike sharing with interested departments, using the Departmental Bike Sharing Manual produced by the Fall 2011 LINC class. Grace also helped with the master bike plan in January, and will be working closely with the Bike Sharing Steering Committee in the coming weeks and months.
• Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Holly Nelson is continuing to work on bike lane design recommendations.
• Bicycle Intern and Urban Planning student Patrick Clark is working on bike parking upgrade designs and recommendations, including SSC-funded improvements at the Illini Union, as well as developing the formal grant proposal for bike parking upgrade funding for SSC.
• GIS student Marcus Ricci proposed a GIS class project to analyze the location and quantity of bike parking in relationship to building doors and bike pathways.
• The UI Bikes LINC course, as mentioned above, is working with F&S on several projects related to both bike sharing and bike parking.
• An MBA class is studying the Campus Bike Project, among other bicycle-related topics, and will make a recommendation to the CBP for developing a self-sustaining funding model.
• Student Senator David Huang has drafted and will introduce a formal resolution to the Illinois Student Senate proposing the implementation of online bicycle registration through Ride Campus. (http://www.ridecampus.com/)

Members of The Bike Project steering committee met with representatives of F&S and SSC to brainstorm opportunities to help make the Campus Bike Project a financially self-supporting operation.  This is in parallel to the efforts of the MBA class looking into this issue.  The Bike Project will be submitting a Letter of Inquiry to the SSC before their current funding expires in May.

F&S staff attended the monthly Champaign County Bikes meeting in January, to discuss a potential use of Ride Campus and Varsity Rack in Champaign-Urbana. F&S is also working with CCB member Jeff Yockey to develop a steering committee to explore the possibility of implementing Ride Campus at the University of Illinois.

F&S staff and Patrick Clark met with the Illini Union to discuss improving bike parking facilities around the Union, and potentially having the Union be a pilot test location for the Varsity Rack. 

Funding was approved for several pavement improvements on campus streets.  These improvements will reduce gas consumption and corresponding emissions for vehicle traffic; restripe the bike lanes on a portion of Gregory Drive; extend the bike lanes on Fourth Street south to Kirby Avenue; add pedestrian countdown traffic signals at two signalized intersections; implement traffic calming measures, such as curb bump outs for increased pedestrian safety in key locations; and improve one block of the Illinois Marathon route on First Street, between Peabody Drive and Kirby Avenue.

Staff are participating in weekly conference calls with Zipcar to encourage the use of car sharing and active transportation on campus. A Zipcar winter welcome special offer was shared in the OS newsletter and through the OS twitter account.

Energy Services requested clarification about the submittal process for SSC funding of energy projects. SSC’s Program Advisor met with the Energy Services team and F&S contacts to explain the process.

Bicycle Intern Patrick Clark is developing the full proposal for bike parking to submit to SSC in February.  This proposal will include three phases to replace all donut-hole bike parking areas with the campus standards rack.  It will also include a request to fund additional Bike Fix-It stations on campus.

SSC voted to extend the deadline for a pre-existing Bike Sharing Grant, which awarded $10,000, to November 30, 2012.

As mentioned, the SSC awarded $250,000 toward the compost facility, pending the F-SCRAP grant.

Staff participated in the six-hour SSC retreat on a weekend in January.  This event was very helpful in establishing strong working relationships within the SSC and developing priorities for process improvements during the spring. 

Staff also participated in the brainstorming session related to the Sustainable Student Farm.  It was a very informative discussion and interesting to learn about their past experiences and plans for moving forward with changes in their mission and operations.

Several grants are in progress to meet iCAP goals.  Staff submitted the quarterly reports for DCEO ARRA Large Customer Thermal Grant on January 5.  We also requested a funding increase for this grant from DCEO and are currently waiting for their decision.  F&S applied for the F-SCRAP Grant from DCEO, for $250,000 for the Large-Scale Food Waste Composting Facility, submitted January 13.  Energy Services continued discussions with DCEO about FY12 Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards (EEPS) Grant Applications.   Energy Services also met for the first time with a DCEO contact about a new grant program for steam traps. We will develop a proposal to pursue the grant. 

The firm that was hired last fall to complete the Compost Feasibility Study, Foth, submitted a draft of their study to the University in early January for comments.  Immediately following, F&S applied for $250,000 from the F-SCRAP Grant from DCEO, for equipment and site improvements for the Large-Scale Food Waste Composting Facility.  In order to apply for the grant, the University was required to commit to funding the remaining portion of the facility’s proposed budget, and an emergency phone meeting was called by the Student Sustainability Committee to assign funding toward this. The committee voted in favor and granted $250,000 toward the project.  A draft plan for the compost facility was also developed and distributed to key stakeholders in mid-January for feedback. 

The battery recycling program is being expanded to four locations across campus, for both rechargeable batteries and single-use alkaline batteries. Facilities & Services confirmed participation, developed a fact sheet and instructional kit for participating locations, and has committed to funding the program up to $10,000 each fiscal year. The containers for the program will be ordered in February. 

The Florida and Orchard Prairie has new leadership through the student group Red Bison and their advisor, John Marlin.  Red Bison will be meeting with F&S to set next steps for the site, including going through the process of naming the site and implementing the concept design.

ISTC reviewed the final draft of their True Cost of Water Study with F&S leadership for comments before submittal to SSC.  F&S will use the study to select water conservation projects related to chiller plants and cooling towers. 

Engineering 315, Learning in the Community (LINC), has a number of course sections dedicated to sustainability this semester, including UI Bikes (UIB), for which Facilities & Services is serving as the Project Partner. The UIB section has two student project managers and 13 undergraduate students, who will be focusing on three bicycle-related projects this semester: A. the continuation of the bike sharing market analysis started last semester, including a campus-wide survey and targeted focus groups; B. the development of a campus bicycle parking map; and C. testing various marketing tactics to try to encourage students to park their bikes legally at designated bike parking, rather than on trees, signs, ramps, or fences.

F&S and the Campus Bike Project (CBP) met with an MBA class who agreed to help the CBP become fiscally self-supporting through improved marketing. There are two student teams who will review this topic in the context of all bicycle-related topics for campus.

Logistics are underway for the Spring, 2012 offering of the Teaching Sustainability Workshop (previously the Prairie Project).  There will be an opening reception and keynote speaker on Friday, April 13 at Levis Center and the workshop will be held on April 14, 2012 at the Japan House.  The call for applications went out on January 25 with applications due by March 9.  In two days, we had already received 11 applications and are now up to 15.  This is the quickest response we have had to date.

The Scholarship of Sustainability Series is currently being offered for the third year.  The series is connected with 4 courses from 3 different colleges in addition to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  Attendance each Thursday is expected to be around 100 people as the enrollment in the 4 courses are full (and the series will not be videotaped.)

Last fall, the SSC suggested an MOU with the Office of Sustainability regarding the hiring of a curriculum specialist to work one-on-one with faculty to integrate sustainability into the curriculum.  The OS submitted a letter of inquiry for committee response on January 27, 2012.

The Sustainability Coalition met with Chancellor Wise on January 30.  The students delivered a PowerPoint presentation describing what they would like to see from the Office of Sustainability, including specifically an OS with authority and capacity, a full time director, and an entity separate from the proposed Center for a Sustainable Environment.  They shared sustainability structures from other universities to help illustrate this point.  The Chancellor did not promise anything, but indicated she would take their input into consideration.

The Sustainability Council comprised of senior leadership and two student members also met on January 30.  Though there were other agenda items, the focus was largely on the proposed Center for a Sustainable Environment, its structure, leadership, etc.  There was also discussion regarding the possibility of an Office of Sustainability separate from the Center, and questions about where those resources would come from.

In continuation of the ACES conversations that began in the fall, staff met with Dr. Jeff Brawn, Head of NRES.  He indicated that NRES sees themselves as “cheerleaders” for the sustainability efforts on campus and they look forward to working with the OS over the coming months and years.

The battery recycling program is being expanded to four locations across campus, for both rechargeable batteries and single-use alkaline batteries. Facilities & Services confirmed participation, developed a fact sheet and instructional kit for participating locations, and has committed to funding the program up to $10,000 each fiscal year. The containers for the program will be ordered in February. 

The F&S Energy and Production Distribution Master Plan was kicked off in January.  This plan is the first step to achieving the goal of not burning coal at Abbott Power Plant by 2017. The plan will be developed over the course of calendar year 2012 and will include specific projects and cost estimates for implementing the plan in five-year increments. 

The Krannert Center for Performing Arts is seeking funding from the SSC for solar installations on their building.  They will be submitting a full proposal to SSC in March, and they will work with sustainability staff to submit a DCEO grant application under the Program Year 2013 Renewable Energy Production Program.

Sustainability staff met with Corporate Relations to discuss the potential for developing a database of sustainability research at Illinois.  Corporate Relations already has a database for water related research that is very detailed.  Future meetings are planned to move forward with this project.