At Fridays event, 8,987 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $1,367 in energy costs. This also prevented 11 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 1,236 gallons of gasoline being consumed. That's a huge impact!

Student Sustainability Committee Admin toured (2 staff) on December 8, 2023.

Please see attached the iWG meeting notes from the meeting held on December 8, 2023. The iWG reviewed the key points discussed during the Sustainability Council.

The Education iCAP team met on Teams from 1-2 PM on Thursday, December 7th. The team discussed Sustainability in Study Abroad, the Sustainability Literacy assessment, and the Sustainability Internship Coordinator recommendation. Meeting minutes are attached.

Notes from our Campus Sustainability team meeting are attached.

Actions:

Miriam reaching back out to Ball State for more info on their program

Jen reaching out to DIA for a mtg-some direct requests for signage, staff support for recycling collection, getting volunteers

Morgan asked F&S to do an analysis of what could be accomplished with current $$ from carbon credit sales

Ask Daphne to look into options for SFC bins

Morgan would like for Madhu to speak to Paul Ellinger for his perspective on the carbon credit sales

Jen to reach out to Lowa and Alma about water quality testing

Miriam working to set up time with SSLC in Jan for a touch base meeting

-Elizabeth

The Transportation iCAP Team met on 12/1/2023 to discuss EVs on campus and action items for the Sustainable Fleet Replacement Plan.

14 campus events have been recognized by iSEE's Certified Green Events program this fall, and two fraternities were recertified Gold under the Certified Green Chapter program — Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity and the Triangle Alpha Chapter. The events included: August — New Student Convocation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker Visit, Illinois Promise Lunch, Exchange & International Student Welcome Event, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Visit, Dennis H. May Diversity Conference on Mental Health and Higher Education, ABA TechShow; September — CCFD Kick-off, Illinois News Broadcasters Association Reception, Men's Football Games (Suite and Pregame Events), 2023 Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Meeting; October — Illini Lights Out; November — weSTEM Conference, P&T Bookplate Reception.  

Hi Morgan,

I created a spreadsheet of all of the participants of the Billion Dollar Green Challenge. This spreadsheet includes the population size and loan amount. I thought it would be easier to sort through the information with this. I will try to find data about current energy savings to add to this sheet. But almost all of the institutions have very little information about what they have done with the loan amount. And if they do have information, it is minimum 3-5 years old.

I attached that document and my current word document. Still need to add a few more universities, but I wanted to see the numbers clearly before I picked a random one to look into.

According to this data we have the 9th largest loan fund. Ill focus on the rest of the universities above us in the list.

Thanks,

Quinn M. Connolly

The iCAP Resilience Team meet on 12/1 to discuss project updates and analyzed stakeholder engagement performance.

The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on 12/4/2024 to discuss updates with our membership in the Green Sports Alliance, the Coca-Cola Buy-Back program, and current hydration station standards. Daphne Hulse provided data from our former Green Tailgate events to show successes and challenges with waste diversion at football games. The Zero Waste Team will be collaborating with the Engagement iCAP Team to discuss how we can better our volunteer outreach. 

Hi Susan,

I hope this message finds you well after the holiday weekend. I wanted to reach out regarding the recent EPA notice of funding opportunity for the Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grant Program, which you may have already heard about. I attached the full notice of funding opportunity document to this email. The due date for applications is November 21, 2024. Community-based non-profits can partner with institutions of higher education on a collaborative project.

Track 1 applications, community-driven investments for change, covers a broad area of community conditions that could be assessed. One of the specific objectives covered is “reduce local pollution to improve public health.” I understand that building a HHW facility for the county would address pollutants that may otherwise end up improperly disposed of.

I just wanted to reach out and call your attention to this opportunity in case you hadn’t already heard about it. Do you think this could be useful for funding the HHW facility? If so, I’d certainly be interested in being involved!

Thank you,

Daphne

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Hi Daphne, 

This is definitely the best email I've received recently!!!  OMG. CCES is potentially so very interested. 

I'll be reviewing this and will touch base with you ASAP.  

Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. 

Susan Monte

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Hi Jen, Morgan, & Pete,

Exciting news – big EPA notice of funding opportunity just released from the IRA for $2B, applications due a year from now. Community-based non-profits can partner with institutions of higher education on an environment justice project. The Champaign County Environmental Stewards have been wanting to tackle our lack of household hazardous waste facility here in Champaign County for some time. This would be a huge win for campus waste, too. Depending on what we scour in the notice of funding opportunity document (i.e. assuming we are eligible), this would be something I’d like to explore pursuing with CCES.

Thank you,

Daphne

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Hi Daphne,

I skimmed the RFP (here) and noticed a strong emphasis on environmental justice. The program objective is “redressing environmental and climate injustices for communities facing legacy pollution, climate change, and persistent disinvestment.”

I think iSEE /the Resilience team can help with a proposal. It would be a good idea for us to discuss how best to do this.

One immediate thought I had was whether we could combine a hazardous waste facility with a facility for waste-to-energy conversion and build in job/economic opportunities in the community much like the Green Era Campus in Chicago. It doesn’t need to be an anaerobic digestor (although we certainly have enough organic waste generated regionally to support one).

Let me know what you think.

Jen

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Hi Jen,

Good catch on the environmental justice piece. I like your line of thinking on how we can incorporate additional features into a HHW facility. I think it would be great to chat about this with the CCES and determine a shared direction. I’m waiting to hear back from Susan and would be happy to schedule this.

Thank you,

Daphne

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the November 2023 Buyer's Share amounts by the hour, totaling 2,202.9 Megawatt hours.

The November 2023 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the October 2023 Buyer's Share amounts by the hour, totaling 1,906.1 Megawatt hours.

The October 2023 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

The Land & Water iCAP team met on Teams from 1-2 PM on Friday, December 1st. The team discussed the meadow at Orchard Downs, revising the iCAP Land & Water objectives, and the development of an IPM plan for non-F&S areas. Meeting minutes are attached.

You might be a long-time friend of CCB, or someone we just met at the Farmer's Market this summer.  Either way, come hang out for a while with us at the 25 O'Clock Brewing Company.  We will bring the snacks, you bring your stories from 2023 and ideas for 2024.

And you are welcome to bring a cyclist friend with you.

See you Saturday!

Jeff

November 2023 photos of the Florida Orchard Prairie have been added to the box folder.