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  2. Refrigerant Solutions with Tradewater

    Associated Project(s): 
    Refrigerants

    Message from Eli Etzinioi from Tradewater:

    --------------------------------------

    Hi Miriam,

    Eli from Tradewater here! It was great to meet you at the Higher Ed Climate Summit session on offsets, and to hear a bit about how you’re navigating climate action planning at UIUC.

    I’m looping in Ray Rieling, our lead on refrigerant inventories/quantification, safe destruction, and development of the resulting offsets in partnership with universities. His program is called Tradewater Refrigerant Solutions.

    As a reminder, Tradewater is headquartered in Chicago, with our main operations warehouse located in Elk Grove Village. Since you’re nearby, we could potentially arrange a visit to the warehouse which could be a great opportunity for you, colleagues, and sustainability-minded students to learn about how we test, store, and handle these high-GWP gases to prepare them for destruction.

    Would you like to set up a chat with Ray and I for some time after this long weekend? We can chat about logistics/timing of a UIUC visit to the warehouse, the opportunity for a refrigerant management inventory/project at UIUC, and any salient questions you have about offsets.

    --------------------------------------------------

    Miriam forwarded the message to Morgan White, Jen Fratterigo, and Stacey DeLorenzo:

    ---------------------------------------------

    Hi Jen, Morgan, and Stacey –

     

    I am sharing an email related to an opportunity to earn carbon offsets through the safe destruction of refrigerants. Second Nature is working with Tradewater to develop this opportunity to generate peer-reviewed carbon offsets that could be used to offset a portion of Scope 3 emissions. (This is quite different from third-party verified credits, and these credits could only be used to offset some of our own Scope 3 emissions and could not be sold on the VCM).

     

    Is this something you would be interested in learning more about? I really don’t know what we are currently doing with refrigerant waste – would it first be helpful to talk to someone who handles this directly?

    -------------------------------------------

  5. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Run of the mill week here. Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the weekend. This week I’ll grab some more bikes from the barn to fix up and/or scrap. Had a few sneaky ones that look good at first glance and are junk in the end. We’re getting a good stockpile of overhauled wheels ready for when folks’ bikes need new-to-them wheels.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 35
    Sales: $388.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $200
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 2 for$8

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  6. Illini Lights Out Event 2/9/24

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illini Lights Out

    At Friday's Illini Lights Out event, 3,668 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $588.50 in energy costs. This also prevented 4.7 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 532 gallons of gasoline being consumed.

  17. January 2024 SmartWay posts

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    Using the #EPASmartWay logo helps differentiate your company from the competition. Be sure to let your customers and stakeholders know that you’re leading the way on clean, sustainable supply chain management. Learn more: epa.gov/smartway

     

    Attached Files: 

  18. 1/26/2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illini Lights Out

    At Friday's Illini Lights Out event, 2,995 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $455 in energy costs. This also prevented 3.7 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 412 gallons of gasoline being consumed.  

  19. Weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Sneakily busy last week. Warmer weather this week will likely keep visitors darkening the doors. Still plugging away at the abandoned bikes. Had an interview last week for another student worker to bolster our team in advance of the really warm weather.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 43
    Sales: $615.50

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $260
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 2 for $5

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  20. 01-29-24 Dump & Run Meeting 1

    Associated Project(s): 
    Dump and Run

    Attendance: Pete Varney, Dan Hiser, Miriam Keep, Bryan Johnson, Mark Kuehl, Thurman Etchison, Daphne Hulse

     

    1. Overview of the budget last year

      1. $6,992.19 spent for the 2023 program

      2. Daphne is determining the number of remaining funds from our SSC award (this will likely be the last year we have funds remaining in our SSC account)

    2. Overview of results last year

      1. Goodwill: 16K lbs (hard household goods)

      2. Salt & Light: 3.5K lbs (soft clothing and bedding)

    3. Overview of this year

      1. Undergraduate residence halls

      2. Explore expansion to graduate residence halls

        1. Orchard Downs

          1. 2 laundry room locations

        2. Ashton Woods

      3. Explore food collection - work with local pantry

      4. iSEE collaboration

        1. Interested in collecting recyclable materials (both that F&S typically collects, as well as special collections)

      5. 3 non-profits interested

        1. Goodwill Land of Lincoln - interested in returning for this year again

        2. Salt & Light - interested in returning for this year again

        3. Habitat for Humanity ReStore - interested in joining this year, wants furniture specifically

    4. Assess last years’ donation site locations (bolded locations were successful, asterisked locations should be reassessed)

      1. Hopkins

      2. Student Dining and Residential Programs

      3. Illinois Street

      4. Lincoln Avenue

      5. Wassaja*

      6. Weston*

      7. Busey-Evans*

      8. FAR/PAR*

    5. Pete & Dan: containers could be opened at 8am and closed at 8pm

    6. Housing suggests that we should look into bolder advertisements in residence halls

     

    Action Items:

    1. Determine exact remaining budget for this year (Daphne)

    2. Identify locations for Orchard Downs & Ashton Woods (Mark, Bryan)

    3. Inquire with Housing communications team about opportunity for advertisement (Mark, Bryan)

      1. + communications for Orchard Downs, Ashton Woods

    4. Reassess FAR-PAR location (Mark, Bryan)

    5. Reassess Busey-Evans location (Mark, Bryan)

    6. Loop in Jenna (Project4Less) into food pantry donation conversations (Thurman, Daphne)

    7. iSEE - what materials will be collected? (Miriam)

    8. Assign locations to non-profit partners, once locations are determined (Daphne)

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