"I’ve Heard of Carbon Off-Setting - But What is Carbon In-Setting and How Can It Reduce the Carbon Footprint of My Supply Chain?" presented via webinar by Angela Foster-Rice, Principal at Aerial Consulting. Join us in the SJW conference room at ISTC or view it from the comfort of your own office. This event is free, but registration to view the webinar is required.

October 10, 12–1 pm • 1 Hazelwood Dr. in Champaign

Elizabeth Meschewski • Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

Sustainability Seminar: Reducing Carbon Footprint in Supply Chains

Bring your bicycle to Alma Mater Plaza or the Hallene Gateway (Illinois Street and Lincoln Avenue) on Thursday, October 3 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the free installation of bicycle light sets. Light the Night strives to improve the visibility of bicyclists in Champaign-Urbana and provide general bike safety information. Free, on-site bicycle registration will also be available. October 3, 4–7 pm

Sarthak Prasad • Facilities & Services

Light the Night 2019 – Bicycle Lights Giveaway

Information on Light the Night was approved to be posted in eWeek (for faculty and staff), iNews (for Undergraduates), iSEE, and ISSS Newsletters.

Sarthak Prasad organized another meeting to discuss the current status of the final preparation, one week prior to the event. See attached the meeting notes.

The Energy SWATeam's meeting in September involved discussions on 2018-2019 recommendations and 2020 iCAP objective ideas. 

Visit the RORG's personal page to read the blog and stay up to date on the amazing efforts underway in our community, https://redoakraingarden.org/blog/

The SWATeam met to discuss the division of labor of the iCAP 2020 Objectives research. Several team members took initiative to present informed objective ideas on an area of Zero Waste Sustainability.

All, Last week was busy, per usual this time of year. TBP and I met with Circle Cycle to discuss their Earn-a-Bike program using abandoned bikes on campus. I interviewed two applicants and will be hiring them. The light sets for the LTN event arrived on Wednesday and were expeditiously moved to the Urbana shop, saving some space over here. Two bike donations were on the rack when I pulled in this morning.

This week I’ll be taking the large pile of kids bikes over to Salt & Light to donate. I’ll also be meeting with F&S Sustainability and VeoRide to discuss bike share on campus. I’ll be out of town Thursday and Friday. I’ll arrange for the student staff to cover for me.

The numbers:
Visitors: 101
Sales: $1,463.00

Memberships: 19 for $570
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $400
Bikes (B-a-B): 2 or $120
Tires/tubes: 28 for $107

Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center

Construction of a new 54-acre, 12.1 megawatt (MWdc) Solar Farm is approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees as the sole member of Prairieland Energy, Inc. Referred to as “Solar Farm 2.0,” the new utility-scale array to be located north of Curtis Road, between First Street and U.S. Route 45, will produce approximately 20,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, almost tripling the university’s existing on-site renewable energy generation. Solar Farm 2.0 will generate the equivalent electricity use of more than 2,000 average American homes.

Sol Systems, LLC, will design, build, operate, and maintain Solar Farm 2.0, for the duration of a 20-year contract which includes power purchase and land lease agreements, and an option to buy the system at the end of the term.

https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/234685.html

Attached are the meeting minutes for the first Transportation SWATeam meeting. New members and old members were introduced and caught up to speed. The iCAP 2020 was introduced.

The attached file and following links are reference materials for the Transportation SWATeam, for developing draft objectives for the 2020 iCAP.

Every few years iSEE submits data to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), in the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Reporting System (STARS).  Our campus is STARS gold, and we would like to aim for platinum.  This is a resource as you consider 2020 iCAP objectives.

• The STARS report from Feb. 2019 is online at https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/.
• Transportation data is at
  • Campus Fleet 0.17 / 1.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/transportation/OP-15/
  • Student Commute Modal Split 1.80 / 2.00 https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/transportation/OP-16/
  • Employee Commute Modal Split 0.84 / 2.00 https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/transportation/OP-17/
  • Support for Sustainable Transportation 2.00 / 2.00 https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/transportation/OP-18/
• Innovation data is at
  • Bicycle Friendly University Not Applicable https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/transportation/OP-18/
    • It says we have to be Silver level for this to apply, and at the last certification time we were only Bronze.

If you click on a link above and then choose “Credit Info,” you can see the data requirements for that item. 

The attached file and following links are reference materials for the Zero Waste SWATeam, for developing draft objectives for the 2020 iCAP.

Every few years iSEE submits data to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), in the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Reporting System (STARS).  Our campus is STARS gold, and we would like to aim for platinum.  This is a resource as you consider 2020 iCAP objectives.

• The STARS report from Feb. 2019 is online at https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/.
• Procurement data is at
  • Sustainable Procurement 1.75 / 3.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/purchasing/OP-11/
  • Electronics 0.00 / 1.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/purchasing/OP-12/
  • Cleaning and Janitorial Purchasing 0.98 / 1.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/purchasing/OP-13/
  • Office Paper Purchasing 0.00 / 1.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/purchasing/OP-14/
• Recycling data is at
  • Waste Minimization and Diversion 3.05 / 8.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/waste/OP-19/
  • Construction and Demolition Waste Diversion 0.00 / 1.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/waste/OP-20/
  • Hazardous Waste Management 1.00 / 1.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/waste/OP-21/
• Dining practices info is at
  • Food and Beverage Purchasing 0.00 / 6.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/food-dining/OP-7/
  • Sustainable Dining 2.00 / 2.00: https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2019-02-27/OP/food-dining/OP-8/

You can see from the scores above that some items were not pursued.  If you click on a link above and then choose “Credit Info,” you can see the data requirements for that item. 

Morgan White and Joyce Mast discussed next steps for acheiving Net-Zero status for the ECE Building.  Mike Marquissee is working on a draft MOU about using Solar Farm 2.0 Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

Joyce is seeking student input about what should go on the ECE Building interactive display.  If you are interested in working with her on this, contact her at jmast@illinois.edu. 

Dr. Evan DeLucia, Director of iSEE, agreed to send a letter of support to F&S and to have iSEE help promote these efforts across campus.

See the transmittal of PWR020 F&S Waste Report Endorsement Recommendation.

See SWATeam Recommendation PWR020 F&S Waste Report Endorsement here.

For future updates on this recommendation, visit the Zero Waste project.

Jake Benjamin received the Torch Blinking Bike Lights on September 18, 2019.

Barry confirmed the times for Volunteer training and Light Assembly.

See Quote from TBP to purchase Torch Blinking bike lights

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Optional training sessions: 
There will be two chances to go to a short training session for those who haven't participated before, those who want a refresher, or those who want to practice with this year's models of lights:

- Mon., Sept. 23, 2019, 6:00 pm--6:45 pm, at the Downtown Urbana Bike Project, 202 S. Broadway, Urbana, IL. (enter via south side basement door).
- Thu., Oct. 3, 2019, 3:00 pm--3:45 pm, at Alma Mater (SE corner of Green St. and Wright, Urbana, IL)
      

We will run a light-assembly / battery-install event (plus a second if needed) to get lights ready in advance:
- Mon., Sept. 23, 2019, 7:00 pm--9:00 pm. Downtown Urbana Bike Project, 202 S. Broadway, Urbana, IL. (enter via south side basement door)
- Possible second session: TBA

Attached are the meeting minutes from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 17 September, where the trajectory for iCAP 2020 was discussed, as well as review of SP19 SWATeam recommendations and a potential battery recycling initiative. 

MTD's marketing team created the LTN 2019 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/911318152576958/

Sarthak Prasad posted this link as an event on Bike at Illinois: Light the Night 2019

See the project update on LTN Volunteer Sign Up.

See the meeting notes from the first group meeting for LTN 2019.

All, Still busy! I went over to the warehouse last week and picked up some of the nicer, minimally-broken bikes over there. One only needed air in the tires and a few minor tweaks to be roadworthy. It’s already on the sales floor. Will hopefully have a few more of those to churn out this week. I also returned 3 Chambana Bikes to Neutral Cycle.
We’re still suspending the First Visit Free policy here. We’ve been less than at-capacity for the first hour or two every day which is a harder sell but haven’t had too much trouble. I frankly wouldn’t mind seeing the suspension extended well into the fall as it helps to weed out people who aren’t at all interested in doing the work in the first place. I often wonder how many people are in the shop to genuinely learn and how many are here because we’re cheaper than every bike shop in town… Just something to think about.

Got more complaints about the broken fix-it pumps. One guy on the phone seemed especially frustrated since he’d been to 3 – 4 pumps across campus. I sent him over to Neutral Cycle since he was in that neighborhood already.
I have a couple interviews for some new hires this week. I already got a couple questions about Light The Night, which was surprising and welcome. I guess after 10+ years people are beginning to expect it. I also spoke with a U of I alum who’s interested in starting some similar DIY/education programming over at a small school in Indiana where he teaches. I gave him my card and flyer for TBP in case he wants to pick our brains a little more on the subject.

The numbers:
Visitors: 102
Sales: $933.60
Memberships: 18 for $540
Tires/tubes: 20 for $116

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center