New Updated Count!! 20,000 containers in Housing
University Housing doubled the number of reusable containers this month from 10,000 to 20,000.
University Housing doubled the number of reusable containers this month from 10,000 to 20,000.
The Engagement iCAP Team met on Tuesday, October 12 for an ideation session for recommendations for the upcoming semester. New members Kathy Adams, Sonali Kumar and Kavya Mula were introduced to the team along with Shibu Kar, the team's new co-chair! Meeting minutes are attached with a link to the recommendation ideation powerpoint.
Attached are the meeting minutes from 9-22-21. The agenda focused on iWG iCAP 2020 priorities, Council/Sub-council updates, ZW004 and LW002 next steps, an overview of campus sustainability month, and updates from the student groups.
Old description:
The Wellness Center on campus is working to promote a Culture of Wellness for our University students, faculty, and staff. This office has been collecting information on the Walkability of campus pathways. By working with volunteers to perform walking audits, the Wellness Center is collecting detailed comments and notes about walking around campus. This information will be shared with Facilities and Services and incorporated into project prioritization for sidewalk improvements.
http://wellness.illinois.edu/iWalk/walkFeatured.html
This description has been moved to the Background
All, Slower week, which was welcome. Sold a couple bikes and were able to get a handle on the influx of drop off repairs. The Green Quad Day event that was supposed to happen on Thursday was rescheduled to Tuesday, so we’ll staff for that event and hobnob with the larger sustainability community.
I’ll make a run out to the abandoned bike emporium this week, too, and see if there’s anything worth our time. Was planning that for last week but it didn’t happen.
We’ve got a couple bikes in the shop build queue, but I’ll grab a few from Urbana unless we get more donations this week.
The numbers:
Visitors: 35
Sales: $850.50
Bike (refurb): 3 for $490
Memberships: 5 for $150
Tires/tubes: 5 for $20
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator
The Resilience iCAP Team met on Monday, October 4th to review the iCAP Objectives Assessment and discuss our team's assessment of progress of our 7 objectives. Meeting minutes are attached.
Illini Lights Out was relaunched for Fall 2021 and the first event was September 17, 2021. This event had a great turnout and was very successful! Eighty-six student volunteers shut off 2,636 light bubs and saved 4547.1 kWh of energy, 3.144 metric tons of CO2, and $382. Thank you volunteers for the impact you have made!
The next Illini Lights Out event will be Friday, October 22 at 5:30 pm. Students, sign up at the link below and meet at the Foreign Language Building Lobby!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehaxolPWKdnvOVe2T61XcjXHrL16oC...
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to the U of I Master Plan, measures more than a whopping 8,000 acres of land in the Master Plan Area. On that land grows too many trees to count… or so you thought.
F&S helps count and maintain all 16,534 trees on U of I grounds. All are viewable through the U of I’s “TreeKeeper” database: https://illinoisedu.treekeepersoftware.com/index.cfm?deviceWidth=1280.
That includes more than one “State Champion” tree – meaning it is the largest of its species in Illinois.
“These trees, and all of them on campus, are valuable and a privilege to take care of,” said Brent Lewis, F&S landscape architect. “Having champions on campus shows the ability of our grounds professionals to carefully tend to their needs over many decades of time, ultimately allowing them to grow into the great specimens that we often take for granted.”
The Carolina Silverbell in the backyard of the President’s House is the latest state champion tree on campus, joining the yellowwood found in the green space north of Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall, which attained champion status on Arbor Day 2019.
In April, UIUC experts and students visited and measured the tree, confirming its status as the largest tree of its kind in the state.
“The two multi-stemmed specimens behind the President’s House are the two largest specimens of this species I’ve personally seen. Granted, I don’t come across this species very often,” said Jay Hayek, extension forestry specialist with the department of natural sciences and environmental sciences. “Carolina Silverbell is considered a state-listed endangered species here in Illinois. Its natural range is limited to just two southern Illinois counties: Massac and Pulaski. It’s not that Carolina silverbell is necessarily so ‘rare,’ it’s just that this species is simply at the extreme edge of its natural range by extending ever so slightly into the southern tip of Illinois. Even in its more natural habitat, this species is relatively uncommon.”
Since 2015, Illinois has been recognized as a Tree Campus USA, meaning the colleges and universities that most effectively manage their campus trees in an academic atmosphere. The F&S executive director charges the Campus Tree Advisory Committee, a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency outreach effort to plan forestry efforts. The Illinois Tree Campus plan is available at http://go.fs.illinois.edu/treecampus. All aid in the effort to promote healthy trees on campus and engagement with students, faculty, staff, and community members in the spirit of conservation.
Three key measurements are taken: the trunk’s circumference 4.5 feet above the ground, total height, and the average “crown spread,” which is how far the branches grow out. The tree’s “total score” is equivalent to the circumference (in inches) + height (in feet) + the average crown spread (in feet) multiplied by 0.25.
The new champion tree measurements:
Circumference = 5.57 feet or 66.8 inches • Total Height = 60 feet • Crown Spread: 54.8 feet
Total Score = 140.5 points
Via F&S Insider,
website: https://fs.web.illinois.edu/Insider/2021/07/06/what-it-takes-to-be-a-cha...
A tri-fold brochure for the Illinois Geothermal Collaboration Project is attached below.
In the atrium of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building (ECEB), there are two kiosks where people can sign various pledges related to decreasing energy use. Two solar-powered phone chargers will be raffled off to those who have signed the pledge during Campus Sustainability Month, October 2021.
Nearly 20% of energy is unnecessarily wasted each day; very simple steps exist to reduce that number, such as turning off the lights when you leave a room or unplugging devices and cords when we aren’t using them. Other examples include replacing inefficient appliances (like lightbulbs!), which can also save money! Signing the pledge to be more conscious of your energy is a great step toward leading a more sustainable life. Here are a few other ways to learn more and get involved with sustainability on campus:
If you have any questions about energy consumption or sustainability in general, feel free to reach out to campus sustainability staff at sustainability@illinois.edu.
On Friday, October 09, 2021, Sutapa and Sarthak met to work on the Training Manual for the Walkability Audit.
The training manual is designed for the volunteers which will include background information about the project, directions for executing the audit in an efficient way and details about each question with graphics for clarity.
Congratulations to the newest recipients of our Green Office, Event and Chapter certifications!
Green Chapter Gold Certification:
Zeta Psi-October 2021
Green Office Gold Certification:
iSEE (Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment)-October 2021
Event Certifications:
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers General Meetings-Certified September 2021
iSEE Campus Sustainability Trash Cleanup-Certified September 2021
iSEE Campus Sustainability Celebration-Certified September 2021
SECS (Students for Environmental Concerns) Divestment Teach-In-Certified September 2021
iSEE Illini Lights Out-Certified October 2021
Keep up the great work!
We have just hit 5,000 project updates on the iCAP Portal! Here is the link to the 5,000th: America Walks webinar: Walking and Walking Campaigns
Thank you all for the support!
America Walks sponsored a webinar in 2016 about Walking and Walking Campaigns. Here is the link to this webinar: https://vimeo.com/180652941
The 1st discussion was about a Walking Campaign from Seattle. Basically, they started a campaign called “Walktober”, which had a goal of recording 25,000 miles on foot during the month of October. That is nearly equivalent to cover the world, hence their slogan “Walk the World.”
The 2nd discussion was about Vision Zero from San Diego. What to look for when creating a VZ campaign, how to formulate it, and ideas for how to implement it.
Objective 7.2 is of the iCAP 2020 is:
According to David Guth, UIUC has exceeded the FY24 goal in FY21 by 3.5%! Moving forward, the Engagement Team is looking for ways to sustain this goal, as well as ways to improve on it.
Alec Van Patten met with Brent Lewis, Betsy Liggett, and Morgan White to discuss the SECS' idea to get a new green roof on campus. F&S staff shared some lessons learned from other green roof installations, and suggested some potential locations. These include:
We also mentioned the ECE green wall, which needs help getting refurbished. It most likely needs better watering and possibly needs a review of the soil quality.
For the funding, the SECS is likely going to request SSC funding in the spring semester. Brent says they can request pricing info from LiveRoof.com to get an estimated budget.
Once a location is selected, Alec will email this group to move into the preliminary approval stage.
We would prefer to keep the ability to add new projects to a very limited few people. Instead of giving Liz access to add a project, let’s get a quick process to add them upon her request.
1) Please email me, Meredith, and Sarthak with a short project description, and the proposed new iCAP Project location in the hierarchy.
2) Meredith and/or I will confirm the placement in the hierarchy.
3) Sarthak will add a blank private project as a placeholder and email you.
4) Liz or anyone in the SSC with access will fill in the project information and change it to public.
~Morgan
The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Wednesday, October 6 to complete the iCAP Objectives Assessment and discuss our team's assessment of progress on our 10 objectives. Meeting minutes are attached.
The pdf attached below contains data that was submitted on the panels and inverters in Solar Farm 2.0.
I looked at 6-buildings and we received two (2) native energy files. We did get four (4) PDF energy model files.
Thanks,
Tom
Thomas J. Keller, PE,
CxA, LEED-AP-BD+C
Mechanical Engineer
Engineering & Construction Services
Facilities and Services