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  1. Transportation iCAP Team January Meeting

    The Transportation iCAP team met on Thursday, January 27th from 4:00-5:00 P.M. The team discussed progress on the EV Task Force Member Recommendation, the fleet replacement plan recommendation, and two returned recommendations: the Carbon Credit program and the Carpool Survey.

    The team has decided to do further research into what a carpool system would look like at the U of I, and will discuss the matter further with insight from other schools at the next meeting. Progress will hopefully be made on the Fleet Replacement Plan Recommendation, as the team will be meeting with Pete Varney in the Parking Department soon.

     

    Further Information can be found in the attached document.

    Attached Files: 
  2. Zero Waste iCAP Team Meeting

    The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Thursday, January 27 to finalize the recommendations drafted at the end of last semester, the Water Drinking Behavior Survey and the Water Filter System Tracking. The team also discussed several recommendations they intend to pursue this semester, including: Adopt-a-Highway program, Food Literacy Project, Composting Committee, P Card Training and Sustainable Receipt options. Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 
  3. Energy iCAP Team January Meeting

    The Energy iCAP team met at 9:00 A.M. on Wednesday, January 26th and discussed updates on recommendation ideas as well as agreed to move forward with the submission of two recommendations to the iCAP Working Group. Progress is currently being made on a feasibility study of CO2 District Heating and Cooling which will be undertaken by a group of engineering students during the Spring Semester, and progress on a new recommendation for Building Envelope Commissioning will take place.

    The Team also agreed to move forward with a recommendation that the Office of the Chancellor commission a report on the Safety and Security of a proposed MMR Nuclear Reactor on campus property as well as another recommendation that would seek to charge Facilities & Services with developing a comprehensive energy plan that will bring the University to net-zero emissions by 2050.

    Further Details on the meeting can be found in the attached agenda which also contains meeting minutes.

    Attached Files: 
  4. NRES 285 - iCAP Ambassadors - Facility Liaison

    "Hello Elizabeth and Don,

     

    Thank you again for agreeing to serve as facility liaisons for our NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassador Course! We look forward to this interdisciplinary, collaborative, and interactive field course. We sincerely appreciate your willingness to participate.

     

    This is the second week of the course and students have begun to learn about the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) 2020 and sustainability best practices. The syllabus with course schedule is attached; please note that the students will not necessarily visit their buildings until the end of February.

     

    Before the initial call or meeting (set up by the student group), we encourage you to assess your building to identify if there are any areas that the students should avoid walking through or areas in which they might need accompaniment. In March, the Thursday class period will be “reserved” as a time for students to work with their facility liaisons and/or assess buildings. If the class period time (Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 – 10:50 AM) does not work for you to meet with the group, the students will work with you to identify another day/time. 

     

    The students will be provided with the building floor plans ahead of time and both you and the student group will receive the “sustainability checklist”. This list will serve as the foundation for their building assessment in which they will base their final report and sustainability recommendations. In summary, the role of you two as facility liaisons are as follow:

    • Work with a student team (4 students), who will be trained on the Illinois Climate Action Plan. Students will hear from various guest lectures throughout the month February.
    • Students will visit their campus building in March and April to observe and gather sustainability information (e.g., number/location of recycling bins) and make recommendations as a final assessment/report. Building floor plans will be provided to the students by F&S/Eric and Meredith. 
    • Facility liaisons are strongly encouraged to have weekly or bi-weekly check-in calls with the student group.
    • Facility liaisons are strongly encouraged to walk the building with them and/or to be there for student teams to assess certain areas, and discuss/answer questions about the building.

     

    Please reach out to Eric and myself at any time throughout the semester if you have any questions or if we can help facilitate communication or expectations between you and the student group. Thank you so much again!"

    -Meredith Moore (01/25/2022)

    Sustainability Programs Manager 
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

  5. Visualization of the impact of CIF geothermal

    “In summary, there will be 2 slides taking turns to be displayed on the digital screen in CIF. The first slide is primarily composed of the 3D GSHP system schematic (Ground loops, heat pump and building) and the key parameters & features. The second slide shows the results from building energy modeling, including annual outdoor temperature variations, heating/cooing loads and other energy consumptions. This may [help] visualize the impact of CIF geothermal and give public a better understanding on the renewable resources.”

    -John Zhao (11/14/2022)

    PhD. Candidate

    Research Assistant

    Agricultural & Biological Engineering

    Research field: Ground Source HVAC System/Subsurface Heat Transfer

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Attached Files: 
  6. NRES 285 iCAP Ambassadors Presentation

    A presentation titled, "How Campus Works", created by Morgan White, was presented on 1/25/2022 in the NRES 285: iCAP Sustainability Ambassadors course.

     

    The topics discussed:

    1. Campus Master Plan and the iCAP

    2. Energy Overview (Campus and Buildings)

    3. Facility Liaisons and F&S

    4. Building Service Workers

    5. Building Users (Students, Faculty, Staff, and Visitors)

    6. How it ALL Works Together...

     

     

    The presentation is attached below.

     

     

     

  7. Natural Disaster Planning and Preparedness in Illinois Meeting

    The Disaster Planning and Preparedness interest group meeting was held on January 25, 2022.

    The agenda includes:

    • Introduction to Extension disaster preparedness programming, both in Illinois and across the country
    • Successful models for Extension-Faculty applied research partnerships
    • ISEE perspective on collaboration potential
    • Extension identified applied research and outreach gaps
    • Open discussion of potential topics for applied research and pathways to partnership
    • Identification of people who are interested in continued discussions on topic specific projects and partnerships

     

    The email attached below contains more information.

  8. New Greener Campus Programs Certifications

    Congratulations to the newest recipients of our Green Office and Green Event Certifications! 

    Green Office Gold Certification:

    Visit Champaign County-Certified January 2022 (with notably 38 sustainable actions pursued!)

     

    Green Event Certifications:

    University Housing Gender Inclusivity Training-Certified January 2022

    Campus Recreation/Instructional Kitchen Winter Virtual Canned Food Drive-Certified January 2022

    CU at Home One Winter Night-Certified January 2022

      Thank you to each of our participants, keep up the great work!

  9. The Landscape Recycling Center tests for...

    The Landscape Recycling Center tests for temperature, oxygen, and moisture monthly.  They test for ph, metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and infectious bacteria in finished compost product annually.  As food scrap makes its way through the process and we continue to test the final product, we will be able to observe any changes to these parameters.

     

  10. Equipment purchased at ICRT

    Associated Project(s): 

    The Building Envelope Pilot Project funded the following equipment, purchased at ICRT.  This invoice was paid on I8563811 dated 12/13/21. 

    • $123.90 TEC Fog Puffer Kit
    • $168.00 BD Panel
    • $6121.50 Mpls BD
    • $344.15 freight
    • $6757.55 Total
  11. Geothermal Urbana-Champaign readies for year two, RFP is out for proposals

    Associated Project(s): 

    The City of Urbana has issued a request for proposals for the second year of its Geothermal U-C program, the geothermal group buy program being led by the city. The group buy will make geothermal available to any residents of Champaign, Piatt and Vermillion counties. The GAOI will assist the city with the program this year, providing mainly education programs for interested consumers, as it did for the first year program.

    The RFP can be found at the city's website at https://www.urbanaillinois.us/node/9623. The deadline for submissions from installing contractors is noon on January 21. For information, contact Scott Tess at the city at 217-384-2381 or stess@urbanaillinois.us.

  12. Weekly Update: Shop reopening this week

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Last week we were open by appointment only. We logged 6 appointments and sold 1 bike.

    This week we will reopen to our usual M/W/F hours. Staff are eager to get back to work. We’ll have to run some refreshers for folks as I’m sure they’ve forgotten some stuff. We’ll do some inventory and build some bikes while we’re at it. We’ve got a couple other events coming up that we’ll have to prep for this week as well.

    The numbers:

    • Visitors: 6
    • Sale: $231.50
    • Bike: 1 for $200
    • Misc: $31.50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  13. Deadline to Register for Campus Race to Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 

    From: Kristy Jones <jonesk@nwf.org>
    Sent: Monday, January 24, 2022 12:50 PM
    To: CR2ZW <CR2ZW@nwf.org>
    Subject: Jan 31 Deadline to Register for Campus Race to Zero Waste Competition Registration

     

    2Q==Hello Campus Friends,

     

    I hope everyone is doing well.

     

    A gentle reminder that registration for the 2022 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition (formerly called RecycleMania) closes on January 31, 2022! The 2022 Competition begins on Sunday, January 30. REGISTER HERE.

     

    If you have already registered your campus for the 2022 competition, thank you!

     

    2022 Competition Highlights:

    • Three campus winners will be rewarded for each main competition category (Diversion, Per Capita, Zero Waste, Food Organics) according to the Carnegie Classification for size – 1) Small/Very Small, 2) Medium, and 3) Large/Very Large. This change helps level the playing field and allow for more campuses to have the opportunity to win!
    • All campus winners and participants will receive an electronic badge to share on websites, and through email and social media.

     

    Helpful Links:


    Learn more at www.campusracetozerowaste.org. Registration closes on January 31, 2022.

    If you have any questions,  please reach out anytime.

    Thanks,

    Kristy

     

  14. Big 10 & Friends Waste Affinity Group

    Associated Project(s): 

    From: Anya Dale <anyadale@umich.edu>

    To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
    Cc: Moore, Meredith Kaye <mkm0078 at illinois.edu>; White, Morgan <mbwhite at illinois.edu>; Kokini, Eugenie Jenny <jkokini at illinois.edu>

     

    Hi all,

     

    If interested, please fill out this short survey on your property reuse programs/initiatives. (FYI: Purdue, Penn State, U of Texas - Austin, and U of Minnesota have already submitted a survey response.)  If you plan to participate in the survey, it would be wonderful if it were done by the end of the business day Wednesday so I can update the data for sharing at the Thursday meeting (see below).  I will also send the updated information along with the notes from the discussion to this email group by the end of the week.

     

    As mentioned, the survey really only gathers high-level data.  We are hoping to get more into the interesting and in-depth discussion in our follow-up meeting this Thursday from 9-10:30 am EST.  Please email me if you'd like to be invited!  The more the merrier for this conversation.

     

    Anya Dale, MUP (she/her/hers)

    Manager, Waste Reduction and Engagement

    Office of Campus Sustainability

    University of Michigan Facilities & Operations

    734-936-5238

  15. Walkability audit: Spring 2022, Meeting 1

    Associated Project(s): 

    On 20th Jan, 2022, Sarthak and Sutapa met to discuss the plan for the Walkability audit for Spring 2022. A list of goals/ objectives were finalized with timelines attached to them. 

    During the meeting, the priorities of the 7 walk criterions were reconsidered and updated. 'Safety' was put into a 'high priority' category and 'Pedestrian and Vehicular conflicts' was put into the 'low priority' category. The scores of each question of the 'General Walkability survey' were reassesed and finalized. The updated pdf with both these aspects are attached below.

     

     

  16. update from Nidia

    • Received approval for SSC funding - got the letter and sent it back to SSC, signed. 
    • Nora requested the CFOP from OBFS
    • Nidia wants to talk with Paul about it - 
      • funding for technical engineering for F&S
      • Nidia's appointment
      • $75k for purchasing and installing the submetering
    • Morgan emailed Rob Roman to request a meeting about how to move forward in the best path.

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