Departmental or Unit Funding Available for Utility Conservation Projects

The RLF application form includes step-by-step instructions and examples.
F&S is accepting new Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) applications for utility conservation projects envisioned by academic, auxiliary, and administrative units. Since 2011, the RLF has supported over $7.5M in transformative projects, allowing colleges, departments, and institutes to modernize their spaces through the following work:

• LED lighting upgrades
• Occupancy sensor installations
• HVAC enhancements
• Chilled water and steam mechanical system improvements
• Direct Digital Control transitions 2
• Building envelope repairs

To request similar projects or propose other concepts, download the 2022 application form at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/RLF. The file includes step-by-step instructions and additional information. The deadline to submit projects is April 25, and the RLF Committee will begin evaluating proposals in May 2022.

Project selection will be based on payback period, reduction of greenhouse gases, fund size impact, project coordination, and visibility. Successful RLF projects have nearly doubled the fund to more than $4M through targeted, strategic investments that use the projected savings to deliver annual payback. Approximately $1M in funding is available for this project selection cycle.

For questions, contact Engineering Specialist Amber Perfetti at fandsrevloanfund@mx.uillinois.edu or 217-244-7708.

From: Prasad, Sarthak
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2022 10:01 AM
To: Jenvey, Timothy M; Rigdon, Susan Marie; Berg, Mark A; Padfield Narayan, Abigail; Hill, Tori; Tyner, Kaila
Cc: DeLorenzo, Stacey; White, Morgan; Evan Alvarez; Allison Haines; Puddicombe, Nicholas; Bralts, Elisabeth Jane
Subject: It's Your MTD Too workshop

Hello all,

Thank you so much for registering to attend the “It’s Your MTD Too” workshop! This is just a reminder that the event is today from 12 – 1:30 pm in the room 0060 (in the lower level) at the Siebel Center for Design (1208 S. Fourth St., Champaign, IL).

We will start off the a short survey and then a presentation, followed by a quick bus ride! I hope to see you all today at the event and I hope this will be a learning experience for you all!

Thank you so much,
Sarthak

Sarthak Prasad
Sustainable Transportation Assistant
Facilities & Services
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Phone: 217-300-9575
Email: sprasad9@illinois.edu

From: CR2ZW <CR2ZW@nwf.org>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2022 11:28 AM
To: CR2ZW
Subject: Week 8 Reporting, Review Period, Upcoming Webinars and Events

Hello Campus Race to Zero Waste 2022 Participants,

Congratulations for crossing the finish line for the 2022 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition! Please see below for details on reporting for the final week (week 8) of the competition, as well as the review period, March 27 through April 11.

FEATURED INFO IN THIS EMAIL: (more details bellow)

• Review Period, March 27 through April 11, 2022
• Share VIDEOS AND PHOTOS from your competitions, use #CR2ZW2022
• Week 8 ends tomorrow, Saturday, March 26, 2022
• April 5 Webinar: New PLASTICS REDUCTION PARTNER CERTIFICATION Program
• EcoCareers 2022 – April 6-7, Register Today
• Graduate Student Fellowship Opportunities ($6,000 Fellowship Stipend)

UPCOMING DEADLINES, AND OTHER KEY INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:

• The Review Period for all competition participants begins Sunday, March 27 through Monday, April 11 (end of day). Please take this two-week period to review your ReTRAC data, update your placeholder data, and make any necessary changes. IF YOU NEED TO MAKE ANY CHANGES PLEASE EMAIL CR2ZW@NWF.ORG AND REQUEST THAT YOUR REPORTS BE RETURNED TO DRAFT. Once the review period closes, the CR2ZW team will being vetting the top-ranking campuses for each category. If your campus is among the top ranked for a category, please be ready to share your data documentation. Please reach out with any questions.
• Share VIDEOS AND PHOTOS from your competitions! Use hashtag #CR2ZW2022 when posting your photos and videos to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok.
• Week 8 reporting is due Wednesday, March 30. Check out the 2021-2022 calendar for upcoming deadlines. To report for Week 8, go to ReTRAC log-in at https://connect.re-trac.com/login and click on Week report. Be sure to click Complete and Save at the bottom of the report.
• Zero Waste M8ain Category Participants – There are separate reports in ReTRAC to complete if you are participating in the main, 8-week Zero Waste category (tracking trash, recycling, food organics and materials for reuse); This category doesn’t not have a real-time weekly ranking report due to the “materials for reuse reporting.”
  • Step 1: Fill out “Zero Waste Building Description and Identification Survey” to share information about the three buildings that are participating.
  • Step 2: There are weekly Zero Waste reports (similar to the weekly reports for Diversion, Per Capita Recycling and Food Organics) to be filled out each week.
  • Step 3: The “Zero Waste Building Waste Audit/Waste Minimization Survey” should be completed by the end of the competition/review period. The waste audit has been waived for 2022, so please do not complete that section of the survey. Please complete the “Waste Minimization Activities” section only.

Note: The guidance above is for the main, 8-week Zero Waste category only. The Race to Zero Waste

– One Building Challenge is a special category, requiring one-month tracking; reporting due by end
of the competition/review period.

• April 5 Webinar – Learn about New Plastics Reduction Partner Certification Program – The National Wildlife Federation and the Campus Race to Zero Waste are excited to announce the launch of a new certification program for colleges and universities taking action to reduce the purchase and use of plastics on campus. There are three levels of certification available: Bronze, Silver and Green. Campuses will be asked to report on actions in the following categories: Building Awareness, Support Behavior Change, Assess and Implement Operational Change and Demonstrate Institutional Leadership. This is a FREE program to participate in. Participation in this program is eligible for AASHE STARS innovation credit. Learn more at Plastics Reduction Partner. National Wildlife Federation is a proud member of the #BreakFreeFromPlastic Movement. Register for April 5 Webinar to learn more about this new program.
• EcoCareers 2022, April 6-7 - The 2022 EcoCareers Conference will feature keynotes and panels about academic pathways and careers in health and wellness, environmental justice, urban planning, environmental education, and more. On top of that, NWF will have interactive project and career planning workshops for students of all levels on both days of the conference. Please join us for this two-day online event on April 6th and 7th, 2022 to hear from leading sustainability sector experts! These professionals will be sharing their insights, advice, and inspirational stories and represent industry and business leaders, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and successful entrepreneurs. Register for the 2022 EcoCareers Conference as an individual student, faculty or staff. Registration is FREE for members of the NWF EcoLeaders Online Community (joining EcoLeaders is also FREE).
• Graduate Student Fellowship Opportunities ($6,000 Stipend): PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR CAMPUS NETWORK - National Wildlife Federation Graduate Student Fellows help to inform and strengthen NWF Education and Engagement programs through dedicated research projects. Monetary fellowship grants are awarded to graduate students working with NWF staff on research that helps to expand the content and development of a variety of efforts across NWF's Education and Engagement programs. Fellows join a national network of current and alumni fellows, many of whom have gone on to lead new businesses, agencies, and programs for sustainability all across the U.S. NWF is currently accepting applications for the six graduate student Fellowship Positions. Learn more and share this opportunity with your network. Applications are due April 22, 2022.

Please contact me with any questions.

Thanks, take care,
Kristy

---------
Kristy Jones
Director, Higher Education Programs
Campus Race to Zero Waste Manager, www.CampusRacetoZeroWaste.org
National Wildlife Federation
703-438-6262
www.nwf.org
Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world

From: Shanmugam Narayan, Vinothni

To: White, Morgan

Recipients: mbwhite at illinois.edu

Hello Morgan,

I have shared the NCEL & HSL plans, newsletter, and Earth month schedule with my team. Thank you so much for sharing those.

I have also attached a link for case study videos that my concept team students created for one of the activities I planned last semester.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KRaWCbD2WYsWEA9bR0JUx9a_ELMov0v9?usp=sharing

Thanks for initiating to include their work on the website.  Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Vinothni Narayan 

Graduate – Masters | Class of Dec 2022

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Construction Engineering and Management

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

vs37@illinois.edu  | +1 (217)-200-2817

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Scott Willenbrock - Former Physics Professor, UIUC Solar Farm Involvement

On 3/24/22, the team met with Scott Willenbrock. He provided a lot of valuable information on Solar Farm 1 and 2, as well as the potential for a Solar Farm 3. He described that Solar Farm 3 will likely be an off-campus farm due to the lack of space on campus. He did mention that there was potential for putting a farm on campus in between Solar Farm 1 and 2, but it would be necessary to relocate the research that the fields are currently being used for. He thinks Solar Farm 3 will most likely be off campus, and he says the biggest challenge with this is getting things moving and having enough people behind it. He gave us some advice on rooftop solar, stating that the fault is in the economy of scale, but rooftop panels can be useful due to their visibility on campus/ promotion of clean energy. He also believes that storage is a challenge that needs to be addressed, batteries are too expensive now.

From: Student Sustainability Committee
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2022 11:20 PM
To: SSC Board (2021-2022)-group; Alkhatib, Sari; Stumpf, Andrew J; Moore, Meredith Kaye; Benson, Eric; Brinkworth, Jessica F; Green, Eric William; Ngumbi, Esther Ndumi; Smith, Kyle C; Houser, Barry; McSweeney, Kevin; Peacock, Lisa Marie; Kelley, Hunter; Nifong, Lucy; Guth, David Christian; White, Morgan; Hintz, James
Subject: SSC Meeting Reminder!

Friends and longtime Jack supporters,

Hello. It's that time of year again. Did you enjoy your week of respite from my emails (ignore emails that I also sent today)? Well bad news, it's time to pay the piper. Per usual, we have an SSC meeting tomorrow at 4 pm both online and in the Campus Instructional Facility, room 3038. We'll be voting on one scope change (it's about rockets, so cool and good) and doing a bunch of other cool stuff. As always, if you can't make it and/or you'd like to elect a proxy to attend on your behalf, let me know! I'd also like to express my small preference for members to attend in-person meetings when possible. I think there tends to be a little more involvement in discussion when I can spur people to talk with my steely glare. Obviously, don't feel pressured to attend in-person if you have some kind of spatial conflict or any concerns about illness/general wellness! Just saying, all things equal, if you value my opinion, that's like my slight slight preference. Tomorrow specifically, there is a special treat in it for you if you attend in-person. There's a slight incentive there, see, because there's a thing we need to do with as many of us as possible, which can only be done in-person. If you still can't make it, don't worry the opportunity cost here of attending online is max, maybe $6. Happy to venmo you the difference if you're really broken up about it.

Anyhow, I'm rambling, here's the agenda (including link to scope change) which you should ideally check out before the meeting. Hope to see you there! Zoom below!

Best,
Jack

Hello all~

We would like to update two announcements from our last email.

Shallon Ted-Talk:
Our amazing president Shallon is hosting an iSEE TED Talk: Eco-Edition discussing sustainable agriculture at 7pm on March 28th — join us to learn more about sustainable agriculture locally at the Student Sustainable Farm and discuss the future of agriculture globally. Register for the event here: https://illinois.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvcOyrpzMqGNyJXFPC0MxnalQtqHkCpKD- 

Barn Dance:
SECS will be participating in the upcoming Barn Dance with other RSO’s on campus. Things don’t get much better than this, folk’s. Sign up with this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIGrfaWsx94GunFQKcyTJTNRUKhbQACT3wMiIwpgo-OmJKOQ/viewform 

and venmo @Mathew-Pianfetti, make sure to include 'SECS Barn Dance <firstname lastname>' in the memo

SECS is pleased to share our new website with you all: https://secsatuiuc.web.illinois.edu/
Feel free to browse the site and learn more about the history of our beloved RSO, our current projects and endorsements, while also keeping an eye out for upcoming environmentalist blog posts 👀

PRESIDENT Shallon Malfeo, smalfeo2 at illinois.edu

VICE PRESIDENT Alec Van Patten,  alecrv2 at illinois.edu
TREASURER Danika Ford, djford2 at illinois.edu
SECRETARY Gabriel Kosmacher, gkk2 at illinois.edu

EDUCATION OFFICER Emily Detmers, emilygd2 at illinois.edu

MEDIA OFFICER Zoe Huspen, zhuspe2 at illinois.edu
ACTION COORDINATOR Michelle Verlinsky, mav5 at illinois.edu
OUTREACH COORDINATOR Owen Jennings, orj2 at illinois.edu
SOCIAL EVENT PLANNER Lexi Delmonico, acd4 at illinois.edu
GOVERNMENT LIAISON Sophie Speedy, sspeedy2 at illinois.edu

In February, Tyler Swanson, Allison Hefner, and Sarthak Prasad of the Transportation iCAP team met with Pete Varney at F&S to discuss the implementation of the F&S Fleet Replacement Plan and what lessons have been learned via the process. The team hopes to use information from the conversation to help other campus units develop their own fleet replacement plans.

Notes from this conversations are attached.

Attached is the 03/23/2022 iSEE newsletter.

A document containing the notes from this interview is attached below.

Summary of the Clean Energy Transition Plan Interview:

Rob Roman - F&S Director of Utilities & Energy Services

On 3/22/22 the team interviewed Rob Roman. Rob’s biggest concern with a clean energy transition was the monetary aspect. The university only gets a certain amount of funding each year and a large amount of money is going to be needed for improvements to the system. Rob thought that geothermal is a good option for the University and thinks that it could be feasible on a large scale but would need to consult an expert to determine the land use. Rob also thought that a micro nuclear reactor was a very good option for the University with the caveat that it will be very expensive. He thought that the university does need to transition from its steam use for heating on campus unless a better emerging technology comes along. Rob told the team that biofuels have already been tried for the steam production, but it wasn’t feasible due to the transportation costs compared to natural gas and coal. Rob felt that for future energy plans they account for ambiguity and emerging technologies and have a place for energy storage which the campus currently does not utilize.

Attached is the SEDAC newsletter for March. 

Attached are the Land and Water iCAP Team March meeting notes. 

The Current Status and Pillars of Direct Air Capture Technologies

Industry decarbonization & carbon capture were identified as high priority efforts to reduce climate change at the 2021 UN COP26. Renewable energy may help, but there are still sectors that remain hard to decarbonize such as distributed emissions from travel & flu gas emissions from steel and cement, & more. This talk will discuss direct air capture of CO2 from the atmosphere to curb emissions.

March 24, 12–1 pm

Elizabeth Meschewski • Illinois Sustainable Technology Center