The site’s 54 acres will serve as a major demonstration and research location for pollinator-friendly solar arrays. The University of Illinois Solar Farm 2.0 project exceeded the required 85 minimum points established by the State of Illinois’ Pollinator Friendly Solar Site Act. With 134 points achieved on the pollinator scorecard, including the adjacent landscape buffer, the solar array officially “Provides Exceptional Habitat.” The custom seed mix designed by Natural Resource Services, with more than 21 different plant types that are native to the area, will make the land between and around the panels more resilient and create a natural habitat for a variety of local and migratory birds and beneficial insects. In total, the site will contain more than 6.5 million flowering plants and native grasses.

Donate your bike! Campus Recreation’s Campus Bike Center (CBC) accepts used bikes. If you are leaving campus and you have a bicycle that you do not need, please donate it to the CBC at 51 E. Gregory Dr, Champaign. CBC refurbishes bikes and cleans them up for reuse. Please consider donating your used bike before leaving campus! Call us at (217) 333-0241. FREE water bottle while supplies last.

51 E. Gregory Dr, Champaign, IL 61820

Sarthak Prasad • Facilities & Services

Donate your used bike to the Campus Bike Center

All, Not a whole lot to report from last week. Slow, sales and visits-wise. Picked up some scrap bikes from the warehouse on Friday. On Thursday we had our Quad Fix It Day with one participant for that. Got some new marketing materials/signage for advertising the space. One of my staffers had her last day for the semester and will be partaking in Illini 4000’s cross country bike ride.
This week another staffer will be leaving for the summer. On Tuesday is CCBs commuting seminar (virtual) that I’ll be attending. I’ll be doing a bike delivery for the Bucket Brigade on Wednesday as they were all filled up last week. Should be a fun time and good publicity for Doing Things By Bike.

The numbers:

Visitors: 9
Sales: $105.00
Memberships: 2 for $60
Bikes (refurb): 0
Tire/tubes: 4 for $8

Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center

Morgan White with Facilities and Services, Sustainability, spoke with Stevie Jay and Diane Ducey on May 10, 2021 on ESPN radio 93.5. They discussed the new Campus Instructional Facility geothermal system, other clean energy projects on campus, and the local Geothermal Urbana-Champaign program.  

A team of researchers will be measuring the impact of natural vegetation at the Solar Farm 2.0 grounds. Below the 31,122 bi-facial solar panels lie 54 acres perfect for pollinator-friendly plantings.

But how exactly does one calculate the plants’ effectiveness? How about: count the bugs.

Ben Campbell, an energy engineer at the University of Illinois Chicago, is part of a research effort that will do exactly that, and more. Their research will also address other matters at Solar Farm 2.0, including how the pollinator plants affect the efficiency of the solar panels’ power production, and how quickly and strongly the pollinator plantings grow.

Additionally, F&S Utilities & Energy Services are a support team member for the research project which will study the economic and ecological benefits of planting native and other flowering plants under and around solar arrays. In order to count the bugs, a few times a year researchers will catch flying insects over the course of a day. The insects they collect will be taken to the Bee Research Facility on the Urbana campus where they will be identified and archived, under the guidance of Dr. Adam Dolezal.

This might seem standard practice for a new test site with new plantings. What may surprise the reader is another research question: where and how many birds and bats will come around for feeding time?

“The research is driven by the solar industry’s questions about the colocation of solar power production and pollinator habitat,” said Campbell. “Our research seeks to understand what scale of habitat is necessary to have measurable impacts on pollinator, bird, and bat populations at utility-scale solar facilities, in addition to benefits in terms of increased power production or lifecycle costs of managing vegetation. We are excited to have the opportunity to test these questions in our own backyard at Solar Farm 2.0.”

Using acoustic and ultrasonic recorders, the team will record bird and bat abundance and diversity, respectively, over time, measuring wildlife elements until at least 2023.

The research project, led by Iris Caldwell at the Energy Resources Center at University of Illinois Chicago, is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technology Office. Her research team consists of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UIC, the Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Six solar facility test sites have been selected for field research across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This includes the 12 MW Solar Farm 2.0 facility at UIUC. In partnership with F&S and Sol Systems (the site operator) the research team will evaluate the effects of the pollinator plantings on photovoltaic and ecological performance and compare operational costs with facilities that use conventional ground cover (usually turf grass). In addition, Solar Farm 1.0 may be used as a control site for comparison for performance and pollinator observation.

Morgan White, Associate Director for F&S for Sustainability, responded to Dr. Ximing Cai and the Energy iCAP Team on behalf of Dr. Attalla and F&S, with the following email:

Hello Ximing, iWG, and Energy iCAP Team,

Thank you for the recommendation to work with Dr. Yun Yi and his students to develop energy models for campus facilities.  We are pleased to implement this recommendation, as submitted to us. 

As contacts for Dr. Yi, we have identified Tom Keller and Joe Villanti from the Engineering Quality Assurance, Design Review, team at F&S.  I will send a separate email to introduce them to Dr. Yi, and we will provide periodic updates, on the iCAP Portal at https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/energy-models-campus-facilities.

Thank you,

Morgan

(sent on behalf of Dr. Attalla and the F&S team)

====================

See transmittal of Energy005 Modeling for Energy Code Compliance here.
See iWG assessment of Energy005 Modeling for Energy Code Compliance here. 
See recommendation and submittal of Energy005 Modeling for Energy Code Compliance here.

For future updates on this effort, visit Energy Models for Campus Facilities.

Nan Holda, one of the participants in the latest TED Talk: Eco-Edition event provided some great resources to follow up from the conversation on 4/29.  

• Joan Gregerson's book “Climate Action Challenge.” Here’s a link to her book and workbook: https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/book.
• Link to where people can sign up for her free, quick start online training: https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/challenge.  2021 International Climate Action Challenge
• Joan’s weekly Green Team Academy Podcast: https://greenteamacademy.com/podcast/.
• Climate Crisis Policy/Earth Bill Network is an umbrella organization wrangling in all other US environmental orgs to create one comprehensive Earth Bill to present to President Biden (http://www.climatecrisispolicy.org/). IMO their approach to passing federal policy is more inclusive, unified, and broader than Citizens’ Climate Lobby (which is another big lobbying org). The Earth Bill Network would love to have some college student volunteers working to create a college/university student network for the Earth Bill. If anyone is interested, they should check out the website and register at https://climatecrisispolicy.org/registration/, noting how they would like to volunteer.

Sherry Nickols-Richardson, Director of University of Illinois Extension, sent Morgan White the following email in support of the Res002 recommendation.

=================

Dear Morgan,

Thank you for sharing the Urban Biodiversity Master Plan component noted below (iCAP 202 Objective 8.1). University of Illinois Extension supports the in-kind contribution of Lisa Merrifield toward this effort through FY24. 

Please note that Illinois Extension does not have funding to support a formal master planning process. This would need to be established and developed by F&S. If there are other implications for financial support now or in the future, Illinois Extension requests that there be discussion about these implications before any expenses are incurred.

This will be an interesting, informative, and valuable process. I look forward to periodic reports about the progress.

Sincerely,

Shelly Nickols-Richardson

==================

See submittal and recommendation of Res002 Biodiversity Plan. 

See transmittal of Res002 Biodiversity Plan. 

See iWG assessment of Res002 Biodiversity Plan. 

For future updates on this effort, visit Urban Biodiversity Master Plan.

All, Had some nice warm weather last week. Sold a few more bikes. It’s almost as if there’s some kind of correlation between warmer weather and bike riding?
Elsewhere: we had two participants for our Friday Ride. We had our first Quad Fix It Day but that was a bust: cool and rainy weather don’t make for a good bike time. We’ll do another one this Thursday but it’s forecasting for rain and cool weather again. Spring is fickle.
Pending approval from Channing Murray, I’ll do a delivery run for the Bucket Brigade this week and see if it’s viable/feasible as a recurring event that we can promote.

Our donations are picking up but mostly it’s been scrap-worthy parts, including maybe the worst salt/water damaged frame I’ve ever seen. Fun times!
The numbers:

Visitors: 30 (I card only)
Sales: 1,241.60
Memberships: 7 for $210
Bikes (refurb): 5 for $820
Tires/tubes: 7 for $40

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center

Climate researcher James Hansen, known for raising alarms about climate change in the 1980s, will address failures in energy policy & suggest changes moving forward. While the public is coming to grips with climate change, scientists & engineers failed to shape policies to avert its worst consequences, says Hansen, Director of Columbia University’s Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program.

May 5, 12–1:30 pm • Zoom | Password 591223

Julie Wurth Asmussen • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

Global Climate Change: Implications for National and Global Energy Policies

The Student Sustainability Committee is seeking undergraduate and graduate students interested in applying for a voting member position for the 2021-2022 academic year. Applicants are not required to have a sustainability or STEM background. Any dedicated student interested in promoting campus sustainability is encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply is May 14, 2021.

Student Sustainability Committee • Student Success and Engagement

2021-2022 Student Sustainability Committee Member Application

We had a great TED Talk viewing party and discussion on environmental activism! Please share the TED Talk video with your friends, family members, and peers, and keep initiating conversations about climate change – even when they are difficult. Maria Maring did a fantastic job as the host and her presentation is attached.

Consider joining Waste Reduction @ Illinois | Facebook to continue the conversation! This is a great community forum for sharing ideas and continuing sustainability discussions. Keep an eye out for our May TEDTalk: Eco Edition which will focus on the topic of bikes, in celebration of Bike Month! Please be sure to sign up for the iSEE newsletter to stay up-to-date on upcoming events and programs.

TED Talk video: https://www.ted.com/talks/xiye_bastida_if_you_adults_won_t_save_the_worl...