Good afternoon, Thank you for registering for our first TED Talk: Eco Edition event, focusing on environmental justice! It was wonderful to see many of you in attendance. Your ideas, input, and questions led to a very thought-provoking and meaningful discussion.

We encourage you to share the TED Talk  with your friends, family members, and peers. Continue the discussion on this important topic and keep initiating conversations – even when they are difficult. Consider joining Waste Reduction @ Illinois | Facebook. This is a great community forum for sharing ideas and continuing sustainability discussions.

Leah Courtney did a fantastic job as our first host of this TED Talk series. We have attached Leah’s presentation for anyone who would like to refer to it as a resource. Keep an eye out for our March TEDTalk: Eco Edition which will focus on the topic of plastics. Additionally, don’t forget to register for our Plastic Free Challenge starting March 1 (Monday!) using this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IqlSU5c7E5JYcpGljWZjYIg3eMsfz5DJKquM1BqgPWY/viewform?edit_requested=true.

Please reach out with any questions or feedback. We thank you again for your participation and enthusiasm, and are already looking forward to the next conversation!

Kindly,

Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Coordinator

Emily Dickett, iSEE Sustainability Intern

TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/david_lammy_climate_justice_can_t_happen_witho...

Join us for iSEE's first TED Talk: Eco-Edition! This month’s theme is "Environmental Justice."

Together, participants will view a prerecorded TED Talk presented by David Lammy, the first Black Member of Parliament to hold the Justice post in British Parliament, titled "Climate Justice Can't Happen Without Racial Justice." Afterward, all are invited to participate in a guided discussion and roundtable.

Our host is Leah Courtney, a sophomore at U of I studying Civil and Environmental Engineering with minors in Spanish and the Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows Program. A student member of the Zero Waste Sustainability Working Advisory Team, Leah is passionate about the environment and social justice.

Sign up to learn, discuss, and connect with peers in a casual, social setting. Grab your favorite snack and get comfortable! Topics and hosts vary each month.

The meeting which took place on 26 February at 4PM (CDT) discussed the following:

• Reusable dining options (Follow-up to Feb 12 guest presentation)
• Reusable dining options (Recommendation)
• Elimination of virgin paper at F&S Stores
• Food Literacy Project

The data for week 3 (February 14 - February 20, 2021) is as follows:

Landfill: 118,040 lbs

Cardboard: 13,590 lbs

Paper: 2854 lbs

Bottles & Cans: 1430 lbs

Food Organics: 3600 lbs

The SWATeam meeting on Feb 24, 2021 took place at 10AM (CDT) to discuss the following:

• Fleet Replacement Plans
• PCI of University roads
• Air Travel Emissions
• Campus Bike Plan
• Intern Selection

All, Last week’s weather was brutal and thus, very slow for us.

We made it through the bikes I picked up at the warehouse a week prior. A couple good ones and couple damaged-beyond-repair ones. Par for the course. Denver, a new volunteer, visited one day last week and worked his way through fixing up a bike. We got a couple bikes donated and then fixed up for the KBG (Kids Bike Giveaway)—can’t start too early! Some engineering students came in looking for parts for a class project to make some kind of small wheeled conveyance that moves like an inchworm? Something like that. Next time that happens, I’m giving out my contact info so they can follow up with the finished project—would be cool to have a collection of school projects that we helped out with.
This week I’ve got some student staff interviews and new hire trainings to arrange, TBP meeting, NIRSA virtual conference, and will pick up more bikes. Saturday is going to break 50 degrees so maybe we’ll sell some bikes. The longer term forecast is trending warmer so we’ll see how that affects visit numbers.

The numbers:

Visitors: 5
Sales: $109

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

The latest edition of iSEE's Q Magazine is now available. This edition features an encounter with a New Mexico landscape destroyed by wildfires, the public health and environmental toll of the toxic byproduct coal ash, and other reflections on the natural world. The magazine showcases student environmental writing. 

Don't miss the Wednesday premiere of "Beyond the Elements: Life," a PBS NOVA episode that features the University's RIPE project. Steve Long, Lisa Ainsworth, Don Ort, and other scientists discuss their efforts to "hack" photosynthesis.  

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/beyond-the-elements-life/

The data for week 2 (February 7 - February 13, 2021) is as follows:

Landfill: 141,680 lbs

Cardboard: 16,610 lbs

Paper: 7,135 lbs

Bottles & Cans: 0 lbs

Food Organics: TBD

We increased our recycling amounts and decreased our landfill amount from last week - yay! 

We are participating in a national campus race to decrease waste! The "Campus Race to Zero Waste" program runs until March 27. Each week, F&S will gather the data and iSEE will promote waste reduction across campus. Together, let's focus on waste reduction and recycling, showing our Illini commitment to protecting the environment and implementing the iCAP objective to reduce our landfill waste.

January 31–March 27 • Map

Meredith Moore • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

Campus Race to Zero Waste

Renewable energy at the UI "How much power is each of the renewable (University of Illinois) sources generating? How many houses can each provide power for? Are there plans to add more than what we currently have? How many years does it take for the cost of each to be paid off? We have a growing interest in this and many homes now also have this."

Morgan White, the UI's associate director of Facilities & Services for sustainability, has all your answers.

As for power generation, she said that the UI's "on-campus solar arrays are now capable of producing over 25,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) per year and we purchase an additional 25,000 MWh/year from an off-campus wind farm in Illinois.

"For a more comprehensive answer:

"The (Illinois Climate Action Plan) 2020, objective 2.3.1 is: 'Use at least 140,000 MWh/year of clean power by FY25.' This objective is about clean power, which is different from clean thermal energy. As of 2020, there are three types of clean power options being pursued or used on campus.

"1. Solar Energy on Campus: installing solar photovoltaic panels on campus property

"2. Wind Energy on Campus: installing wind turbine generators on campus property

"3. Power Purchase Agreements for Clean Energy: purchasing solar or wind power from off-campus

"FYI, Solar Farm 2.0 is projected to produce 20,000,000 kWh/year. It began production at the end of January, so there will only be 5 of 12 months production in the FY21 totals (this current fiscal year)."

As for the number of houses each can provide power for, White said, "At Facilities & Services, we use the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) for the average power use in an American home. It currently says, 'In 2019, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,649 kilowatthours (kWh).”

"Thus, the FY20 clean power use on campus (30,635,993 kWh) was the equivalent of the power needed for 2,876 houses. Once Solar Farm 2.0 is operating for an entire year, that will be about 50,000,000 kWh/year of clean power use on campus, which is the equivalent to the power needed for 4,717 houses."

And about whether more generation will be added, she said: "The recently released Illinois Climate Action Plan 2020 (iCAP 2020) includes a goal for increasing clean power use to 140,000 MWh/year by FY25. We are currently having internal discussions at the University of Illinois about initiating a large off-campus solar power purchase agreement to meet this goal. We are also continuing to pursue clean thermal energy solutions, such as geothermal. Additionally, large construction projects on campus are required by the state law to be LEED certified, and this will often entail the addition of clean energy systems for individual buildings."

The payback period for each of these systems varies widely due to several factors, she said.

"For example, the geothermal system for the Campus Instructional Facility is projected to pay for itself in 28 years, while Solar Farm 2.0 is saving money in year one," said White. "For local projects off-campus these programs are very helpful: the Solar Urbana-Champaign program typically finds solar installations to pay for themselves in six or seven years, and the Geothermal Urbana-Champaign program typically finds a geothermal system at a residential home can pay for itself within 10 years."

https://www.news-gazette.com/toms-mailbag/toms-mailbag-feb-12-2021/artic...

South facade at Lu building  "At the new Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building at the northwest corner of Green and Goodwin, Urbana, the south façade has an intriguing glass — perhaps with embedded solar panels or something like that? What is the product, and what is it's purpose?"

Your answer comes from engineer Damon McFall, director of facilities and operations in Mechanical Science & Enegineering.

"The embedded solar panels are referred to as building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) panels. This approach utilized on a larger scale can help contribute to the societal goal of achieving net-positive facilities or buildings that produce more energy than they consume," said McFall. "The use of BIPV panels on the Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building will serve as an educational tool for students and faculty to understand the benefits and challenges of integrating solar into the façade of a facility.

"A core imperative for the building was to be a leader in innovation. Thus, the idea to include BIPV was supported by Mechanical Science and Engineering Professor Ty Newell. The project is a first on campus and possibly the only installation of its kind nationally. The state-of-the-art panels have already provided research opportunities to designers, builders, and others.

"The goal is for students, community members, and guests to learn more about BIPV in campus, commercial, and government facilities and pursue building design and construction that meets the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building and Community Challenges (Living-Future.org). Once the facility opens this summer, tours will be offered where the public can learn more about the technology."

https://www.news-gazette.com/toms-mailbag/toms-mailbag-feb-12-2021/article_149a1939-4759-5209-a72e-93ddd4e535da.html