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Project Updates

  1. Student to lead efforts this spring

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    Women in Engineering (WIE) Grainger First-Year Experience (GFX) student, Abby Culloton, is working with Morgan White and Sinead Soltis at F&S to lead the integration of SmartWay on campus, pending the completion of the EPA SmartWay Affiliate Agency agreement for campus.  Abby will do this as part of her class project, and in support of campus sustainability.

  2. Pollinator Supportive efforts at Extension

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    East Central Illinois Master Naturalists just formed a Pollinator Taskforce. They are focused on getting more pollinator plants into the community and planning programs associated with pollinators and pollinator plants.

     

    The Extension team created some wonderful handouts that have native plant suggestions for 5 types of habitat. We have been handing those out like crazy. PDFs can be found at (https://extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/pollinator-pockets).

     

    We have the pollinator pocket program (see link above)

     

    Educational Programs held (just ECIMN, does not include programs organized by master gardener programs):

     

    March 18, 2019 – Making Pollinator Habitat Work on the Modern Landscape

    May 16, 2019 – Wildflowers

    July 15, 2019 – Champaign Prairie Areas

    July 22, 2019 – Buzz on Native Bees

    August 19, 2019 – Illinois Monarch Project

    January 27, 2020 – Native Plants in the Landscape

     

    They just had a table at the Mudpuppy festival and had information on pollinators for children

     

    The Master Gardener program in Vermilion County is mostly organic (unless something crazy happens). The Master Gardeners in Champaign put in a native pollinator garden last year at the IDEA garden on campus.

     

    In the training for MG and MN we talk about pollinators, native plants, and pest management.

  3. Info from Andy Robinson at F&S

    Associated Project(s): 
    ECE Net-Zero Energy Building
    ECE Rooftop Solar PVs
    Retrocommissioning (RCx)
    Electrical and Computer Engineering Building: LEED Platinum

    I am on the team that did the Retrocommissioning project in 2018 and I would be happy to share some of our knowledge from that process.  Below is the link to a presentation of that project that we took to a Big Ten energy conference.   Some of our main takeaways are that the combination of chilled beams, dual HX wheels, coil sizing, occupancy ventilation, and thoughtful building pressurization have led to one of the most efficient buildings on campus.  Also, the heat pumps work well to heat/cool with electricity, but would be optimal if there were more of a reheat load, or a hot water loop to send reject heat to a neighboring building in summer, which campus is looking into in certain locations. 

     

    https://www.fs.illinois.edu/services/utilities-energy/energy-conservation/rcx-energy-results

    https://webtest2.fs.illinois.edu/docs/default-source/retro/big10-friends-mechanical-energy-conference-2018-09-30.pdf?sfvrsn=7a85cbea_2

     

    Andy Robinson, LEED-AP, CEM

    DDC Specialist, F&S Energy Services - RCx

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, I only worked Monday and Tuesday last week as I had a family emergency out of town. Those two days were slow. I picked up some bikes from the warehouse to keep everyone busy. Those bikes are coming along.
    This week is business as usual. I’ll look to reschedule some of the meetings I missed in my absence, pick up a couple more bikes, and box some more stuff up for our move.

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 27
    Sales: $106
    Membership: 1 for $30
    Tires/tubes: 4 for $23

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  7. Discussion on geothermal policy options

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal on Campus

    Morgan White, John Summers, Jim Sims, Matthew Tomaszewski, and Kent Reifsteck met today to discuss options for incorporating geothermal information into campus policies.  The best options are to include geothermal in the Energy Use Policy, update the Campus Administrative Manual to support the updated Energy Use Policy, and include geothermal information in the Facilities Standards. A summary of existing policies and the draft iCAP 2020 objectives linked to geothermal are shown in the attached file.

    Attached Files: 

  8. Transportation SWATeam Meeting 24 February 2020

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation iCAP Team

    Attached are the meeting minutes from the Transportation SWATeam meeting on 24 February 2020. 

    The Agenda is as follows:

    Recommendations update

    iWG Feedback on SP19 Recommendation: Carbon Credit Fund

    • Focus on incentives, not punishments.

    • Make a suggestion on how it could work with TEM.

    • Find more data on who it would affect and how.

    • Find out how to calculate the incentive for travelers and get an estimate on total cost per year.

    • Maybe set the incentive for trips outside of a 3-5 hour driving radius.

    CMP update (M. Hubbard)

    Recommendations submissions

    Attached Files: 

  10. Facilities and Services will lead Dump and Run, collaboratively with YMCA and Housing

    Associated Project(s): 
    Dump and Run

    Hello everyone,

    I am happy to report that our Dump and Run site visit last Wednesday was successful! We will be using the Truck Bay at F&S for this year’s collection space, thanks to Dr. Attalla, Dave Boehm, and Pete Varney.  The address is 1501 S. Oak Street, and Mike Doyle and Marc Alexander said it will serve the collection space needs very well.  Additionally, the Zero Waste Coordinator at F&S, Shantanu Pai, will take on an active role for Dump and Run this year. 

    Our vision is to transition Dump and Run from a “YMCA-run event that campus helps” to a “campus-run event that the YMCA helps.”  Certainly this will take time (more than one year) and there are many details to work out, so please remember that the collaboration for this overall program will only be strengthened by this shift. Shantanu, Marc, and I are meeting this Wednesday, and we will provide a more detailed status update at the next team meeting on March 10. 

    If you have any questions or suggestions in the meantime, please let me know. Thanks again for all the thought and consideration that this group has put in to this program and finding workable solutions.  I’m very excited for the future of Dump and Run!

    Sincerely,

    Morgan

  14. DOE Project to Measure Bioenergy Crop Carbon Emissions

    Associated Project(s): 
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

    The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $3.3 million grant to a multidis- ciplinary research team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to develop a precise system for measuring greenhouse gas emissions from commercial bioenergy crops grown in central Illinois. 

    The three-year project through the Insti- tute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environ- ment (iSEE) is expected to reduce emissions associated with ethanol and other biofuels by enabling new technology for managing bioenergy crops, improving yield, reducing overfertilization, and designing new tools for “smart farms.” The vast data collected will be publicly available and could someday lead to financial rewards for farmers who reduce emissions through sustainable crop management. To read full article go to: https://sustainability.illinois.edu/doe-project-will-measure-bioenergy-crop-carbon-emissions/

    Attached Files: 

  15. CNG notes from Pete Varney

    Associated Project(s): 
    Develop Scenarios for Converting the UI Fleet to Renewable Fuels

    1.    Would the University be willing to convert some of their vehicle fleet to CNG? If so, how many?
    a.    The fleet is managed at the department/college level. Each unit purchases their own vehicles. F&S would be a prime entity willing to acquire CNG vehicles as part of a normal replacement cycle. Perhaps 8-12 vehicles annually.
    2.    What are the pros and cons of using CNG in campus trucks vs cars?
    a.    The use of CNG is more focused on how the vehicle is used rather than type. Most “cars” are used for travel out of the local area where CNG fueling would pose challenges. Most F&S “trucks” are exclusively used on campus where CNG fueling would be centralized
     

  16. Composting at NSRC and on campus

    Associated Project(s): 
    Compost at National Soybean Research Center (NSRC) [ARCHIVED]

    This week (2/10 - 2/14) I distributed the letter to the offices in the NRSC to inform them of this composting project. We hope to collect the names and contact information in order to conduct a training and inventory how many supplies are needed. I also continued working on the composting guide for future projects. 

     

    Meredith Moore also met with Shantanu Pai, Zero Waste Coordinator, to discuss formalizing our procedures for other campus entities interested in starting composting projects. 

  17. Weekly Update - Build-a-Bike

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Business as usual last week. The Scottish dude finished his build-a-bike. He only came in, too, because his German friend did a B-a-B as well and talked it up. Nothing beats good word of mouth. He was positively giddy about the whole thing and never got discouraged or frustrated by the process. The highlight for me was bending back a canti brake boss using the hole in the end of a crescent wrench. It’s not perfect but it’s functional enough. That’d make a good motto for us.
    I’ll head to the warehouse this week to grab a few more bikes. I’ll also schedule a couple training sessions with my staff to refresh on some repair basics .

    The numbers:
    Sales: $428.50
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $180
    Bike (B-a-B): 1 for $30
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 4 for $17

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  20. Kent Seminar Series- Kontou

    Associated Project(s): 
    Install Public Use Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations

    The next Kent Seminar is set for Thursday, Feb. 13, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Illinois Center for Transportation, 1611 Titan Dr., Rantoul.  Eleftheria Kontou will present “Data-driven modeling of electric vehicle charging pricing and worth.” Pizza and soft drinks will be provided at noon. You can also watch the seminar live via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ukx7meG90

     

    1611 Titan Drive Rantoul, IL 61866

     

    Noelle Arbulu • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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