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Project Updates

  2. Weekly Updates for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Styrecycle: Expanded polystyrene (EPS) recycling program [ARCHIVED]

    Hi Pete and Shawn--

    This week's zero waste activities were

    • Email to put David Akins of the School of Art and Design in touch with Morgan to move forward with relocating the EPS densifier to Art and Design. She will coordinate with him, Joe Pickowitz, and BK Sharma to set up a time for Mr. Akins to see the densifier.
    • Emailed Julija Sakutyte of the PWR SWATeam to get me, Morgan, and Sara Portillo of Kimberly-Clark on an upcoming PWR SWATeam agenda to discuss the glove recycling program. Currently, it looks like it could be May before everyone's schedules align.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  3. Week 7-9 Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Audit / Inventory

    Good afternoon all,

    This week’s meeting was short but was necessary to update Morgan on the progress made over the past three weeks and to determine the next steps to be taken. To catch everyone up I have attached all of my findings for information on the chilled water loops. A quick summary of what I discovered is that the vet med chiller plant is on a separate loop because of how far it is from other campus buildings. In its loop it has 5 different buildings it provides chilled water to. The other 6 chiller plants are all connected in the main chilled water loop. The loop consists of about 115 different campus buildings and they can be seen in the document. The buildings found in this loop were found by sorting the utilities billing information by chilled water vendor. The five chiller plants on the main loop also have the capability to isolate themselves from the main loop and provide certain buildings with chilled water. This list can also be found in the document.

    I then read through the BIF’s plumbing materials list to see if it had any information on low flow fixtures. I found out that for some of the listed items like the lavatories in the description says “max flow 0.5 GPM in compliance with energy policy act of 1992 and ASME/ANSI standard A112.18.1M.” We do not know if it has all the listed fixtures and will have to continue looking into other building plumbing lists.

    Besides researching I also created a rough water audit plan for campus buildings. This will be a very intensive process as most water audits need to test every water fixture to get the actual flow rates of them. The first part of the audit will be reviewing data on each building to see the history of water consumption. Next the billing and metered water will be compared to see if there is a loss of water. After the data collection and comparison is complete auditors will walk through the building to see if there are any visible leaks and test each water fixtures actual flow rate. The flow rate will be recorded and used to compare each building against each other to see which will but retro fitted first based on most water consumption.

    For this upcoming week I will be researching and creating more questions to ask about the chiller plants and low flow water fixtures. We will try to plan meetings or phone calls with other knowledgeable people to see if they have information that can help our progress and clarify any questions we have. I will also be creating a checklist that can be given to interns or workers on how to perform the walk through part of the water audit and finding vendors that can sell us the tools needed to determine flow rates of different water fixture.

    Thank You,
    Austin Jung

    Attached Files: 

  5. Geothermal monitoring borehole on the Bardeen Quad

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal Monitoring Well on Bardeen Quad

    Hi everyone,

    I wanted to report that yesterday we completed the thermal response test in the borehole, and our work at the site is done. Currently, we are working on processing and analyzing the data. This work should be completed later this week, and when done we will share the results with Sachin and the rest of the project team.

    Tim Stark will also use these results to compare with the wellbore model his student is developing.

     

    Best,

    Andy

    _________________________________________________________________

    Andrew Stumpf, Ph.D, LG, P.Geo

    Associate Geologist

    Illinois State Geological Survey

    Prairie Research Institute

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    615 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, Illinois USA 61820

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Mechanics Classes at the Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week we were closed for Spring Break. I worked Monday and Tuesday and made some good solitary progress on shop builds. All of the Reid MTN Sport bikes that Corey finagled for us are in saleable condition and all of the For Sale bikes are nicely displayed, ready to be purchased.

    Todd picked up scrap over the break, which is appreciated as always.

    This week we have two new offerings starting on Friday: Fix-a-Flat class and our bi-monthly Friday Rides. I’ll meet with the students running each event to make sure everything is in place for their respective endeavors.

    The prospect for trained student staffers around for the summer to help out isn’t looking great. I’ll get a final count on availability this week and proceed accordingly.

    No numbers since we were closed all week.

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. Freezer Challenge 2019 Register and Participate

    Associated Project(s): 
    Freezer Challenge
    Click here to see this online
     
     
     
     


    University of Illinois 2019 International Freezer Challenge Participation


    Register NOW! (click here), history, recognitions, accomplishments & 2019 Goals
     


    U of I Won 1st place internationally
    Top four laboratory teams scoring the highest point totals during the 2018 Freezer Challenge  
    Top four laboratory teams scoring the highest point totals during the 2018 Freezer Challenge  
     

    Being the best at reducing the energy required for laboratory cold-storage and implementing sample management best-practices earned the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign first place in the 2018 International Freezer Challenge, leading our peers and joining first place organizations in multiple categories.... read more


      2018 award currently on display at IGB in the CABBI lab area
      The 2018 International Freezer Challenge award on display, in the CABBI lab area at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
     
    Worldwide recognition

    The University of Illinois research community has received international recognition from a number of organizations and media publications.


    top achievement totals from 2018  
    In 2018, 45 Labs made this BIG of an impact, join us to help change the world!  
     
    Highlights from lab efforts in 2018

    Researchers rallied to apply best practices in sample-storage management, reducing their lab's carbon footprint and submitting their efforts for recognition in the International Freezer Challenge. Particpating researchers were awarded a certificate for demonstrating leadership in Environmental Stewardship and Sustainable Laboratory Practices. Register to receive your lab's 2019 scoresheet! (sample scoresheet attached)


      mygreenlabs freezer challenge video
      Take the Challenge Today!
     
    Goals for 2019 competition: DOUBLE-UP!

    This year's goal is to DOUBLE last year’s:

    - Participation of researchers from 45 labs  to 90 labs

    - Energy reduction of an estimated 720 kWh/day to 1500 kWh/day

    CHILL-UP TO DOUBLE-UP, DOUBLE THE LABS & DOUBLE THE WIN!!!
     


    Illinois can win again! Only one organization (the CDC) has won twice in their division. Illinois can join them in 2019!


      FreezerChallengeUI website
      Visit website for more details! (click image)
     

    Join us and submit your scoresheet by midnight, May 1 to achieve world class results!

    For help getting started contact:
    Paul Foote at gfoote2@illinois.edu
    217-244-1048
    Think Globally-Act Locally
    		 
     
     

  10. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Tail end of last week really picked up, coinciding with the weather, I guess. The first couple weeks of helping people with their bikes is always a welcome change from just wrenching on bikes for sale. Feels more on mission or something.  

    I reorganized to display the For Sale bikes better, which will make test rides and purchasing of the bikes easier for patrons—at least that’s the hope.

    This week we are closed and I am working today and tomorrow then taking Wed – Fri off. I hope to make some headway in safety checking and finalizing another 10 bikes while we are closed. That should put the number of For Sale bikes in the 40+ range.

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 57

    Sales: $164.80

    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tubes: 4 for $35

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. Weekly Updates for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Zero waste activities this past week were that I heard back from the School of Art and Design, which may be interested in acquiring the EPS densifier. I have an email out to Morgan, Pete, and Joe Pickowitz to identify the right person for Art and Design to work with on a possible transfer.

    I also reviewed further PWR-SWATeam comments on the waste-reduction goals for iCAP Objective 6.1.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  13. 2018 International Freezer Challenge - 1st place internationally

    Associated Project(s): 
    Freezer Challenge

    We Won 1st place internationally in the Institutional category for last year’s efforts!

    My Green Labs and I2SL hosted the 2018 International Freezer Challenge see category winners here

    Place Photo here

    Worldwide recognition published through these media outlets:

    Lab Manager Magazine, Cold Storage March 2019

    Published article with participants quoted for expert advice here  

    Nature Magazine feature published in Oct. 2018 (see attached PDF)

    S-Labs highlights our achievements in their short-listed profiles here (PDF of short list attached)

    ISEE and Facilities & Services published news releases U of I Wins Freezer Challenge & 2018 International Freezer Challenge Champions

    Highlights from lab efforts in 2018

    Achievements from researchers in the 2018 competition!

    # of labs submitted score sheets

    45

    # of freezers/ refrigerators impacted

    323

    # of units defrosted and/or cleaned coils

    198

    # of units retired due to no longer needed

    16

    # of units replaced with a more efficient model

    9

    # of units that were cleaned out and/or removed samples

    162

    # of units where you updated or created new  inventories

    143

    # of samples moved from colder to warmer storage 

    14065

    # of units created a searchable digital inventory

    100

    # of units containing a Barcoded inventory

    27

    # of units shared among research groups

    103

    # of researchers that registered labs

    60

    # of individual labs registered

    58


    Goal for this year is to DOUBLE last year’s participation of 45 labs in 17 buildings and energy reduction, which totaled an estimated 720 kWh/day from October 2017 through June 2018. The annual total of 262,800 kWh of electricity saved during the competition is the approximate equivalent of the yearly energy used by 25 typical U.S. homes.

    We can repeat the WIN; so far, the CDC is the only group to win twice in their division.

    Join us

     

    Thank you

    Paul Foote

    Think Globally- Act Locally

  15. Second Nature Payment to UIUC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) with Second Nature

    Second Nature paid UIUC for the sale of vintage 2017 carbon credits to Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) as part of UIUC's participation in the Carbon Credit and Purchasing Program.

    Second Nature transferred 2,865 vintage Carbon Credits (VCUs) to BP Target Neutral (BPTN) on behalf of UIUC.

    For this sale, UIUC receives $6.25 per credit. The total amount paid to UIUC for this sale is $17,906.25

     

    An email of confirmation of this payment is attached below.

     

    Attached Files: 

  19. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, As the numbers will show: we had a very slow week. Not a lot of visitors in but the weather was pretty gnarly, too. Snow never helps.

    All told, we have 40 bikes as in-progress shop builds or for sale, organized about as well as they can be in the back of the shop. Had my staff work on that last week.

    This week I’ll get a handle on summer availability for my staff and make a dent in the bike pile. I was contacted last week by an F&S intern about reviewing the Campus Bike Plan, so I’ll dig into that a bit this week, too.


    Numbers:

    Visitors: 29
    Sales: $20

    Thanks!

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

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