Hi Rob,

 

We have about $1.4M in Carbon Credit Sales Funds, and (as just one of the potential uses) we would like to know the most impactful energy project this could support in terms of maximum emission reductions.  Could I talk with Sylvia about that, or do you have someone else I should contact?

 

Thanks,

Morgan

----------------------------

Morgan,

 

We have a stack of project requests that we can look at to see where the best use of the funds could be. Please let me discuss with Tony, and we will reply with our recommendations.

 

Thanks,
Rob

---------------------------

Hello Morgan,

 

Thanks for your patience. I have worked with the others in UES to develop the attached list of recommended projects. The file is sorted by the mtCO2/$ to show the projects with the most carbon emissions reduction for the money.  We recommend to use the $1.4M to fund the first three projects and partially funding the fourth or the fifth project (the fifth project has higher energy savings and is slightly less on the mtCO2/$). 

 

Thanks for reaching out to us with your inquiry. I hope that you find these projects acceptable. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 

Best Regards,
Rob

------------------------

Hi Rob,

 

Thank you for this list.  Could your team please provide an estimated life in years for these projects?  If we say the Controls Upgrade at the Conference Center will last 30 years, then the footprint reduction cost is $32.44/mtCO2e.  We can assume 30 years for all the projects, but that is just a WAG from my perspective.

 

Thanks,

Morgan

------------------------

 

Morgan,

 

I have attached an amended table to this email with a new column for life expectancy as defined by ASHRAE. Generally, ASHRAE indicates 15-20 years for each of the projects.

 

Thanks,
Rob

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Sending on behalf of iSEE Director Madhu Khanna:

 

Morgan,

 

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is exploring a dedicated building to raise the profile of iSEE on campus and provide space for the institute to grow and expand sustainability research, education and operational support. I would like you to be part of the committee we are assembling to give feedback during the building feasibility study.

 

This committee will help shape the way the physical space can facilitate building multi-disciplinary research teams, hosting classes for the sustainability minor, supporting sustainability student groups, and overall, being a hub for sustainability activity on campus.

 

The feasibility study was recently approved and a design firm has been selected. We anticipate meeting monthly through the Spring semester.

 

If you accept this invitation then you will receive a formal charge letter from VCRI Martinis. You may also delegate this to a colleague or staff member if appropriate. Please respond by December 22. Thank you for your consideration.

 

Elizabeth A. Murphy

--------------------------

Sure, no problem.

Morgan White

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Good morning, Mike!

 

Great to hear from you.  Absolutely can provide you with some additional information on both of those procurement pathways:

 

1. Sourcewell:

 

 

The University is a member of a purchasing co-op which provides pre-negotiated pricing for a variety of solutions – including microgrids – which enables them to purchase directly through Sourcewell without needing to go out to bid.  Please see attached for an example of the Siemens Sourcewell contract offerings and below for the University’s member information:

 

1. Energy as a Service:

 

Siemens could design, develop, own, implement and maintain a turn key energy system allowing the University to avoid capital investment and simply pay a “subscription cost” if you will for all their energy needs for I-ACT.  This would also enable them to stay up to date on new technologies as they come on line.  Please see attached “4-Steps for Integrating EaaS” for additional information.

 

Again, we would be very happy to get on a call to walk through how to customize either of these offerings to meet their needs in cooperation with the work they are doing with AECOM.

 

Could be a really exciting collaboration!

 

I warmly welcome your thoughts.

 

Thank you and

 

All the best!

-----------------------------

Kevin,

 

Here is the info I received from Siemend for your review.

Thanks

 

Mike

-------------------------------

 

Hello,

 

Regarding the ongoing discussion of the electrical microgrid design (including PV panels on site) for U20029:IACT the PSC has wondered if UIUC has ever participated in either of this type of programs for procuring such systems by what appears a more design/build method?

 

Kevin

------------------------------

 

Good Afternoon Aaron and Graham,

 

Can you advise if the attached Sourcewell Contract is one that we can utilize, if not, is there an IPHEC contract that would provide this type service? I tried to research the existing IPHEC vendors.

 

Thank You

 

 

MARIA THOMPSON

-----------------------

 

Hi, Maria

 

The awarded contracts on the flyer all appear to be expired per the Sourcewell website.

 

#031517-SIE for building technologies

#051017-SIE for EV supplies and equipment

#030817-SIE includes HVAC systems and mechanical

 

Which contract were you interested in using? We may have something already.

 

Also, IPHEC must adopt a consortia award first before a member can leverage it.

 

Thank you

------------------------

Graham,

 

I am not really sure. Morgan or Kevin can you advise on Graham’s question?

 

Thank You

--------------------

Hello Graham,

 

I’m the F&S-CP Project Manager for the U20029: IACT track and fleet building project.  This is an automated and connected track for testing autonomous vehicles and anticipates having renewable energy production from wind turbines and PV panels on the large track site.

 

The question which launched this email chain was received from the track designers who became aware of the existence to programs such as Sourcewell when discussing the PV design with potential sub designers for that portion of the track design.  I’m afraid I am not familiar enough with the three projects to know for sure but from the thumbnail descriptions perhaps the first one might be most similar to what is involved here, although this project would involve a large system covering both site elements producing renewable energy and only one building.  Their questions were really if the UIUC had interacted with Sourcewell in the past, and if Sourcewell might be an avenue to explore further as part of their design work.

 

Would it be acceptable to share your contact information with the designers so that they could determine if your program could help provide some of the elements required for the IACT track and fleet building?

 

Thank you,

 

Kevin

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Done:

• Codie and Michael met last week to discuss SSC projects in the iCAP Portal.

Discussion:

• Discuss Christina's iCAP Portal Header Page Layout designs
• Question about a TODO: "Collections page: Add image upload option". At a previous meeting we had this TODO, but what was the context? Was it to have a thumbnail for each Collection? Or a banner image? Or an image gallery?
• Should we link to "Take Action" project from homepage?
  • Replace map link in Highlights?
  • Need to finish Take Action page content
• Continue discussion of Fancy Page Layout (see the 4 mockups in the October 21, 2022 meeting notes)
• Continue discussion of improving site's aesthetics
• Archiving projects
  • Add "Archived" checkbox?
  • Add "Archived" to Visibility options?
  • Add "Archived" to Project Status options? (probably not - this mixes the status of the project itself with whether we still want it to show up on the site)
  • Remove from nested listings, still publicly available?

TODO:

• Main map:
  • See CSU's campus map (Sustainability section) for inspiration
  • Campus boundary, like ArcGIS Bicycle Map
  • Improve mobile filter?
  • Use heatmap when zoomed out, switch to markers when zoomed in?
• (long term goal) look into importing information from another source, e.g. SSC students without iCAP Portal access can put together info in a structured format for automatic import into iCAP Portal
• Look into Collection embedding again, à la Drawdown Solutions Library Sammy had found ("Filter by sector or area of action" section)
  • SSC project embedding: add category filtering options
• Metric search/display:
  • Theme (via connected Project, i.e. Theme -> Project -> Metric)
  • Most recent updates as of: (list of years) -> can we query Tracking data?
  • (Internal only) Last updated before (list of years) -> can we query Tracking data?
• (Low Priority) Make column headers click-sortable on Projects by Project Status page
• Fancy project layout mockups - keep tweaking #3 to improve contrast
• Discuss metrics
  • Metrics with lots of data
  • Consider how to handle old metrics that no longer track new data. Archive somehow?
  • Fun with math (e.g. combining multiple metrics)
  • Calculated Metrics on Dev site

Ideations:

• Map brainstorming:
  • What if we had a separate Campus Sustainability Tour expandable section, alongside Collections and Themes? Perhaps with a specific order to the locations and information about each location in the infowindow popup? We might have to hand-craft it rather than using Collections, but it might be worth it if we want an interface more like the CSU sustainability map. This could also work for any other bespoke sections we might want to include in the future.
  • Are there other things we'd like to highlight on the map beyond Themes and Collections? If we can think of them, Michael can try to figure out how to make it happen.
  • Michael is working on trying to make the map queries work asynchronously so each filter doesn't require a new pageload. This would make interactions with the map much snappier.
  • Would we like to provide the ability to view individual projects for each section in the sidebar, à la CSU's map?
  • Are there other categories we would like to include, either in addition to or instead of Collections and Themes? Is that information already in the iCAP Portal? If so, perhaps there's a way we can use it... If not, perhaps a new tagging system specifically for the map might help us achieve it?
  • Sarthak: would like to create a Biking Tour
  • Reed: highlight things students can see/experience
• SSC projects
  • May want to use this Archive of Funded Projects on old SSC site (2019) as a reference for showing SSC project info
  • Discussed using iCAP Portal projects for SSC projects page vs. maintaining own project pages directly on SSC website.
  • One possible challenge - SSC sometimes funds part of a project or provides funding for a period of time (e.g. 1 year) for a longer-term project, so only the project updates for that period of time are relevant, not all updates in perpetuity. How do we handle that?
  • Decided to start with map embed from Student Sustainability Committee Funded Projects collection, then look at adding card-based project embed as well.
  • SSC project integration discussion on 11/30/2023:
    • New projects need to be approved and located appropriately in portal hierarchy
    • Codie considers an SSC project worth adding once it has a CFOAP
    • Projects can be updated w/SSC info by SSC students/employees once they exist in portal
    • How to show projects with multiple funding allocations over time? (e.g. $100K in spring 2020, $100K in fall 2020)
      • Is it the same project over time? Sometimes it is, but sometimes the leaders change and the direction changes significantly
      • Discussed dusting off the Project Funding feature we'd deprecated several years ago. It looks promising for showing SSC's funding of projects!
    • Michael and Codie will meet next week to discuss specifics about what SSC needs the iCAP Portal to be able to do in order to use the iCAP Portal for the SSC website's project listing.

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Hi everyone,

 

Getting these meetings scheduled for the next semester.

 

Sterling, does this time at 1:30-2 work for you? I will alter the time slot if needed.

 

Thanks,

 

Quinn M. Connolly

-------------------------

Hi Quinn,

 

Yes, 1:30-2:00pm works fine for me.

 

Also, now that you're added our Google Drive please feel free to take a look at the content folders and comment. If you prefer to email me your questions privately, you can do that as well.

 

Over the holiday I plan to set up a similar Google Drive for us as iCAP Energy-Efficient HVAC Infection Control as well.

 

Hi Sarthak + Morgan,

 

Leon Liebenberg is on the top of my list to answer his questions regarding engineering student participation and SSC.

 

Thank you for being patient with us up until now and rest assured that it will all be worth the journey!

 

Have a happy and safe holiday!

 

Thanks, Sterling

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Steph and I have been sending ideas on this back and forth for a few days. Wanted to share it as a starting point for our discussion this afternoon.

 

 

Training software - $1000

Swag - $2000

Professional development travel: $4500

Student help: $20,000

Salary: $65,000-$75,000

Food, shirts, recognition: $5,000

Computer, telecom, supplies, PPE, transportation: $1,500

Web presence (link to iCAP portal): $15,000

Total ~$114,000-$124,000

 

Additional considerations

• If soft money, will need to fund fully burdened salary.
• Contingency, escalation and inflation.
• How will materials for initiatives be funded? Initial initiatives include shut the sash stickers, GRP branded equipment timers (swag item, departmental/lab purchase), and reduce/reuse/recycle equipment (shelves, etc.).
• What about new initiatives/pilot programs? Will GRC need to perform costs-benefit analysis and secure funding through other means (e.g., SSC) or include a budget line. For a 5 year pilot this may be irrelevant

 -----------------------

Dear Jeremy and Stephanie,

 

Attached please find a draft budget, per our conversation yesterday.  Please let me know if I need to edit anything and please share the draft with Morgan for her input. 

 

Thanks,

 

Sharee

-------------------------

 

Sharee,

Thanks for putting this together! I think it looks good to me.

Jeremy- do you want to share with Morgan?

Steph

-----------------------

 

I checked with IT on computer costs. We are no longer charged for phone access. That went away with Skype. Here’s what I received for hardware costs:

 

For the laptop it's a 2880 dollar buy in with 60 dollars a month fees after meaning in 48 months it will pay for the next one. For desktop the structure is the same and is a 1680 dollar buy in with 35 dollar monthly fees. The monitors and dock are included in this cost in both cases (although of course there's no dock on a desktop)

 

I know I missed adding computer(s) for the students. Students are usually provided desktops. I’m guessing we have some in the building that share but in general each student has their own because schedules usually overlap somewhere. If there’s no objections I can add the initial purchase of 2 desktops to FY24 and increase the other years by $70ish to account for the monthly fees.

 

I also think we can probably lower the web presence costs in years 2-5. Maybe $5k in 2-5 for maintenance and minor customizations?

------------------------

 

Jeremy,

 

Thank you for checking into the technology costs.  Your edits work for me. 

 

Sharee

---------------------

Morgan provided comments on the revised budget asking that professional development for FY24 be removed and the full $5,000 for events/recognition in FY24 be included. Those changes along with the charges for computers have been addressed in the attached.

 

Thanks

Jeremy

----------------------

 

Jeremy and Stephanie,

 

I hope you had a great holiday and weekend.  Thank you for providing the revised draft budget.  I don’t have any additional recommendations. I am meeting with Susan Martinis on Wednesday and will confirm the next steps with her.  I’m copying Patty Jones so that she has an opportunity to review the draft budget as well.

 

I’ll follow up with you both after I meet with Susan.

 

Thanks again,

 

Sharee

----------------------

 

Dear Jeremy, Stephanie and Patty,

 

I met with Susan this afternoon and she supports moving forward with the draft budget.  Perhaps the four of us can meet to discuss the next steps with regards to pursuing contributions for the pilot. I’m not familiar with the SSC process.  Susan indicated that these funds should be pursued and that perhaps other units would be willing to contribute to the Pilot.

 

Thanks,

 

Sharee

--------------------

 

I think we should include Morgan White in the discussion. Assuming funding is secured the program will fall under her and she is familiar with the SSC process and other potential funding sources.

 

Thanks

Jeremy

----------------------

 

Thank you, Jeremy,

 

I am copying Jamie Willard to request her assistance in scheduling a 30-minute zoom call with the three of us and Morgan White to discuss the Green Research proposal.

 

Sharee

--------------------

Good morning, All,

 

I have taken a look at calendars to schedule this 30-minute zoom meeting to discuss the next steps with regards to pursuing contributions for the pilot and the SSC process. There is not a clear time that everyone can get together so I am asking for you to fill out the doodle below and see if there is any flexibility to be able to schedule this before winter break.

 

Attendees:

Sharee Robinson

Patty Jones

Jeremy Neighbors

Stephanie Hess

Morgan White

 

 

Thank you for your time in this matter.

 

Best,

Jamie

------------------------

Good afternoon,

 

My apologies on the delay of scheduling this meeting. I have talked to Sharee Robinson and she has confirmed that with the challenging calendars, this meeting can wait until after the winter break. I would like to schedule this zoom meeting for Monday, January 8th 10:30-11:00am.

 

Please let me know if this will not work for you at your earliest convenience. I will be sending an electronic invite with zoom link shortly.

 

Best,

Jamie

------------------

That works for me. Thanks for coordinating everything Jamie.

Jeremy Neighbors

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Hi Andy and Fernando,

 

One of our key research partners for the Illinois Geothermal Coalition is Andy Stumpf (copied here).  He has asked if there are soil borings info for the Chicago campus.  Can you connect him with the right person?

 

“Hi Morgan, Do you have a contact at UIC who would have access to their geotech and soil boring records.. person similar to Beth. I have been asked to help out with the Solar Decathlon project because they are interested in adding geothermal to the design. They plan to design an educational design and innovation center that is on the UIC campus and would occupy the two parking lots at 1198 W Vernon Park PI Parking, Chicago, IL 60607. Soil boring/geotech information for nearby buildings could help the design. I am also mapping Cook County, so this information would also be useful for that project. Would also be interested to know if there are any major water lines in along Harrison Street or I-290. Maybe an opportunity to include wastewater heat recovery.”

 

Thanks!

Morgan

--------------------------------

Hi Morgan,

 

Thanks for the introduction. Nice to meet you Fernando. I am going to find out from the students who they are working with at UIC.

 

Best,

Andy

--------------------------

 

Thanks, it may be Fernando (He is out of the office).

I can pull files related to the 2009 Geothermal wells, but it might help to have a specific question to circulate. IS this accurate: Does UIC have any records of Soil boring/geotech information from past geothermal well drilling?

Regarding water lines – best to assume every where on campus has some utilities under it.  There is likely water on Harrison and Racine,

 

Andy Mitchell 

-----------------------------

Hi Andy,

 

Thanks for getting back to me. Actually, it would be possible to get access to or copies of the soil borings for all projects on UIC campus, not just the geothermal projects. The Illinois State Geological Survey maintains a database of geological, engineering geology, and geophysical information for the entire state. Here is snapshot for part of the UIC campus with engineering test hole delineated by the red dots and labeled by the total depth of the drilling. The data can be accessed through the ISGS’ ILWATER map service https://go.illinois.edu/ilwater. Currently, only the owner, location, and soil boring logs are available for most of the engineering borings, but we plan in the near future to provide access to the engineering geology data entered from the reports and if allowed by the owner/client a pdf of the scanned documents. The boring locations were digitized from the maps included in the reports or coordinates surveyed and provided with the logs. As Morgan knows, I am working with Facilities & Services here to digitize all the soil borings on our campus and provide them through the ILWATER map service. This effort is being funded as a student project that received a grant from the UIUC Student Sustainability Committee. If you are interested in having the UIC data served in a similar manner, let’s talk some more about how this is being done at UIUC. For much of the data the ISGS on the UIC campus came from research survey geologists or UIUC CEE faculty were involved with on the campus and from consultants involved in the project. Beyond the Illinois Solar Decathlon design project, this data is being compiled for the ISGS project to map the surface and subsurface geology of Cook and DuPage counties. This mapping is being done to update work that was done in the 1940s or early. The data is used to develop the maps and models of the geology which we make available to the public. Below is one of the cross sections we made this year for west to east cross section along Roosevelt Road. We plan by 2028 to have a 3D model of the geology available for Cook County. The mapping project is being funded by the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

Best.

Andy

---------------------------

 

Andy – this is exciting stuff and I’m confident we can share the records, once we locate them.

I’m out of the office most of next week, and Fernando is just back and will playing catch up.

When do you need this info by?

 

Andy Mitchell 

----------------------------

Hi Andy and Fernando,

 

Getting back to you about the geotech soil borings. I have shared with you the Box folder with the logs found so far. The logs in the files starting with “x” have been plotted and the information is available through the ISGS borings database https://go.illinois.edu/ilwater. The logs in the files starting with “g” have not been entered yet.

 

Best,

Andy

------------------------

 

Thanks for the nudge Andy.

I’ll connect with our manager Dave Taeyaerts about the best way to go about getting this.

When do you need the info by?

 

Andy Mitchell 

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Good afternoon Mr. Sims,

 

My name is Juliette Deley and my team, Team 9, recently presented to you as part of our final project for CEE 190, Project Based Introduction to Civil & Environmental Engineering. Attached to this email is the paper to our feasibility study on implementing a greywater system in the Campus Instructional Facility.

 

Again, thank you for taking the time to hear our presentation earlier today,

 

Best,

Juliette D. 

--------------------

Morgan, Jeremy, Katie and Mike,

 

I attended freshman level Civil Engineering class project presentations last week. One of the presentations was their study regarding greywater system at CIF. They sent me their report.

 

I have not had a chance to review and with this being a freshman level class not sure how much new information for you will be provided, but forwarding to you to let you know that students are interested about utilizing greywater systems on campus.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

--------------------

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Energy Tax Credit Form Webtools Form 447240223 submitted by: Tim Mies  College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (KL), Department of Crop Sciences (802), Staff 11/09/2023 11:52 A.M. Thank you for submitting the Energy Tax Credit Form. The applicable University Liaison will contact you after it has been reviewed. 1. Location: UIUC 2. Applicant College/Department: Crop Sciences 3. Project number and/or building (if applicable): near Energy Farm 4. Anticipated beginning of construction date: 2/1/2024 5. Anticipated placed in service date: 6/1/2024 6. Total project budget (basis or cost): 91,000 7. Estimated construction costs (only include total energy project cost, including contingency): 81,600 8. Will the property be owned by the university as a depreciable asset? Yes 9. Will the property be financed with tax-exempt bonds? No 10. If yes, what percentage of the property is financed with tax-exempt bonds? 11. Is the energy property funded by a restricted grant or restricted forgivable loan**? No 12. If yes, what amount is funded by a restricted grant or restricted forgivable loan? 13. Provide a brief description of the project and the energy component that may qualify for the tax credit: Project will connect existing 15kw solar panels to campus electrical grid. 14. Briefly describe the proposed intended use of the tax credit funds: Funds will be used to support campus ICAP efforts 15. What tax credit is applicable for the project? Investment tax credit IRC Section 48: qualified energy property or technology (Appendix A) 16. Is this energy property funded by a grant made under Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment of 2009 (The 1603 Program: Payments for Specified Energy Property in lieu of Tax Credits)? No 17. Which of the following options describes the property? equipment which uses solar energy to generate electricity, to heat or cool (or provide hot water for use in) a structure, or to provide solar process heat, except property used to generate energy for the purposes of heating a swimming pool, or 18. Is there qualified interconnection property associated with the project? No 19. If yes, what is the basis (cost) of any qualified interconnection property associated with the energy project? 20. Is the property part of a clean hydrogen production facility? No 21. Does the project meet one (1) of the following requirements (five (5) times base credit amount for a total of 30%)? Yes 22. If yes, which requirement is met? Item #1 23. Does the project meet the domestic content bonus credit**? No 24. Is the project located in an energy community**? No 25. Do you want to proceed? Yes 53. Submission and Liaisons Timothy Mies, Director Energy Farm Operations, 11/09/2023           Powered by Webtools

--------------------------

Hi Angie,

 

I’ve reviewed this form (actually, Tim filled it out while I was with him), and I agree this small solar installation at UIUC should qualify for the IRA Tax Credit.  I understand that the next step is for you to review it, and then forward it to the Treasury Office for their review and processing.

 

Please let me and Tim know if you have any questions.

 

Thanks,

Morgan

-----------------------------

 

Morgan,

 

Is this project actually a solar installation or just the interconnection?

 

From below:

“Project will connect existing 15kw solar panels to campus electrical grid.”

 

If this is not the purchase/construction of solar panels for original use, it is not property as described under Section 48:

equipment which uses solar energy to generate electricity, to heat or cool (or provide hot water for use in) a structure, or to provide solar process heat, except property used to generate energy for the purposes of heating a swimming pool,

 

I’m happy to set up a time to discuss if that helps.

 

Kimberly A. Maxwell, CPA

----------------------------

Hi Tim and Rob,

 

I’d like your perspective on this question about the small solar at the Energy Farm.  If you would like to discuss it, please let me know who to include in a call with the tax office.

 

Thank you,

Morgan

------------------------------

Hi Morgan,

 

Happy to discuss this further to determine if this project can meet the requirements for the credit.  Do we want to discuss internally first?

 

Best,
Tim

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