The applied for funding will be used in the construction of a Thermal Response Test unit for use in the Geothermal Pilot project that is currently being implemented on the UIUC Campus. The overall goal of the project is to assess the viability of geothermal heat exchange on this campus as well as the best implementation of this technology. The Thermal response test unit will measure the ability of the local geology to support geothermal heat exchange in the future. The unit will be designed to be used in all future geothermal projects. This project is student-led, and development and construction of the Thermal Response Test Unit will be conducted entirely by University of Illinois students. This proposal directly funds: 1) Construction Supplies 2) Transportation Costs.

Since 2010, The Bike Project has been collaborating with the University of Illinois to provide an educational space on campus. Bicycle education taught through that space encourages the campus community to ride bicycles for transportation because the bicycles sold and worked on at the Campus Bike Center are reliable and safe. While some people are willing to volunteer to teach advanced level bicycle repair classes at the Bike Center, few are willing to teach very basic entry-level classes addressing such issues as adjusting brakes, lubricating chains, and fixing flat tires. This project funds two semesters of stipend for an instructor to teach classes at the Bike Center covering these topics. Combined class capacity over the two semesters would exceed 200 new cyclists. This proposal directly funds: 1) Two semesters of labor for a beginner-level bicycle class.

Hello all,

Last week’s zero waste activity was a conference call to talk about messaging and campus presentations about source separation. The immediate plan is for me to outline a presentation this coming week.

Sincerely,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

REMINDER: The Energy Farm at Illinois and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) invite you to attend:

Illinois Energy Farm Open House 
& Biomass Boiler Ribbon Cutting

1-3 p.m.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Illinois Energy Farm 
(4110 S. Race St., Urbana)

In celebration of the completed installation of the Farm's state-of-the-art Heizomat biomass boiler, we invite you to tour the newly-built boiler facilities and meet Heizomat representatives.

Refreshments will be served. Please let us know you are coming so we can plan accordingly!

Click here to RSVP today!!

All, last week was uneventful—in a good way. People came, worked on their bikes and/or purchased one, and then left. We had 123 visitors. We netted $1,226.60. We sold: 5 bikes for $640; 1 Build-a-Bike for $84; 6 memberships for $180; 16 tires/tubes/wheels for $111.

Last week we had what felt like a surplus of volunteers—and inexperienced ones at that. I think at one point there were 8 people in the shop, all staff/volunteers. I will have to do a better job of creating manageable tasks for unskilled labor.

One longtime member of the Bike Project came by last week to bid farewell, as he got a job in Washington state. He was very thankful for what we do at CBC/TBP and expressed concern over finding a place in Washington as nice and helpful as we are. In parting, he donated some nice studded winter tires since, as he said, it doesn’t snow in the pacific northwest.

This week I will tackle establishing a manageable system for organizing the pile of bikes in the back. I think sorting by “Starting Price” would be useful, since that is always the first question asked. It would speed up the process and save me some of the anxiety of people pawing around in a potentially dangerous pile of bikes. This week, I will also create more zero-bike-knowledge tasks that volunteers can accomplish without me having to explain the esoterica of bike “standards”. And, of course, bikes will be built.

Sincerely,

Jake Benjamin

Campus Bike Center Manage

Hello all,

Here are my updates from last week:

• Answered inquiries from Fisher Scientific on progress on glove recycling; Morgan and I will touch base this coming week to get things moving on that effort again
• Met with Morgan and Olivia Harris to discuss messaging to promote source separation
• Contacted Dawn Aubrey to set up a meeting to discuss Housing’s role in recycling, particularly with regard to glass and gloves

Sincerely,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

This week, Ms. Morgan Johnston, Ms. Anna Barnes, and I met with F&S contacts Mr. David Boehm (from building maintenance team), Mr. Robert Halverson (from engineering design team), and Mr. Karl Helmink (from retrocommissioning team). We presented the current template we had for the energy report card and discussed questions regarding energy systems in selected buildings.

After explaining how we constructed the report cards, Mr.Boehm, Mr. Halverson, and Mr. Helmink offered advice on modifications. They noticed some word choices that could result in misinterpretations. The templates were then updated by Ms. Barnes.

Meanwhile, after compiling all the energy usage from 2008 to 2016 for each of the 10 buildings, we developed a list of questions regarding how energy is utilized in each building. Even though Mr.Boehm, Mr. Halverson, and Mr. Helmink were not familiar with every system in all 10 buildings, they directed us to those with the knowledge.

The next step is to communicate with contacts from Mr.Boehm, Mr. Halverson, and Mr. Helmink and get answers for the list of questions we have for each of the 10 buildings.

President Killeen expresses the University’s commitment to sustainability in the attached email.

Last week, I gathered data for energy consumption in Lincoln Hall from the Energy Billing System (EBS). The total consumption was broken into three components -- electricity, chilled water, and steam. Excel spreadsheets and two graphs were created. One shows the annual consumption from 2008 until fiscal year 2016 (FY16) whereas the other shows monthly consumption of FY16.

During the meeting with Ms. Morgan Johnston and Ms. Anna Barnes, we went through the spreadsheets and graphs. Units were modified to be BTU/SF, which is the Energy Use Intensity (EUI). We also discussed that instead of showing the monthly consumption during FY16, that of the most recent fiscal year, FY17, will be used. Data will be available in July. Furthermore, consumption for potable water will also be added in each building’s analysis.

The next step is to develop the spreadsheets and graphs that show the annual consumption from FY08 until FY17 for the rest of the ten buildings. They will have the same unit and format as the files modified for Lincoln Hall.

All, last week was the first steadily and surely busy week we’ve had this summer. Within the first hour or so we were at capacity stand-wise all five days last week. We had 119 visitors and there were probably a dozen or so more people that we missed.

Our sales for the week: Grossed $799.50; sold 10 memberships for $300; one refurbished bike for $50; 21 tires/tubes (new and used) for $113. While those numbers belie the visitors count, we did have a good amount of used cables/parts sales, indicating a healthy usage of the space that simply doesn’t translate into high dollar amounts. It probably didn’t help that most of our medium-sized stock of refurbished bikes has already sold out, leaving our small and large bikes only. That will be a focus for the coming week as far as shop builds are concerned.

Last Friday we had the Full Moon Bicycle Ride, a community social ride that I heavily advertised and promoted—so much so that a few people thought the Bike Project/University was sponsoring it. Rough conservative estimates tallied 160 or so people, so it was probably closer to 200. It was an affirming experience to see so many people coming out for such an event and really speaks to the strong presence of cycling in Champaign-Urbana. I lost count of how many people I recognized as visitors to the Campus Bike Center. Impressive, too, was how many folks were not decked out in full-on cycling gear but instead riding commuter-level bikes in the same clothes in which you’d walk your dog. That speaks strongly to the normalization of riding a bicycle and a good sign for the growth of the mode share.

The temperature is projected to be in the 90s all week and so I will bring out the big water cooler, fill it with ice and be diligent in telling all visitors to stay hydrated while here. I will build more medium-sized bikes this week as well as continue to free up space by scrapping more old and abused-beyond-repair bikes and parts.

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager

Hello all,

Here are my updates from last week:

• An email to Morgan to pick up on issues related to glass recycling, recycling for graduate student/family housing, and presentations to promote source separation
• Attendance at a Campus and University Recycling Coalition webinar on recycling collection logistics on campuses

Sincerely,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hello all,

Last week was reasonably busy. We had 112 visitors. We totaled $638.10 in sales. We sold six memberships for $180; one refurbished bike for $80; one Build-a-Bike for $48; and $101 in both new and used tires/tubes.

New student hire Dennis started working last week. As a longtime member, he is familiar enough with everything that he’s been able to help right out the gate, which has been great. Additionally, Friday was Logan’s last day.

This week I will work on student worker scheduling for the summer, strip more old junk bikes that are taking up valuable space, stock all the new parts that arrived last week, attend the Bike Project meeting, and of course, build more bikes.

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager

All,

Last week was steady and manageable. We had one or two days of almost no one coming in and days of the summer average of 20 or so people through the human door. Our visitor total for the week was 92.

We grossed $1,243.81. We sold seven memberships for $210; two refurbished bikes for $385; one build-a-bike for $89; 16 tires and tubes for $73.

The Bike Project has decided to add a weekday open hours shift on Wednesday evenings for their Urbana location, which was mentioned at the Monthly Members’ Meeting on Wednesday. This will in turn allow those who utilize the CBC an additional resource for working on bikes. On Friday I met Parking out at the warehouse and picked up 16 or so bikes--of which half were worth the effort to rehab or store for B-a-Bs. The rest were promptly taken to the scrap yard on Friday afternoon.

This week Evan, a new student hire, is going to start working (albeit not daily, due to school conflicts). While it hasn’t been too busy for just Leah and me to handle, having another person around and the chance to train a new staffer when it is slow is definitely a plus.

This week I will also be working on creating some more wheel storage in the back garage bays. Bike builds and organization will occur per usual. One of the main tables that are home to our truing stands and our vice is falling apart. I will look into procuring a new one from Surplus this week as well.

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager