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Project Updates

  1. Illini Lights Out Results

    Energy Conservation and Building Standards SWATeam Recommendation Summary:
    Illini Lights Out – Friday April 15th 6pm – 7pm

    Summary: Student volunteers switched off lights in 8 buildings around the Main Quad, counted the number of lights and the room number on a tally sheet and closed any windows left open. Students were given free rein on how to document lights in rooms (some chose to write the rooms with lights off and on, some just the rooms with lights on) and which (unlocked) rooms to enter – as long as they recorded the number of lights switched off. After returning their tally sheets they filled out a short survey and enjoyed some pizza.

    Buildings and Number of Lights Turned Off:

    • English Building: 100
    • Gregory Hall: 540
    • Lincoln Hall: 60
    • Daniel Kinley Hall: 42
    • Davenport Hall: 191
    • Noyes Laboratory: 75
    • Altgeld Hall: 182
    • Foreign Languages Building: 343

    Total: 1, 533

    Number of windows closed: 71


    Student volunteers: 22 students from 18 different majors, from ALL academic years.

    Student Feedback: Fun & positive environment. Advertise more. Recruit more people. Do it more often. Develop consistent counting metric.

    Suggested Buildings: Armory, NSRC, Illini Union, Psychology Building, South Quad, ALL.

    Conclusions/Implications:

    • Students keen to participate again – more advertising = more participants.
    • Significant room to expand initiative across campus: north/south quad.
    • Not all buildings can be audited due to sensitive information or lack of classrooms.
    • Specific rooms/ numbers and number of lights should be provided in future to simplify volunteer instructions and tally sheets. However, many accessible hallway lights were switched off during this event.
    • Partnership with local restaurant would make this more cost effective to run and maintain.
    • Better education of the importance of keeping windows closed to maintain heating/cooling efficiencies needed – especially when weather transitions from cool to warm. 
    • Directly addresses iCAP Chapter 2. Objective 4: Engage and incentivise the campus community in energy conservation.

    Illini Lights Out is an effective and cost efficient way to help with energy conservation efforts and engages students on campus!!

  2. Illini Lights Out pilot was a huge success

    Just quick here.  We completed the Illini Lights Out a few minutes ago.  It went off magnificently.  Alex led the process with confidence and clarity.  15 volunteers showed up plus the 7 student patrols (they were perfect).  Alex sent the teams out with clipboards (thanks Alex and Karl), maps (thank you Morgan J), instructions (thank you Morgan K) and tally sheets (thank you Jessica) to turn off lights and close windows,  The teams took about 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the building.  Pizza was enjoyed by all when they finished. The students seemed to really enjoy it.

    Jessica prepared a short survey that the students completed so we have some idea of how they experienced this process.  Thanks, Jessica.  The local student TV service interviewed a few of us and they will do a story about us, where ever that goes.

    So, great job everyone.  Olivia Harris for the PR, Ravi for organizing our entry, Amy for the pizza, Ryan for the student patrol.  And especially Alex who handled the communications with the volunteers and was the point person for the event.  This was truly a TEAM effort.

  3. Weekly Update

    Hello all, this past week we ramped up visitors slightly.  The weather really hurt attendance, which would have been much higher.  We still had people coming in and good attitudes abounded.  We sold 2 bikes for $300, 1 build-a-bike for $30, 2 memberships for $50, and grossed $1353.50.  We have been storing a lot of things we dont' need, and have lost a lot of space to idle items.  This week I realized how limiting this has been and how we need to change our work flow.  Also at the member meeting we discussed a front desk area with a host  and how many workspaces benefit from this.  Since we have a membership database promised to be coming soon I built a front desk area to capitalize on this. I reorganized the back and threw out a lot of useless junk.  The space is much more open now and we have more room to work and store useful items like tools and bikes.  We held a 3 speed hub class which was requested by at least 10 separate individuals, but no one attended.  I will be looking into a remedy.  I was able to update a good portion of the shops reports thanks to all the time freed up by Lily's hard work.  Lily and I continued our work on getting a sponsored donation site for the residents halls so normally abandoned bikes can be directly donated saving us all a lot of work and headaches.  We got a few bikes built, but were slow because of large donations and other projects. 

    This week I plan on continuing to update the shop's reports.  I will be working with Lily on presenting the cargo bike to FAA.  They had a change in leadership and some other set backs so we are restarting the relationship with a cool bike demo and presentation.  Lily's heading this up so I will be supporting her.  I will be trying to get some more bikes out of the warehouse and processed in anticipation of the spring cutting.  Lily is working with the residence halls on the donation event, and doing most of the planning work, but I may go to some of the meetings since I will be in charge of the implementation of the event.  I'm going to seek the assistance of Lily in ways to promote the Thursday afternoon classes.  I will also be sending out information on the wheel building class this week.

    From the Campus Bike Center,
    James Roedl

  4. Campus Honored with Tree Campus USA Recognition

    Associated Project(s): 

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was honored today with 2015 Tree Campus USA® recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management.  

    tree campus USA logoTree Campus USA is a national program created in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation to acknowledge colleges and universities for successful campus forest management initiatives and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Currently, only 10% of four-year, degree-granting campuses nationally have achieved this prestigious certification.

    A Campus Tree Advisory Committee was established in 2015 to help seek this designation and act as an advisory body to Facilities & Services (F&S) whose Grounds department is responsible for the maintenance of more than 20,000 trees on campus.

    http://www.fs.illinois.edu/resources/news-announcements/2016/04/07/arbor...

  5. Weekly Update

    Hello all, This past week was busy.  We lots of folks coming in to fix their bikes, but the weather made it weird some days we were empty others we had a 15 minute wait for repair stands.  We saw a lot of new faces, and made some new friends.  The shop sold 4 bikes for $630, 1 build-a-bike for $35, 5 student memberships for $125, 1 community membership for $40, and grossed $1517.  I talked to some of the people involved in the cargo bike loans, but was unable to get any progress yet.  I was unable to build a new desk welcome area, but did acquire a commercial hook wall for free!

    This week I will be working on meeting with people for the cargo bike program, and getting things ready for the residents hall donation program.  I will also build more bikes to sell.

    From the Campus Bike Center,
    James Roedl

  6. senate resolution in support of 2015 iCAP

    Ben McCall gave a short presentation for the Faculty Senate about the iCAP, its history, and its energy-related objectives.  There were a few questions, followed by rather surprising applause and a very kind thank-you from the Chancellor.

    A resolution from the Senate Committee on Campus Operations in support of the 2015 iCAP and recommending "that the administration make it a top priority to allocate funding and human resources to the full and rapid implementation of the goals of the 2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan while maintaining the tradition of excellence in scholarly activities that define the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a world-leading research and teaching institution" passed unanimously!! 

  7. Bike Census 2016

    Associated Project(s): 

    Thank you for last year when you volunteered to count bikes with us!
    I am reaching out to let you know about this year coming Bicycle Census. Your help goes a long way each census.
    We are counting bikes from 10-11am on Wednesday, April 20.
    If you can't count then, we are looking for a few people to count the bike racks at a couple of residence halls at either 7 am or 7 pm on Wednesday April 20. If you are willing to count then, please indicate this at the bottom of the form. You will still need to come to one of the orientation sessions, so we can give you a map, instructions, and make sure you know how to use the GIS app for your smart phone.
    I've invited you to fill out the form April 20, 2016 U of I Campus Bicycle Census Volunteer Form. To fill it out, visit:
    http://goo.gl/forms/KA5eA3r4x3

    If you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can fill it out in Google Forms.

  8. IGOC postponed

    Associated Project(s): 

    Dear Illinois Green Office Challengers,

    It is with regret that I must announce a decision to postpone the Illinois Green Office Challenge.  At this point, resources are simply not available to conduct the Challenge with the quality you expect and deserve.  For that reason, the competition has been placed on hold for the foreseeable future.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

    Sincerely,

    Bart Bartels

    Technical Assistance Engineer

    Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

  9. update on classes

    Hello all,

    A quick update about classes, the Campus Bike Center is working on holding 2 classes a month on Thursday afternoons.  At avoid sending too many e-mails we will be posting them on facebook and our webpage. 

    Next week Thursday April 7th from 1 to 2 pm our staff member Marty Miller will be hosting a class on Sturmey Archer 3 spd hubs at the Campus Bike Center.

    Early May we will announce a wheel building class.  If you want to build wheels keep your eyes out for a sign up sheet.

    This Wednesday April 6th at 6:30 pm at the Urbana location we will be having a shop clean up night.  We have been working hard to organize and clean the space.  If everyone comes and helps out we can bring the shop to a whole new level of clean.

    Best,
    James Roedl

  10. Dads Association grant program

    The Dads Association activities to help fund and aid worthy projects that promote the safety, guidance, care and well being of students attending the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.  Grants in the amount of $500 - $2,000 will be awarded, for the 2016-2017 academic year, based on need as determined by the Dads Association. RSOs and not for profit associations that have projects or programs requiring financial support are encouraged to apply. Application deadline is May 13, 2016.

    Please visit

    http://union.illinois.edu/get-involved/illini-union-parent-and-family-programs/announcements-and-dates

    for more information and application information.

     

  11. Campus Cargo Bicycle Update

    Associated Project(s): 

    Campus Bicycle Center now has had a cargo bicycle for several months and the bicycle has completed its residency at the Main Library.

    Upon return from the Library, the Cargo Bicycle received very positive feedback and the Campus Bicycle Center and Transportation Demand Management is now working with the Main Library contact, Eric Mosher, to purchase their very own cargo bicycle.

    This bicycle willreplace a truck or van delivery of transferred books between libraries on campus.

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