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Project Updates

  1. Professional Science Masters student projects underway

    Associated Project(s): 
    Independent Student Projects
    Urbana-Champaign Energy Star Challenge [ARCHIVED]
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Two students from the Professional Science Masters (PSM) program are working with sustainability staff this summer.  Chandana Konidala is working with the City of Urbana's Environmental Sustainability Manager Scott Tess to promote the Urbana-Champaign Energy Star Challenge.  Sarthak Prasad is working on developing a Standard Operating Procedure for entering information in the iCAP Portal.

  5. background information from Housing

    Associated Project(s): 
    Orchard Downs Community Gardens

    Housing provided the following information: "The cost is generally considered to be manageable but not neutral- the Family Housing Council contributes renter fees towards the cost of water usage but they do not pay the cost of plowing, clean-up, or general maintenance. That is absorbed into the yearly work of maintaining the land in that area. In regards to education, we (Family and Graduate Housing and Housing Facilities) built a nice shed/work space that allows for gardening sessions tips and discussions to happen. A majority of our gardeners are International and many of them have gardened in extreme weather and land situations that are far more challenging than the rich soil here in Central Illinois.  So oftentimes we allow our International residents to share how they have developed irrigation systems or they discuss how to use various material to create trellis like structures. We have through a collaborative in housing worked with Housing Dining to allow gardeners access to coffee grinds that can be mixed into the soil. In regards to liability, this is a garden at your own risk program. So far we have assisted residents who lost everything in some of our flooding incidents in the past with new seeds or tools but not much in the way of accepting liability for flooding, stealing, or damaging events."

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    Hello all, last week was good.  We had a lot of people come in.  We got quite a few donations as well.  We sold 5 bikes for $680, 1 build-a-bike for $40, 3 memberships for $90, and grossed $994.80.  Working Bikes picked up 65-75 bikes that we did not need or have room for.  Baker donated about 400 pounds of various aluminum parts.  We started sorting them Friday.  I started making the packets for ISSS, but ran out of paper clips.  I started the ordering process for LTN.

    This coming week I will finish sorting the new donations, collect more donations from Baker, and finish making the ISSS bike packets.  I will also work on getting us some bikes built.

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James Roedl

  7. Article about Bay Area resilience efforts

    Associated Project(s): 
    Resilience iCAP Team

    The attached article includes the following from the Bay Area:

    1. Describe several resilience indicators projects underway in the Bay Area and beyond;

    2. Provide recommendations about how to undertake indicator development; and

    3. Identify preliminary indicators for measuring both community and region-wide resilience to climate change.

    Attached Files: 

  12. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    Hello all, last week was good.  We had a lot of people in and we had some good times.  We sold 7 bikes for $940, 2 build-a-bikes for $110, 5 student memberships, 4 community memberships, and grossed $2119.50.  We have intergrated the new database to the point that we are giving out cards with memberships, and have made some extra cash finding people who didn't realize their membership expired.  I worked on some advocacy items.  The Center was flooded with donations from Baker's Bikes.  We got 2 truck loads of good stuff.  Some was taken to the Urbana shop some to Campus.

    This coming week is extra short since I am taking off Friday.  I will just be trying to keep my head above water.  There will be LTN work, sorting and preparing bikes for shipment as well as organizing the pickup.  I will also be working on getting classes going and advertised as well as building bikes to replenish our stock.

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James Roedl

  13. Art and Design Building solar design

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rooftop Solar Potential
    Independent Student Projects

    A group of seniors completed the attached report for the Art and Design Building, for rooftop solar.  They recommended a flexible solar material, with micro-inverters.  The Art and Design department is interested in working with a student in the fall to seek funding for the rooftop solar from the Student Sustainability Committee.

    Attached Files: 

  16. Conservation Budget Recommendation (ECONS003) - Assessment with comments

    Associated Project(s): 
    ECBS Recommendations Summary
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Energy Conservation Efforts
    Retrocommissioning (RCx)

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on May 31, 2016, to discuss and start the assessment of the SWATeam recommendation ECONS003 Conservation Budget. They supported the Continued Funding for Energy Conservation (ECONS003 Conservation Budget) recommendation. The iWG's official comments for this recommendation was:

    "Strategic investment in energy conservation, including recommissioning and preventive maintenance, offers the campus a unique opportunity to achieve long-term savings in utility costs while also advancing the objectives of the Illinois Climate Action Plan. In contrast, failure to invest in conservation, while it may appear to offer short-term financial savings, will only lead to higher future utility costs; this is analogous to “eating the seed corn.” Campus efforts have already led to $8M/year savings.
    This SWATeam recommendation describes a number of key issues and needs that we recommend be addressed. Due to the major impact of this recommendation, the    iCAP Working Group plans to transmit this to the Sustainability Council. However, due to the timely nature of budget discussions, we recommend that iSEE meet with the Provost to share this recommendation."

    See attached the iWG assessment complete with official comments from all the iWG members.

    See SWATeam recommendation of ECON003 Conservation Budget

     

    Attached Files: 

  19. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    Hello all, this past week was busy.  We lots of people coming in and lots of projects.  We sold 2 bikes for $230, 1 build-a-bike for $70, 7 memberships for $175, and grossed $1090.50.  We got a bunch of bikes from the warehouse helping to clear out mid semester bikes before they get spring abandon bikes.  I also got some bikes from the City of Champaign.  I contacted Working Bikes and am coordinating a pickup with them to get rid of unwanted bikes.  I built some bikes and worked on some LTN items.  CCNet visited the shop.  It was a good tour/visit.  The wheel building class finished well with many folks having built fine wheels. 

    This week I will be building bikes and working on a pickup for the unwanted bikes.  I will be building bikes, and looking to remove another 30-40 from the warehouse that are from the mid semester pickup.  I will also be working on doing some classes again on Thursdays before we open.

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James

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