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Project Updates

  2. Update from Bruce Branham

    Associated Project(s): 
    Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam [ARCHIVED]

    Dear Swat team:

    Attached is the chapter on Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) that is part of the draft 2015 iCAP compilation.  The whole document is about 70 pages and covers all areas of campus energy; I would be happy to forward it to you if you need something to read over Christmas.  Our chapter, however, is our immediate concern.  I ask each of you to review it with the idea that it can be edited, changed, as the final report will not be completed until March with the Chancellor to sign the final plan in April.  So, there is time but the review process is extensive, and we’re the first step.  

    I would like to meet next Friday, the 19th, to discuss this chapter and our suggestion for revisions.  I know this a busy time and some of you may not be available, but rather than the whole doddle poll thing, just send me your availability for Friday Dec. 19th by tomorrow, and I’ll pick at time that is most convenient.  

    Let me know if you have any questions.

    Best,

    Bruce

  3. Final CEE 398 Fall 2014 reports

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)
    Independent Student Projects
    • Evaluation of Implementing Low-Flow Toilets in University Buildings and Associated Economic and Environmental Benefits
    • Feasibility Study of Green Walls at the University of Illinois
    • Evaluating Greywater Usage at the BIF in Replacement for Potable Water in Toilets
    • Powering Up E-14: A Feasibility Study on Implementing Solar Panels as Parking Coverage
    • Feasibility of Introducing LEED Lab at the University of Illinois
    Attached Files: 

  4. update from Ben McCall

    Associated Project(s): 
    Topical iCAP Teams

    Dear SWATeam Members,

    Attached please find what we're calling version 2 of the 2015 iCAP. This is a mostly complete document that represents a synthesis of all of your teams' contributions into a consistent format, together with some additions from the iCAP Working Group and its subcommittee the iCAP Drafting Committee.

    We'd like to ask each of you to read through the entire document -- both so you have a good sense of the context your chapter is placed in, and also because you may well spot problems in other chapters. Please send any comments on other chapters to the relevant SWATeam (email addresses can be found in the headers of this message), or to me for chapters 1, 2, and 9.

    We ask that each of your SWATeams discuss your chapters amongst yourselves, with any other relevant stakeholders on campus (for example, units that would be impacted by the recommendations), and also with your consultation group members (or folks who volunteered to serve on your consultation group).  Please especially note the comments and questions from iWG members and others that are noted in the file.  You should feel free to correct any errors we have introduced, and re-insert any important points we might have inadvertently omitted.  Please also take this opportunity to improve the flow of the language where needed, as we have not attempted to polish the language.

    For consistency, please continue to use active verbs and "should"-type language for Objectives [which represent the items campus will hold itself accountable for], and use "could"-type language for Potential Strategies [which are to be considered as possible ways to meet the objectives, not as objectives themselves].

    Finally, and this is a big one, we'd like to ask you to provide within your chapter a cost estimate for each recommendation, along with the estimated payback (if any) in either financial or emissions terms. 

    These numbers, even if they are rough, will be incredibly useful to the Sustainability Council in evaluating the overall cost commitment of this plan, and also to iSEE and the administration as we prioritize campus efforts in response to the plan.  If there are certain things you need help in generating estimates for, please let me know and I'll try to get you in touch with folks who may be able to help.

    We realize we are asking for a lot, and the timeline is also fairly short.  We really need to receive your revised chapters by January 24, so that they can be reviewed by the iCAP Working Group in time to go out for public comment in February.  That, in turn, is necessary so that we can secure Sustainability Council approval in March, and have the iCAP signed by the Chancellor before Earth Day.

    We can discuss all of this in detail on Thursday morning, but I hope you'll have a chance to read through the document beforehand.

    Thanks so much for all you have already done, and all you are doing to shape the future of our campus!

    Cheers,

    Ben

    <<link to draft file>>

    P.S. Yesterday we had the first meeting of the Sustainability Council (with the Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, Deans, et al.) and we received very good feedback on the work that you've all been doing!

    --

    Professor Benjamin J. McCall

    Associate Director for Campus Sustainability Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus-sustainability@illinois.edu

  5. update from Ben McCall

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan (2015 iCAP) [ARCHIVED]
    Sustainability Council

    Dear iWG Members,

    Attached is the complete "Version 2" of the 2015 iCAP, which I have just sent out to the SWATeams.  I'd be grateful if you could look through the document and think about what, if any, big picture topics we should plan to discuss at our meeting next week...and then please drop me an email with your suggestions.

    By the way, our first Sustainability Council meeting yesterday was a great success -- thanks in large part to all of your help in targeting the level of the presentation.  I heard indirectly that the Chancellor and the VCR both thought the presentation was just at the right level of detail, and the entire group seemed to be engaged in the process.

    Thanks again for all of your help,

    Ben

    <<link to SWATeam message>>

    Attached Files: 

  6. Big10 Unplugged

    Associated Project(s): 
    Eco-Olympics

    Hello Big Ten Unplugged!

    I registered our group today with the following schools and tentative dates:

    • UNL - Nebraska tentative dates are Feb 25 - Mar 17
    • Penn State tentative dates are Mar 16 - Apr 6
    • University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign tentative dates are Feb 21 - Mar 14
    • U of Minn - Twin Cities tentative dates Feb 23 - Mar 16    
    • Ohio State University Feb 16 - Mar 9
    • Michigan State University Feb 2-23

    We're good to go but still on the lookout for a traveling trophy. If you happen to have something we could use, please let me know. 

    Best of luck in your competition and we'll reconnect in early May when the winners are announced. 

    Best,

    Stacey White
    Sustainability Coordinator

    University Services

    University of Minnesota

    Office: 612-624-3285

    Attached Files: 

  8. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Seek External Grant Funding for Implementation

    2015 NFWF Five Star/Urban Waters Restoration Program Invites Applications

    The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is inviting applications for the Five Star/Urban Waters Restoration Program, a public-private partnership designed to develop the capacity of communities to sustain local natural resources for future generations, with a particular focus on water quality, watersheds, and the habitats they support.

    The program is supported by the National Association of Counties and the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,  Southern Company, FedEx, Bank of America, and PG&E. Each funder under this RFP has specific requirements for the projects they will support (see below). NFWF will match all funding sources applicable to that project’s activities, location, and project type. Grant awards will range from $20,000 to $50,000 and must be matched on a one-to-one basis with cash and/or in-kind goods and services.

    1) EPA Five Star Restoration Training Program: A total of approximately $180,000 is available nationwide, in any size community, from EPA to fund projects meeting the Five Star program elements.

    2) Southern Company Five Star Restoration Program: Approximately $300,000 is available from Southern Company to support on-the-ground restoration projects and outdoor conservation outreach in the company’s service area.

    3) EPA and USFS Urban Waters Program: Grants totaling approximately $600,000 are available to help improve urban water quality, increase public access, and restore riparian habitat and urban forests in developed watersheds across the United States. Priority will be given to projects with an environmental justice focus or that benefit underserved and economically distressed communities in urban areas.

    4) FedEx EarthSmart Outreach: Approximately $415,000 is available from FedEx’s EarthSmart Outreach program to support urban conservation and restoration. All projects must include a volunteer event for up to fifty local FedEx employees. The program will support high-quality projects in Boston; Los Angeles; San Francisco/Oakland; Chicago; Memphis; Seattle; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Newark; Washington, D.C.; Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; Miami; Colorado Springs; Philadelphia; Harrison, Arizona; Phoenix; Cleveland; Atlanta; Portland, Oregon; Lakeland, Florida; New Berlin, Wisconsin; and Akron/Uniontown, Ohio.

    5) Fish Wildlife Service Urban Programs: Approximately $360,000 is available from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for projects that engage urban neighbors and foster a sense of stewardship where there are Fish and Wildlife Service lands or offices nearby (within approximately 25 miles). Priority areas could also include locations where there are existing Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnerships or established Urban Bird Treaty Cities specified by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Proposals should articulate tangible ways the Fish and Wildlife Service can become an asset to the community.

    6) PG&E Nature Restoration Trust: Approximately $90,000 is available to support community-based habitat restoration and stewardship projects within PG&E’s service utility area. The trust supports projects that empower community groups, provide benefits to underserved communities, and engage with organizations that provide hands-on experiences for youth in the outdoors. In partnership with NFWF and PG&E, all grant recipients must be willing to host one media event that increases awareness of the project, facilitates partner recognition, and  serves as a volunteer opportunity for PG&E employees to engage in restoration and stewardship. Projects must be based in one of the following California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, or Humboldt.

    7)  Bank of America: Approximately $195,000 is available from Bank of America to support community-based restoration and stewardship projects within specified geographic areas. All proposals in these areas must include a volunteer event for up to a hundred local Bank of America employees. The program will support projects in Boston; Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

    To be eligible for any of the above grants, applicants must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization; a state,  local, or municipal government agency; an Indian tribe; or an educational institution.. Projects should be completed within one to two years of the award. For USFS urban waters funding, preference is given to projects that take place on, or directly benefit, public lands.

    See the NFWF website for complete program guidelines and application instructions: Complete RFP.

    Deadline: February 3, 2015 @ 11:59 p.m. EST

  10. Agenda for meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    iCAP Working Group

    Thursday, December 4, 2014

    358 NSRC, 1:30-3:00 pm

    1. Update on Wind RFP ; Recommendation to Sustainability Council?
    2. Update on AEI Utilities Master Plan report
    3. 2015 iCAP Revisions
      1. Timeline
      2. Discussion of goals and objectives
      3. Requests for SWATeams
    4. Scheduling Spring meetings
      1. Proposed: 1/15, 1/29, 3/12, 4/9, 5/7
    5. Other business

     

  11. Community Resources Inc interested in partnering with iSEE

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

    On 12/03/2014 03:06 PM, Bartels, Bart A wrote:

    Hi Everyone,

    I just concluded a conversation with Matt Snyder of Community Resource Inc (CRI).  He is very interested in housing a densifier.  I am going to set up a meeting with him to work out the details and get pricing.  This is going to be the proposal based on his interests and our needs:

    Participating buildings will have a Gaylord on the dock for EPS dropoff.  CRI will pick up the gaylords and take the material to their facility, where the densifier or compactor will be housed.  Matt will take care of paying the labor for pick-ups, processing, and sales.  He will be paid out of the sales revenue with part of the revenue coming back to us.  The money coming back will pay for interns that will facility more EPS collection.  The meeting will determine responsibilities and how the revenue will be divided. 

    I am hopeful that we can work out acceptable terms.  Matt wants to make this work.  He said he shipped out a truck load of EPS this morning, even though it didn’t make sense.  I will let you know when the meeting is to take place.

    Bart

  12. BIF crosswalk survey overview

    Associated Project(s): 
    LAS Honors College - Sustainability Partners [ARCHIVED]
    Encourage Walking

    U of I F&S Trial Crosswalk between the Business Instructional Facility (BIF) and Wohlers Hall

    In recent years, pedestrian safety on-campus has become a growing concern at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I). One such issue was raised by U of I’s College of Business, specifically on the frequency of pedestrians jaywalking between the Business Instructional Facility (BIF) and Wohlers Hall, just south of the intersection at Sixth Street and Gregory Drive. Using funding from the College of Business, U of I’s Facility & Services (F&S) implemented a temporary mid-block crosswalk in the area on September 22, 2014.

    In order to assess if this temporary crosswalk should be installed permanently, a survey was created by 2 Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) James Scholars (Sicong Fang and Ethel Liao) with the guidance of U of I F&S employees (Morgan Johnston, Stacey DeLorenzo, and Roland White). The survey collected over 500 electronic responses from the perspectives of pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers, and bus drivers in the affected area for 2 weeks from October 31 - November 14, 2014. Survey participants included U of I students, staff, faculty, and guests; they were contacted via targeted email newsletters (departmental, eweek, F&S, and CUMTD), official U of I social media channels (Facebook and Twitter for F&S, the College of Business, and CUMTD), and on-site surveying with iPads by the LAS James Scholar students. Questions on the survey were based on a 1 to 5 number scale and allowed respondents to explain why they rated each item as they did. Topics covered included how perceptions on safety, convenience, and traffic flow changed upon the temporary crosswalk’s installation; there was also an area for respondents to suggest other problematic transportation spots on-campus and how the process F&S went through for this crosswalk may be improved for future projects. Final analytics on collected data were done by Sicong with the help of the summarization function in Google Forms.

  13. Freecycle for campus idea

    Associated Project(s): 
    Durable Good Transfers

    Perhaps our campus should have something like Freecycle for the campus?  People could post extra supplies and small equipment (non-inventory) that they no longer need, along with their contact info, and other people could browse for things.  It might be a boon for the less wealthy units that can't always afford all the stuff they'd like, and it would also keep stuff out of the landfill.  We send an awful lot of stuff (even furniture!) to the landfill because Surplus won't take it, even when it's in perfectly good shape. - per Ben McCall

     

  14. notes from phone call

    Associated Project(s): 
    Encourage Train Travel for Business Trips

    All

    Thanks for a good call. Attached is the summary of our meeting with to dos. In summary:

    1. Jim will run a FY14 travel report and look into tracking Amtrak
    2. We will develop content for website and messaging by mid-December, including info from Amtrak. Morgan and Stacey from facilities at UIUC will start that.
    3. Final language will be provided to OBFS by early January, after it is circulated among the group.
    4. Cathy will put the info on the website for start of spring semester and OBFS will announce it.
    5. Sustainability Offices (Cindy and Stephanie) will work on targeting the units that have the highest levels of auto travel between campuses.
    6. We will monitor the data to see how effective this was and opportunities for policy change.

    Cindy

    Attached Files: 

  17. Dining ships another gaylord full of gloves

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    Dear all,

    Michael at Housing  just got another Gaylord full of gloves ready to ship at dining services. Making the total pounds of gloves recycled at Dining to over 1000lbs in just four months!

    Way to go all!!

    Regards,

    Shantanu

  19. note from Ben to iWG

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan (2015 iCAP) [ARCHIVED]

    Dear iWG Members,

    We meet again this Thursday from 1:30-3:00, as usual in NSRC 358. Our lone agenda item will be going through the draft 2015 iCAP that Morgan, Stephanie, Nishant, and I (collectively known as the iCAP Drafting Committee) are assembling based on the SWATeam recommendations.

    I expect to send you a complete draft sometime tonight.  It's looking like it will be in the neighborhood of ~40 pages, and I hope you will be able to carve out some time to go through it carefully before Thursday afternoon.  It's okay if you'd like to share it with some of the people in the group you represent on the iWG to get their input, but if you do so please emphasize that it is a very early draft.  As a working draft, it should ideally not be widely circulated.  It would be great if you could embed comments in the Word document and return it to me before our iWG meeting.

    I will go over the draft at our meeting in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, analogous to how we envision doing so at the Sustainability Council meeting on December 8th.  I think this will also be a good format for us to discuss any contentious points in the draft.

    My plan is to incorporate your high-level comments from our meeting, together with your detailed comments in the Word document, into a revised draft that I will try to send to the SWATeams on Friday to get their feedback.  We will then incorporate their feedback and try to get you a new draft on the 1st or 2nd, so we can discuss it again at our meeting on the 4th.

    Thanks again for all your help, and I'll be sending you a draft sometime tonight!

    Cheers,

    Ben

  20. Parking Department Information

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation iCAP Team

    Michelle Wahl is on board regarding attendance at our next meeting. I'm attaching some basic cost information regarding costs of constructing/maintaining spaces on campus that she has provided. She is willing to provide more information, if requested. However, it might be beneficial for her to meet with the group to discuss what is desired rather than having her shotgun us with financial information. - Pete

    Attached Files: 

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