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Project Updates

  1. Updated RFP schedule from PEI

    Associated Project(s): 

    I am providing an updated schedule for the RFP related to a wind-power PPA for UIUC.  The change reflects a request by one vendor to extend the response period by one week.  Because of that, we have made other slight modifications to target dates for some of the milestones, but the original completion date of April 30, 2015 is maintained.

    If you have any question, please let me know.  Dan Mortland

    Attached Files: 
  2. Sustainability Ambassadors - August meeting

    Hello,

    Thank you so much for taking out time from your busy schedules to attend the Monthly Certified Green Office Program Meeting last week. I am reaching out to you to let you know that the presentation is available online under Certified Green Office Resources and can be accessed using this link: http://sustainability.illinois.edu/CertifiedGreenOfficeEnroll.html

    Our next meeting will be Sept. 25, 10-11am in Room 210, Illini Union and you can RSVP for the meeting here. Please spread the word about the program with your peers and encourage them to enroll for the program. 

    One of the program participants pointed out to me that the application (excel file) didn't affectively calculate the number of points because the cells weren't referred right in my formula. I am sorry for inconvenience, it has been fixed now and you use the attached application form instead. It is updated on our website as well. Please use the new file instead of the previous one, the only thing we changed is the formula in Cell B61. 

    In other news, the iSEE Congress registration deadline is Sept. 5, 2014 and you can register here. And iSEE is looking for self nominations for the Sustainability Working Advisory Teams Consultations Groups to help with rewriting the Illinois Climate Action Plan and you can read more about the opportunity here. Feel free to follow us on Twitter (@sustainILLINOIS) and facebook (https://www.facebook.com/iSEEatUofI) to stay updated about our events and programs. Feel free to tweet at us to share more information about your sustainability orientated events! 

    Thank you so much for committing to making the campus community greener. I am really excited to work with all of you in the months to come. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. 

    Regards,

    Nishant Makhijani

  3. LED Exit Sign projects completed

    Associated Project(s): 

    In support of the Chancellor's commitment to making the University of Illinois an LED Campus, 531 LED way-finding signs have been installed in eight campus buildings: Grainger Library, Animal Science, Roger Adams Lab, Engineering Science Building, Turner Hall, Main Library, Education Building, and the Chem. Life Sciences Lab.

  4. Goals have been surpassed!!

    The original goals for the Urbana-Champaign Energy Star Challenge were to get 50 buildings registered in the challenge and 25 buildings benchmarked.  As of today, there are 68 buildings registered in the U-C Energy Star Challenge and 41 benchmark reports (called SEPs) submitted. 

    There was a news article about surpassing the goals in July in the News-Gazette, with a voice recording of an interview with Scott Tess, City of Urbana Sustainability Manager.

     

     

  5. revised schedule

    Associated Project(s): 

    Morgan,

    I understand the deadline for submitting the RFI was extended until September 5 based on the requests from some vendors for more time to prepare their responses.

    UA / PEI will be forwarding more info and will be looking to keep the overall schedule from being extended.

    Thanks

    Kent

  6. New Bike Code released

    Associated Project(s): 

    August 31, 2014

    University Bicycle Code

    The University Bicycle Ordinance, also referred to as the University Bicycle Code, was updated for campus-specific rules such as bicycle parking and registration, as well as riding bicycles on campus property. Increased enforcement of the code started this semester. This ordinance is included in the Campus Administrative Manual (VIII-22).

    Stacey DeLorenzo • Facilities & Services

  7. F&S shared info about DDC system with Berkeley student

    For a general overview of our energy systems at the University of Illinois, please see the online overview at http://www.fs.illinois.edu/docs/default-source/Resources/brochures/utilities-energy-3-14.pdf?sfvrsn=0.

    1. Does your school have sort of campus-wide energy management system (EMS)? Or does each building have its own energy monitoring system?

    Each building has its own metering station where chilled water, condensate, and electricity are measured and recorded. The chilled water and condensate usages are recorded into the building automation system and transferred over BACnet I/P to our campus data historian system and the electric meters have an Ethernet I/P connection that is directly fed to the data historian.

    1.  Does the EMS at your school have the ability to turn the HVAC systems on/off (this feature is often called Direct Digital Control) ? 

    We have a mixture of control system types and vintages on campus. There are older pneumatic controls systems still on campus that we are gradually converting over to DDC systems. Back in 1984 is when the campus starting installing its first digital control system. This system’s primary function was for monitoring temperatures, status of various types of equipment, and start/stop and speed adjustment of HVAC.  About 20 years ago is when DDC systems were being installed for full control of system and not just for start/stop purposes. I would approximate that our campus has about 60% DDC and 40% pneumatic control.

    The HVAC systems that do have DDC control typically have some sort of occupancy schedule where the unit either shuts down or a setback mode is used for after hours. We also utilize occupancy sensors on variable air volume(VAV) air handlers for classrooms and offices. This allows us during normal hours where the unit would be running to achieve additional saving by closing off air dampers( or air flow) to specific spaces that do not have occupants.  

    We have an Energy Management Control Center (EMCC) that is staff during normal working hours to monitor our DDC systems. They monitor the alarms, handle hot/cold calls and make sure the campus HVAC systems are running at their optimal level. We use two primary DDC systems for our building controls, Siemens and Schneider Electric’s TAC system and the Delta V system is used in our production plants. All three systems are monitored in the EMCC.

    Requested information:

    Hi my name is Sho Kawano.

    I'm a student at the University of California, Berkeley currently doing research on sustainable operations, specifically energy use.

    I thought this would be the right place to contact regarding energy management at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

    1. Does your school have sort of campus-wide energy management system(EMS)? Or does each building have its own energy monitoring system?
    2. Does the EMS at your school have the ability to turn the HVAC systems on/off (this feature is often called Direct Digital Control) ? 

    If you can answer these questions for me, I'd greatly appreciate your help

    Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

    Sincerely,
    Sho Kawano 

    University of California, Berkeley | May 2017

    B.A. Statistics

  8. Project Report

    Associated Project(s): 

    Completed Project Scope and Costs:

    1. Pressure Reducing Valve stations (PRV):
      1. Utilities and Energy Services completed the installation of the PRVs, as described above, on April 27, 2013.  F&S replaced steam PRVs (pressure regulating valves) and associated isolation valves serving HVAC equipment at UIUC Library, to reduce and stabilize steam pressure to all control valves to improve comfort and reduce steam consumption. The total cost was $117,009.
    2. Steam Traps:
      1. The F&S Building Maintenance division replaced a total of 710 steam traps in the Main Library.  The total cost was $249,441.00, and this work was completed in July 2013.
    3. Control Valves:
      1. Utilities and Energy Services determined that this portion of the project should not be implemented at this time.
  9. Update from Ben McCall

    Associated Project(s): 

    Dear SWATeam Members,

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met today, and there are a few items I wanted to transmit to you.

    1) Attached is the approved template that your teams can use to submit formal recommendations for policies, initiatives, or studies, as described in the charge letter you received yesterday.  The iWG meetings this fall are 9/25, 10/30, 11/20, 12/4, and 12/18.  In order for a recommendation to be considered at a particular iWG meeting, it would be best if you could submit it roughly 2 weeks before that meeting.

    2) As a reminder, the charge letter asks that you update the spring reports on our campus progress towards existing iCAP goals to include Fiscal Year 2014 data.  While Evan's charge letter gave you a deadline of September 30, the iWG would be grateful if you might be able to submit these updated reports by September 22, so the iWG can review them at its September 25 meeting.

    3) Also attached is a first rough outline for the 2015 iCAP; please take a look through and consider what we are asking each SWATeam to provide. 

    At the end of the document are some thoughts about the key concepts of goals, objectives, and strategies that the iWG envisions as the core of the document.  Your suggested revisions to the iCAP are due by October 22, Campus Sustainability Day, on which representatives from each of your teams will lead a public discussion about the proposed goals, objectives, and strategies.

    This is going to be a really exciting semester, as we chart the future for campus sustainability!  If you have any questions or concerns about the process, please don't hesitate to ask.

    Thanks so much in advance for your efforts,

    Ben

    P.S. For ease of use and to keep iSEE staff in the loop, I'd appreciate it if you could use the aliases in this email's header

    (swat-*@dib.illinois.edu) when communicating with your team.

  10. Bike Code approved

    Associated Project(s): 

    The University Bicycle Ordinance, referenced in CAM VIII-22. Bicycle Regulations, was approved by the CAM committee on May 15, 2014.  The plan was to have enforcement of the ordinance to begin at the start of the Fall 2014 semester.  During the fall semester, enforcement would be focused on education, with only safety-related citations being issued.

    The link below is the approved version of the ordinance.

    University Bicycle Code

  11. EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation - Assessment with all comments

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on August 28th, 2014, to discuss the EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation, and they started the assessment for this recommendation. 

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

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA here.

  12. EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation - Transmittal to the unit

    The SWATeam recommendation complete with the iWG Assessment with comments from all the iWG members was transmitted to the Facilities & Services on August 28th, 2014.

    For any future updates on this item, please visit the Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) project.

    See iWG Assessment for EGen001 Wind PPA here.

    See SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA here.

  13. Fall 2014 Charge Letter

    Associated Project(s): 

    Dear Colleagues,

    Attached please find the formal charge letter for the SWATeams, along with the campus sustainability procedures approved by the Chancellor earlier this year.  I expect to be able to provide you with additional guidance about the format for the revised Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) following the next meeting of the iCAP Working Group this Thursday.

    We have very important work ahead of us this semester, and I look forward to working with you as we chart the future for campus sustainability at Illinois!

    Cheers,

    Ben

    --

    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

  14. Enrollment information

    Enrollment in the Certified Green Office Program will be open throughout the Fall 2014 semester. Don’t get caught enrolling at the last minute, though. The deadline to complete the five required sustainability commitments is December 15, 2014. We recommend that you and your office get started as soon as possible to leave extra time for additional commitments (see more below!). Office leaders must identify a Sustainability Ambassador before enrolling in the program.

    ENROLL HERE!

    After enrolling for the program, you can use this application to track your progress and send the completed form by December 15, 2014 to sustainability@illinois.edu. Once you complete the required commitments and email us the application (Excel spreadsheet), the iSEE team will review the applications from March to April 2015 and notify the award winners by April 10, 2015. The certificates will be presented during Earth Week 2015. The participants will also be mentioned on the iSEE website and publicized through our social media outlets.

    Nervous about getting things done? Don’t be! The iSEE team will be in regular communication with your office Sustainability Ambassador to answer questions and assist with implementation. We will regularly update our website with resources to help you implement sustainability commitments. In addition, we will hold four meetings throughout the semester to share best practices and discuss any challenges offices may face. Each meeting will center on a different commitment theme and give you ideas about how you can implement green practices:

    • August 28, 2014 – Introduction: Completing the five basic commitments (University YMCA, Latzer Hall) — RSVP HERE!

    • September 25, 2014 – Topic TBA (Illini Union, Room 210) — RSVP HERE!

    • November 4, 2014 – Topic TBA (Illini Union, Room 314B) — RSVP HERE!

    • December 4, 2014 – Topic TBA (Illini Union, Room 314B) — RSVP HERE!

    All meetings will be held between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

    Can’t make these meetings? The presentations will be posted on the iSEE website.

    Go the extra mile!

    Offices are encouraged to make additional commitments and perform additional acts to become a Bronze-, Silver-, or Gold-level Certified Green Office. Offices can choose from 17 additional commitments. The implementation deadline for these additional action items is March 15, 2015. To become a:

    • Bronze Certified Green Office – make 40% or more (at least 7) of the total additional commitments.

    • Silver Certified Green Office – make 60% or more (at least 11) of the total additional commitments.

    • Gold Certified Green Office – make 80% or more (at least 14) of the total additional commitments.

    The additional commitments can be found here.

    Resources

    The Certified Green Office Program application

    Promotional information and presentations coming soon!

    If you have any further questions, please contact Nishant Makhijani, iSEE's Student Intern for Campus Sustainability.

  15. August 2014 SSLC Meeting notes

    iSEE leaders provided an introduction to the SSLC

    Six Objectives: Facilitate communication, facilitate collaboration, provide a forum for student leaders to voice their opinions to iSEE and thereby to the campus administration, help identify students who can serve on iSEE working groups or advisory groups, help identify potential interns, encourage more awareness about sustainability among student body

    Unofficial objective: Create political will/pressure to implement sustainability initiatives

    Topics covered:

    • 2010 iCAP progress toward 2015 objectives
    • iSEE Congress
    • Zero Waste Game Day
    • SSLC organizational structure
    Attached Files: 

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