Ben McCall noted this morning that Mike Bass has approved the agreement to move forward with selling our carbon emission reductions from FY12, FY13, and FY14 to Chevy.  The Contract/Agreement Routing Form (CARF) is being routed now.  The actual amount of funding will depend on the number of tons of CO2e-reduction we can count.  Ben is negotiating with Chevy’s representatives to exclude the increased emissions due to Petascale.  Once they agree on a quantity of emission reductions, the Chevy contacts will work with Mike Marquissee in F&S to explain the UI tracking system for energy use before they will confirm the figure.

Chevy’s explanation of the program is online here: http://www.chevrolet.com/culture/article/carbon-footprint-reduction.html.

See revised drafts.

E-Cyclemania

E-waste will be collected from 2-6 p.m. March 18 (Tuesday) as part of Recyclemania, a national competition to minimize waste and reduce the amount of material going to landfill. Three collection sites will be available: the Allen Hall circle drive, Ikenberry Commons at Euclid Avenue and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center.

http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/crw_challenge.cfm is a potential student competition program we could consider.

Saving energy pays off for Christopher Hall

Clayton Glazik 3/5/2014

Since we were little our parents have told us to turn off the lights after we leave a room. That is just what the Christopher Hall residents at the University of Illinois did in 2013. By shutting the lights off in rooms not in use, switching their lights to compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, as well as other sustainable practices, the building was able to cut back its energy usage by 30.6% from the previous year.

The campus Facilities & Services (F&S) hosted a reception at Christopher Hall on February 14 to celebrate the building’s accomplishment in the F&S Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP). A campus-wide sustainability effort, ECIP provides building upgrades to facilities that produce top energy conservation results in energy advancement and occupant action categories. ECIP calculates how much money the buildings are saving in energy reduction and gives it back to the building to pay for upgrades.

Christopher Hall, which houses the Family Resiliency Center (FRC), the Autism Program (TAP), several classrooms, faculty and staff offices, and a family research home, saved nearly $22,000. According to FRC Director Barbara Fiese, a building committee recommended investing the funds in a bike rack since so many people cycle to work, as well as other items that can further reduce energy usage.

In 2010, the University of Illinois published a climate action plan that set aggressive timeliness for reducing energy consumption on campus. Currently, there are more than 300 such active projects, which can be tracked at http://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/projects.

“At the end of the day, if we really want to meet ICAP goals, we have to do more,” says Al Stratman, F&S executive director. “That is why we came up with ECIP, which mirrors the campus goals.”

At the award ceremony, faculty and students pledged to continue reducing energy in their lifestyles by taking public transportation, using natural light in their offices rather than electricity, and shopping more at local food markets instead of commercial grocery stores. With their current sustainable practices and these recent pledges, Christopher Hall will continue slashing their energy consumption, making the Illinois campus a greener place.

(from Family Resiliency Center news http://illinois.edu/lb/article/3493/82438)

Approval was given to sell $5/ton to Chevy.

"The campus will provide at least a 50% match of funds to go with the Chevy funds" -Michael Andrechak (03-04-2022)

An email with more information is attached below.

Wednesday night marked the first ever involvement with RecycleMania on this campus, and our Illini basketball team were not the only winners that evening.  The event at the Illini-Nebraska basketball game was successful for all involved.  Over 100 student volunteers partnered with various campus organizations and departments to raise awareness about reducing our environmental impact, and to help divert recyclable materials from landfills. Our first attempt, encouraged by the competitive atmosphere of the game, enabled us to divert 31.5% of the waste from landfills. 

By weighing all of the event’s trash and recycling, a baseline data point was established and areas for improvement were identified.  While Illinois' ranking in the national RecycleMania competition won't be known until after March 30, the impact made on the community left many participants feeling like they made a difference and that our Basketball team were not the only winners that evening. 

If you have any questions contact Bart Bartels at bbartel@illinois.edu.

The first formal meeting with the Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC) under iSEE's guidance was an introductory meeting about iSEE and the proposed iCAP SWATeams. 

The meeting was called by and coordinated by:

• Ben McCall – Associate Director for Campus Sustainability, iSEE
• Madhu Khanna – Associate Director for Education and Outreach, iSEE
• Nishant Makhijani – iSEE Intern, Vice - Chair Student Sustainability Committee

The key points discussed included an overview of iSEE's goals and structure, education and outreach plans, and an overview of the SWATeams.

From: Ben McCall
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 6:18 PM
To: Sealine, Alma R
Cc: Wolz, Kevin James; Lovell, Sarah Taylor; Ricci, Marcus Enrico; Nell, Marika Ruth; Tousignant, Teresa Marie Giardina; Johnston, Morgan B; Lage, Stephanie M
Subject: Re: Orchard Downs Multifunctional Landscape - Repackaged

Alma,

Can you make arrangements for this reimbursement?

Thanks,

Ben

On 02/25/2014 01:31 PM, Kevin Wolz wrote:

Ben, 

Sorry for the slow response. We appreciate your thorough and firm response. Our group will desist pursuing any project at Orchard Downs. 

We appreciate Ed's willingness to reimburse sunk costs. Total sunk costs (the amount of our grant that we spent under the assumption that everything was a go) for the project are $7,650.10. This amount can be reimbursed to the following CFOP: 

1-303692-802050-802502-802ORC

Thanks,

Kevin & the OD Team

On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 5:01 PM, Ben McCall wrote:

Hi Kevin,

I'm afraid I do not have good news for you.  Ed seems to be firm in his position that this site is not acceptable because it may be needed for another purpose in the future, and the administration does not want to be "the bad guy" tearing out something that people have grown to love.  He remains open to consideration of other sites, but I understand that neither you nor the other involved parties are interested in pursuing other sites.  Ed did agree to reimburse any sunk costs.

You certainly have the prerogative to escalate this issue to higher levels of the administration, but my hunch is that such an effort is not likely to succeed.

I wish I had better news for you, and I am really sad to see this project evaporate.  One lesson I think we can learn from this experience is the importance of establishing a more thorough process for getting campus approval for SSC projects before they are funded.  I intend to discuss this with the SSC leadership and see how the Institute can be of service in preventing this sort of terrible situation from recurring.

Cheers,

Ben

The e-cyclemania facebook event is online now.

Ball State U & Valencia College Partner with Chevrolet

(United States): As part of Chevrolet's new initiative to eliminate eight million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the air over the next five years, the two schools were selected to use Chevy's new carbon-reduction performance methodology, which measures the "beyond-business-as-usual" carbon reductions. Chevy intends to then purchase these reductions as carbon credits. A geothermal system at Ball State University and four LEED buildings at Valencia College are eligible for the agreement.
See also: Ball State U Press Release

This draft report was prepared by Associate Director for Campus Sustainabilty Ben McCall at iSEE, and comments were provided by Morgan White from F&S.

The News-Gazette published information about the upcoming Game Day Challenge. 

Professor Lavey presented a seminar through the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) last week on governments' efforts to promote cleaner trucking services.  The focus was on tools beyond legislation and regulations, especially imposing  low-emissions conditions on access to properties and applying environmental preferences in government purchases.  Here is the short description:

Technologies to cut truck emissions are available and cost-effective, and should be encouraged by a range of government and private actions. In 2013, Chicago approved the expansion of a railroad terminal contingent on retrofitting dozens of trucks with clean diesel filters. Illinois agencies are reforming freight and package delivery purchasing programs to implement the Transportation Sustainability Procurement Program Act of 2013. Similarly, the U.S. General Services Administration is applying new environmental preferences in selecting transportation vendors and tracking their performance.

See the video on ISTC's website.

Just spoke with Mike DeLorenzo and you have the go ahead from the IAC to have discussions with the Sustainability Practitioners from Urbana and Champaign. As you might have guessed Mayor Prussing is strongly in favor of the idea. The Champaign city manager like the idea but wants to learn a little more before committing. Deb was not at the meeting, but you should be able to contact the RPC. Of course, given bill Volk’s history of commitment to environmental issues I suggest you also reach out to their people.

Next step is to develop the pros and cons of such an undertaking.

-Jack Dempsey

Zero waste

Recyclemania kicks off Feb. 26

A friendly recycling competition will take place during the Illinois-Nebraska basketball game Feb. 26 at State Farm Center. Fans can compete against other schools around the country by recycling with the goal of a “zero waste basketball game.”

During the game, the university will compete in Recyclemania, a friendly competition and assessment tool used to promote waste reduction activities in college communities. Recycling and landfill materials from the game will be weighed to calculate the event’s diversion rate; the more waste diverted from landfill, the better. The weights will then be entered into Recyclemania’s national database for future benchmarking and comparison. 

The university’s entrance into this national competition is a collaborative effort among the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics; Facilities and Services; State Farm Center; the Student Sustainability Committee; and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.  Volunteers from Students for Environmental Concerns and Teryl Brewster’s psychology class of “Social Justice Educators” will help direct the efforts at recycling locations during the event. 

Winning schools receive national recognition and an award made out of recyclable materials. Goals of the event include motivating the campus community to minimize waste and increase recycling efforts.

For more information and updates on the event, see https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/recyclemania or email Bart Bartels at bbartel@illinois.edu.

--The above was quoted from Inside Illinois, Brief Notes.

Morgan White, Kevin Adkins, and Connie Frey Spurlock discussed methods in increasing faculty awareness and participation in sustainability programs.

All I need to know is the total number you have replaced and date completed.  The DCEO grant would reimburse $15/lamp.  I need the information by May 1 so we can submit our application.  If the project isn’t complete by then it will just have to be submitted on next year’s grant cycle.

-Eva Sweeney, P.E., LC