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Project Updates

  3. Animal Sciences Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Retrofit #5 [ARCHIVED]

    As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 1,724 T-12 fixtures in the Animal Sciences Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 271,840 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.56 years.

  4. Registration now open for Bicycle Mechanic Course

    Associated Project(s): 
    Mechanics Classes at the Campus Bike Center

    Registration is now open for the six-week Bicycle Mechanic Course offered by the Campus Bicycle Shop! Space is extremely limited, and there is a $30 course fee.  The class will run from February 6-March 13  and again from March 27-May 1.  Register  in person for either session at the Campus Bike Shop today to reserve your spot!  For more information contact Ken Sutto, Campus Bike Shop Manager, at 217-300-0296 or kensutto@illinois.edu or come by the Campus Bike Shop during open hours (2 to 6pm Monday -Thursday and 2 to 5:30 Friday). 

     

    “So You Want to Work on Bikes” is a six-part course designed to teach you about different types of  bicycles, their components, and how to do most adjustments, maintenance, and overhauls on your bicycle’s major systems.

    This six-week course runs February 6-March 13 and will be held on Wednesday nights, from 6:30 to 8:30pm at the Campus Bike Shop. There are only five spots in the course, and registration is first come, first served until all five spots are filled. There is a $30 course fee, with all the money going towards The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign. This six-week course will be held again from March 27-May 1, and registration for the second course is also currently open (again, first come first served).

    If you wish to register please come by the Campus Bike Shop to sign up and pay the deposit as soon as you can. For more information contact Ken Sutto, Campus Bike Shop Manager, at 217-300-0296 or kensutto@illinois.edu or come by the Campus Bike Shop during open hours (2 to 6pm Monday through Thursday and 2 to 5:30 Friday). 

  6. Presentation to regional green team and RPC members

    Associated Project(s): 
    Mahomet Aquifer Sole Source Aquifer designation

    Sole Source Aquifer  designation process and impacts presented by Wehrmann and Adams.   The University's drinking water comes from this aquifer, and there are no other viable options for drinking water supply. Many local residents understand how lucky we are to have excellent clean water available from this underground glacial aquifer, but the constantly new population on campus needs to be informed. This presentation showed details of the existing aquifer outline, users, and the results of the search for alternative water sources, which proved this aquifer is our ONLY water source. 

  7. Uni High School

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Retrofit #5 [ARCHIVED]

    As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 450 T-12 fixtures in Uni High School were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 70,895 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.55 years.

  8. FY13 Sustainability Council members

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Council

    Sustainability Council Members

    The Sustainability Council was put in place in 2008 to help lead sustainability efforts at the University of Illinois. The Council is comprised of campus leaders and student and faculty representatives. It provides strategic direction and oversight of the campus sustainability initiative.

    2012-2013 Sustainability Council Members

    Name

    Affiliation

    Phyllis Wise, Chair

    Vice President and Chancellor

    Peter Schiffer

    Vice Chancellor for Research

    Renee Romano

    Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

    Dan Peterson

    Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement

    Ilesanmi Adesida

    Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost

    Ruth Watkins

    Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

    Barbara Minsker

    Associate Provost Fellow and Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering

    William Shilts

    Executive Director, Prairie Research Institute

    Marika Nell

    Student Sustainability Committee

    Kevin Wolz

    Student Sustainability Committee

    Pradeep Khanna

    Associate Chancellor and Acting Director, Center for a Sustainable Environment

    Jack Dempsey

    Executive Director, Facilities and Services

    Stephanie Lage

    Assistant Director, Center for a Sustainable Environment

     

     

  9. South Studio #6

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Retrofit #5 [ARCHIVED]

    As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 189 T-12 fixtures in South Studio #6 were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 48,303 hours. The simple payback for this project is 1.76 years.

  10. Illini Union Bookstore

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Retrofit #5 [ARCHIVED]

    As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 153 T-12 fixtures in the Illini Union Bookstore were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 24,077 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.65 years.

  11. Education Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Lighting Retrofit #5 [ARCHIVED]

    As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 1,416 T-12 fixtures in the Admin Tech Info Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 327,869 hours. The simple payback for this project is 1.12 years.

  12. Campus Bicycle Feedback Form

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collect Cyclist Feedback

    F&S Transportation Demand Management (TDM) continues to improve efforts to make the Urbana campus more bicycle friendly.
    TDM’s latest initiative is a “Campus Bicycle Feedback Form” that will allow anyone to share their suggestions for bicycle-related improvements on campus.

    The feedback will help inform the Campus Bicycle Master Plan, currently under development, as well as to help determine priorities for bicycle infrastructure and programming improvements in the future. 

    Feedback topics include bike parking, rules of the road, enforcement, fix-it-stations, and the Campus Bicycle Shop. Respondents will be asked if their comments relate to a specific location on campus, to describe the situation, and then to provide contact information if a follow-up is necessary.

    See the Campus Bicycle Feedback Form at http://go.illinois.edu/bikefeedback

  13. Illinois Business Consulting report - economic analysis

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass co-firing pilot at Abbott Power Plant [ARCHIVED]

    The central question posed to Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) is as follows: what would be the economic impact of replacing 10% of the university’s coal intake with wood chips?  After extensive research, analysis, and calculation it is the opinion of IBC that the cogeneration of energy with coal and wood chips is not economically feasible.  The initiative has been deemed not economically feasible because wood chips are more expensive on the basis of energy content, transportation costs will increase due to biomass, and infrastructure modification expenses necessary for the operational changes are significant.

    Attached Files: 

  16. Illinois Business Consulting report - carbon impact

    Associated Project(s): 
    Biomass co-firing pilot at Abbott Power Plant [ARCHIVED]

    In 2012, F&S hired Illinois Business Consulting to evaluate the following question for Abbott Power Plant: "Can the overall carbon footprint be decreased by using 10% of biomass in place of 10% of coal?"  The report and executive summary are attached here.

    Attached Files: 

  17. Final Bike Sharing Feasibility Study Submitted to SSC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing Feasibility Study
    Bike Sharing

    The final report for the Bike Sharing Feasibility Study was submitted to SSC. The study recommends the following three tiered approach to bicycle sharing on the Urbana-Champaign campus: 

    1. Bikes available for employees – The small existing program at Kinesiology and Community Health should be replicated at departments throughout campus. The program needs to be approved by Legal Counsel, Risk Management, Purchasing, and interested Colleges.  Then it should be promoted to departments, to encourage them to invest in bicycles for their employees and provide them with a simple support system for maintenance and tracking.
       
    2. Bikes available for short-term rentals – As an interim solution until the campus can handle a large-scale bike sharing program, the small existing program at Campus Recreation should be expanded with support from the Student Sustainability Committee.  They should increase the number of bicycles available, make the program self-sufficient financially, and market the program to visitors, conference attendees, faculty, staff, and students. A similar program could be investigated for the Illini Union. 
       
    3. Bike solutions for students and the public – Before this campus is ready to pursue a public bike sharing system, we must first address the issues regarding degraded infrastructure and the need for more bike safety education. Once these issues have been resolved, the campus should renew consideration of several options for bike sharing, such as bicycle libraries, kiosk systems, and GPS-enabled community bikes.  

     

    Attached Files: 

  19. Revolving Loan Fund approved for $250K for LED Exit Signs

    Associated Project(s): 
    LED Exit Signs

    The Revolving Loan Fund is approved to fund $250K in LED Exit Sign improvements.  Here is the description of the project, as reviewed by the RLF committee:

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    This project will replace existing exit signs with efficient LED fixtures in approximately (14) campus buildings.  As a result, energy use will be decreased, life safety systems will operate more reliably, and maintenance needs will decrease dramatically.  This is a continuation of projects funded in FY07 and FY08. We are requesting funding in the amount of $250,000, although the work is very scalable and any funding amount can be successfully applied. 

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    CRITERIA:

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    08. VISIBILITY - Very visible.  Building users notice when exit signs are burned out and it may make them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.  It also creates a negative impression of the pride we take in our facilities.

    09. PAYBACK PERIOD - When replacing incandescent, the payback from energy savings alone is about 6-7 years.  Replacement of fluorescent exit signs yields a payback of 8-10 years.  However, the old signs also require maintenance up to 3 times per year.  If one includes this expense, the overall payback improves to 1-2 years.

    10. REDUCTION OF COAL - By reducing overall campus energy use, this will contribute to Abbott Power Plant s ability to reduce the number of generation units in use.  An additional benefit is the reduction in GHG emissions from maintenance vehicles traveling to replace burned out lamps.

    11. FUND SIZE IMPACT - F&S is working with the Illinois DCEO and this project would qualify for about $7,000 in grant rebates.

    12. PROJECT COORDINATION - F&S has a record of success with these projects.  We have developed a project execution method that keeps overhead to a bare minimum, avoids expensive consultant fees, purchases material at bulk prices, and achieves maximum labor efficiency.  F&S Construction Services will execute the work, and F&S Engineering will document results for the DCEO grant.

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    ISSUES:

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    01. REPLACEMENT OF FACILITY SYSTEMS - Existing exit signs are typically long past their expected life, and have many maintenance problems.  The new LED exit signs will have an expected useful life of at least 15-20 years.

    03. IMPACT ON PLANNED PROJECTS - Very little impact on capital projects.  We coordinate to ensure no overlap between buildings selected for exit sign replacement and planned major renovations.

    04. WHAT IF PROJECT IS NOT FUNDED? - If this project is not funded, our campus will continue to expend many maintenance hours keeping these lights operational, and waste electricity on inefficient technology that is over 20 years outdated.

    If this project is partially funded, we will install as many LED exit signs as possible with the funds allocated.

    06. WHAT OTHER DEPARTMENTS ARE AFFECTED BY THE PROJECT? - The buildings we propose are all across campus and used by virtually every college and department.  These units will benefit from improved safety and fewer maintenance disruptions.

    07. RISK FACTORS - No known risk factors.  In fact this work will reduce the risks associated with having nonfunctioning exit signs, and improve life safety for the campus community.  We have executed this type of work in 25 buildings so far without major problems.

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