Hello,

I have seen a number of emails this summer when it gets really hot about energy conservation.

In Newmark (NCEL), the summer time temperatures are kept to ABSURDLY low temperatures. This is absolutely stressing the electrical grid for no reason. 

Graduate students keep winter coats in their offices and sometimes even use space heaters in the summer.

A colleague of mine's student office in NCEL measured a temperature of 58 degrees recently.

Who can we talk to about changing the thermostat? It is ridiculous when it is 100 degrees outside that we are cooling our massive building to such a degree that we need to wear long pants, long sleeves, and coats.

Best,

Hannah

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Hello All,

FYI

David- Here is something for the control center- in case there are some alarms or setpoints that need adjusting. 

Morgan- Karl has shared this bldg. is in need of deferred maintenance and a large scale upgrades.

Let me know if you have any thing too add when responding to Hannah?

Best

Paul Foote

From Kathy's Mailbag in today's News-Gazette:

“I'm wondering if Styrofoam recycling will stop when the Dart Container plant closes at the end of the year. Our community Styrofoam recycling program is one of just six in the state, with the other 5 located in the Chicago area. Will this program be saved for our community?”

Michael Westerfield, Dart Container Corporation’s vice president for sustainability, notified the City of Champaign that the community Styrofoam recycling program hosted by Dart will remain in operation until Sept. 29.

Nichole Millage, the City of Champaign’s environmental sustainability specialist, said at this time she is not aware of any other companies or recycling processors in the area that have the equipment (densifier) to recycle Styrofoam. “If new options become available, I will make sure folks are aware.”

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Hi Morgan and Scott,

Could the city of Urbana or the UIUC buy Dart’s densifier and operate it for the community?

Jeff

Dear Friend of the Reimagine our Future student sustainability competition,

We are writing to provide a brief update about Reimagine our Future.

As you know, the aim of this competition is to harness the creativity and intelligence of undergraduate students, challenging them to develop ideas and solutions that will contribute to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and encouraging them to feel empowered as engaged problem-solvers.

Registration is now open for the 2023 competition, and we have some exciting developments to report.

Students from nine participating higher education institutions can enter the competition this year either as individuals or as members of teams. (Students from any higher education institution anywhere may be on a team that enters the competition provided that team is led by a student from a participating institution.) An up-to-date list of the participating institutions is here.

This year we added two special awards for the best submission dealing with some aspect of climate change and for the submission that went furthest in implementation.

Also, Mike Yao, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor with appointments in the College of Media and the Gies College of Business, will serve as a mentor to the winning entrants, irrespective of their home institution, as they attempt to develop and implement their proposal.

The important dates for the 2023 competition are available here.

If you are an advisor on student projects, you may receive – any time between now and November 19th - a request for advice from one or more students who are planning a submission in your area of expertise or interest.

If you are a judge, we will ask for a few hours of your time during November 20-24 to help develop the list of finalists.

Special thanks to those who are playing both roles!

Our list of advisors and judges includes specialists from various universities, companies, and institutions and from many backgrounds, fields, and disciplines. This broad-ranging list encourages submissions from students in many areas.  We expect to continue to add to this list.

Thank you again for your ongoing help with this sustainability competition and for bringing your unique background, skills, professional history and more to this project. If you have advice or suggestions about any aspect of the competition, please let us know.

Yours sincerely,

Leon Liebenberg (Teaching Professor, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, UIUC) 

Warren Lavey (Adjunct Professor, College of Law, School of Earth, Society & Environment, and College of Medicine, UIUC) 

Robert McKim (Emeritus Professor, Department of Religion, UIUC) 

(Reimagine Our Future co-founders and coordinating committee)

Hi Daphne,

Just to confirm, this is toner and not an ink cartridge for printer. We don’t have many inkjet printers, but I don’t want to assume which one you have.

Thanks,

Brad

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Hi Brad,

That’s correct – toner is what we are referring to! Apologies for the confusion.

Thank you,
Daphne

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HI Daphne,

The vendors we work with for recycling toner quit accepting them. Unfortunately, they have to be thrown away.

Thanks,

Brad

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Hi Morgan & Stephanie,

Below is the response I received from Brad re: toner recycling. Sarthak was over at IT recently and noted that there was a box of toner cartridges that the IT team has been collecting for many, many years since the vendor stopped accepting them for recycling. I’ll do some research to see if there’s a solution in this region.

Thank you,

Daphne