On Friday, November 22nd, the iCAP Engagement Team held its monthly meeting. The team discussed ways to engage the campus community more, specifically students, and shared updates on OneIllinois, Greener Campus, and Earth Month. We discussed the possibility of using social media to increase engagement or physical fliers and posters. We also welcomed a guest speaker from the Zero Waste Team who discussed Sustain Illinois, a magazine that outlines what is currently happening around campus as well as how the average person can become involved in sustainability in the community. We also discussed having in-person meetings and events next semester for the team and small ways we can all be more sustainable. One call to action was for staff and faculty to consider making their office spaces green-certified and brainstorming ways to reach the Greek life population. Our next meeting will be December 20th. 

We were closed all last week for the break.

We’re ramping up for our Kids Bike Giveaway event. We even got some coverage on WCIA: https://www.wcia.com/news/champaign-county/annual-bike-giveaway-planned-for-dec-14-in-urbana/

As is, we’re a little low on donations compared to years’ past, so hopefully this’ll be a good bump.

This evening is a lecture/instructional class on bike repair, but with colder and snowier weather, attendance will likely be low.

The numbers:

Visitors: 35
Sales: $497.50
Memberships: 8 for $240
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
Tires/tubes: 3 for $36

A meeting was held with several involved individuals to discuss the progress and next steps for the Campus Lumber Project. Team members will submit an SSC Scope Change to cover the additional costs of electrical construction and to ensure efficient transportation of lumber

Next steps from Quinn Connolly:

As discussed today, here is the plan moving forward:

Quinn will work with Lowell on submitting an SSC Scope Change to cover the increased cost of the electrical setup

Justin, Ryan, and Issac will discuss the best course of action for storing, identifying, and transporting lumber from the south Lincoln facility to the mill site.

Justin and Lowell will work on a preferred tree species and dimensions list to include in the protocol document

Quinn will work with Morgan on setting up an open work order

Quinn will work on writing a protocol document for the Campus Lumber Project

This document will include:

• Procedures
• Contacts (not just individuals but departments and back up contacts)
• Tree specification information
• Other relevant information as we navigate making this happen!

Brent Lewis replied with additional information about peer universities with similar programs:

All,

In my meeting with the Association of University Landscape Architects, we talked about the different programs people had to use removed trees from campus.  Here are a few links to what people are doing.  Plenty of bowls, boards, pens, etc that they are selling for alumni.  I also see live edge boards for sale and other items that aren’t finished products. 

https://magazine.utah.edu/issues/summer-2021/scott-leech-woodworker/

https://www.pennstateelmscollection.com/

https://www.uvasawmilling.com/

https://www.canr.msu.edu/for/programs/swri

https://msusurplusstore.com/collections/msu-shadows-collection

Anyhow, just wanted to share for people to see what others are doing.  There are probably some good contacts in here for future reference as well.

The Land and Water team had their monthly October meeting on Friday, October 25th, at 9 am on Teams. The minutes and notes from the meeting are attached. 

The Land and Water team had their monthly meeting on Friday, November 22nd, on Teams at 9 am. The meeting minutes and notes are attached. 

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the October 2024 Buyer's Share amounts by the hour, totaling 2,182.4 Megawatt hours.

The October 2024 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

This past week, Sarthak and I met with the students on the Transportation Team to discuss their various research projects for the rest of this semester and the upcoming semester. We met with Pun Siripun on Nov. 11th, at 12pm; Charles Okoli on Nov. 14th, 12pn; Sebastian Vega on Nov. 15th, at 11am; and Mitchell Bryant on Nov. 15th at 1pm.

The goal is to have each student conduct research on 30 or so universities in regards to various elements of transportation infrastructure, then present a final report on findings and recommendations for Illinois. The hope is that the schools are widespread, spanning from similar Midwest contexts as us to east and west coast.

Pun will be examining EV Charging available at other schools and whether extending that in Urbana Champaign would be economically feasible and environmentally beneficial.

Charles is reviewing Micro mobility. The goal is to promote micro mobility as alternative modes of transit, but to avoid enforcement costs and the safety of all (pedestrians and users). How have other schools done that well?

Sebastian is studying the commuter program at Illinois and how other universities have implemented it successfully. How did they incentivize it? How did they fund it?

Mitchell is researching the storage of micro mobility devices and how they can be expanded on campus. 

Looking forward to hearing about their research and their suggestions for Illinois!

Spent time tracking down a few new sources for kids’ bikes, as this year we aren’t receiving a large number of donations yet. At this point, we're looking at a little more than 20 kids bikes. 

Visitors: 53
Sales: $724.25
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $225
Memberships: 8 for $240
Tires/tubes: 7 for $50

These 2 units were delivered to Noyes 1st floor north and south entry ways 11/12/2024.

The iCAP Education team met on Teams from 4-5 PM on Monday November 18th. First we discussed steps on moving forward with the sustainbility Gen-Ed requirement, then we discussed the integration of sustainability in study abroad programs and lastly how to get further student input on the Green Career Forum. The meeting minutes are attached. 

Factilies & Services Capital Programs became a Monarch Level Certified Green Office today.

The Transportation Team had their November meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12th, from 1:00 - 2:00pm. We discussed the student research projects and heard an update on the EV Charging survey from Denissa Darmawi. We ended by discussing the problem of motorized transit on the quads and what might be helpful to discourage it. The meeting minutes are attached!

Our next meeting is December 10th, 1:00 - 2:00PM.

At Friday's Illini Lights Out event,  2209 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $336 in energy costs. This also prevented 2.7 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 300 gallons of gasoline being consumed. That's a huge impact

Attached is a detailed metrics report for October 2024.

The Energy Team met on Tuesday, Nov. 12th, from 3:30 - 4:30 PM. We provided updates on building energy efficiency efforts, explored occupant engagement strategies, and continued progress on solar rooftop initiatives. A draft recommendation for campus-wide energy upgrades was reviewed, and we discussed the upcoming agrivoltaic solar project. The meeting minutes are attached!

Our next meeting is December 10th, 3:30 - 4:30 PM.

Some water bottle filler stations are equipped with an indicator light that turns red when the filter needs to be replaced.  The Building Service Workers will alert the F&S Service Office when they see an indicator light is red.

Meeting notes are attached below, discussing walkable paths, mowing, and a potential MOU

Fabricated through our own mill shop. Cost to make two of these bins is attached.

The Sustainability Council met on Nov 5, 2024. The primary agenda items included: 

iCAP 2025 development process

• a)    Timeline
• b)    Progress on iCAP 2020 goals
• c)    Challenges and opportunities going forward 
  • i.    Trends in energy efficiency and space
  • ii.    Funding opportunities
  • iii.    Dealing with the question of divestment

The slide deck and minutes are attached.

On October 10th, 2024, iSEE hosted it's semesterly Trash Pick-Up in honor of Campus Sustainability month. Volunteers picked up litter near Boneyard Creek and around the Bardeen Quad, and sorted the litter into trash or recycling bags. In total, 40 lbs of litter were collected.