The rennovation of the State Farm Center (previously known as the Assembly Hall) will seek LEED Gold certification. One item that this includes is the prerequisite that the building have indoor recycling bins placed throughout the facility. This will be a nice follow up to the first Zero Waste Game Day event our campus held in Spring 2014.
Hello Ofelia,
It would be great if you would do some research into the most effective conservation tips, and select the best based on that research. However, if you do not have time, I would like to see these three: turn your computers off at night, consolidate coffee makers and mini-fridges, and as always turn off the lights.
Thanks,
Morgan
-----Original Message-----
From: Ofelia Rodriguez
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 5:33 PM
To: Johnston, Morgan B
Subject: Illini Energy Website
Hello Morgan,
I am working on the Illini Energy website and am in charge of having energy saving tips. I wanted to ask for your opinion on what type of information would be useful or would be best to have on the website. We have a long list of energy saving tips, but wanted to focus on top 3 tips to put not the website.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
Ofelia Rodriguez
Business students worked on a fictitious energy dashbaord company and created the attached marketing plan. This document includes insight about potential behavior change strategies for the campus.
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)
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:
The key points discussed included an overview of iSEE's goals and structure, education and outreach plans, and an overview of the SWATeams.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Dear Colleagues,
In the midst of a cold winter, it may seem ironic to discuss our sustainability efforts on campus. But it seemed like the beginning of a new year is the perfect time to see where we have gone and where we are going. In the quest to become a pre-eminent research university with a land-grant mission and global impact, integrating sustainable practices in our research, classes, and buildings - every facet of campus – is a necessity and has been identified as a priority by our students and faculty.
We were excited to take another major step in that effort with formal establishment of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment – iSEE - and the appointment of a permanent director, plant biology professor, Evan DeLucia. This is one of the first recommendations that came out of last year’s Visioning Future Excellence conversations and was also identified as a goal in the campus strategic plan. The institute will serve as a research and educational hub for environmental and sustainability initiatives for the entire campus community.
As a campus, we have long been active in new initiatives to promote sustainable practice, both in our own activities and in research that translates to broader impact beyond our walls. From a campus-wide effort that has cut our annual energy costs by millions of dollars and has rewarded buildings with high energy reductions through the Energy Conservation Incentive Program, to the RecycleMania Game Day event February 26 and efforts in University Housing that have reduced daily food waste by hundreds of tons – thinking about ways to preserve our world and to steward our resources is a part of our community identity.
And the world is noticing. This year we garnered several national recognitions including a rating of Gold from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Reporting System. Gold is the highest distinction a university has been given. For the first time, we were also named to the Princeton Review Green Honor Roll, one of only 22 schools to make the list this year. We were ranked #1 in the Big Ten and 28th overall for Sierra Club Cool Schools. PETA2 named us one of the most “vegan-friendly” schools in the U.S. The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the Lincoln Hall project LEED Platinum certification, its highest ranking. And we also received a Governor’s Sustainability Award.
We have a long history of innovation and leadership in environmental science and sustainability. But it is exciting to see how that hallmark is being incorporated into our strategic future excellence.
--The above paragraphs were quoted from the Chancellor's Blog.
Revolving Loan Fund Selection Committee,
Thank you to all who participated in the special vote. We received a majority vote of four “yes” responses, so the project is accepted. Our Business Office will get the MOU written and we will move forward with the work very soon. The terms of the loan will be outlined in the MOU and will be in accordance with the signed agreement dated 12/03/2015.
Again, thank you to all who participated and we’ll be in contact with you very soon regarding the next selection meeting.
Josh Whitson
Robby Bauer and Morgan Johnston reviewed the status of the real-time energy meter installations, funded by the SSC and campus. The original plan was to install real-time electric, steam, and chiled water meters in the Housing facilities in support of the Campus Conservation Nationals. The electric meters are all installed, but we are recommending that the steam and chilled water meters be put on hold indefinitely in favor of installing electric meters in additional buildings.
Here is a memo from Scott Tess to the Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission addressing functioning and efficacy of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs).
Please see the ECIP article in the Daily Illini.
Libraries Win Energy Awards
Jan 23, 2014
The Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP) at Illinois awards building upgrades on campus in facilities which have produced top energy conservation results. Each year eight campus buildings receive ECIP awards in two separate categories. Those selected have demonstrated the greatest percentage of energy conservation over a one-year period.
In 2013, three of eight awards went to Urbana campus libraries. The Undergraduate Library won 1st Place in the Occupant Action category; in the Energy Advancement category, the Main Library took 3rd Place while the Grainger Engineering Library took 4th Place. These libraries will work with the Utilities & Energy Services Division within Facilities & Services at the University to implement upgrades to their appearance or functionality.
The Energy Advancement category is for campus buildings whose energy reduction is the result of central funding from a significant energy conservation project. The Occupant Action category is for those buildings which have not benefited from such projects in the last fiscal year.
To learn more about the ECIP, please visit go.illinois.edu/ecip.
(from Library News at http://www.library.illinois.edu/news/ECIP2013.html)
The Travel Management Office is responsible for coordinating business travel through OBFS. They can be reached by phone at 217-333-6583 and 888-872-9953, and email is tmo@uillinois.edu.
Ken Merrill gave an example of paper purchases:
This year he has purchased 33,500 reams of virgin paper, 1073 reams with 30% recycled content, and 180 with 100% recycled content. The means for this year 96.4 of the paper purchased through Central Stores has no recycled content.
He said he was happy to purchase whatever the units want, but they have to want it.
Slides will play on all 3 working digital displays at BIF. Unfortunately, we're having hardware issues with the display facing the Sixth Street entrance. The IlliniEnergy images will take up the entire interactive region of the digital display. However, the images will not take up the space on the footer and right-hand portion of the display, as we already have student groups scheduled to run information on those spaces.
Images will run through December 20. We would be happy to keep a small number of the slides in the rotation after December 20.
The display ppts have been distributed and can go on as a static display. We than the Comminication office of our college for moving forward and we will be ready for testing when the students come back Dec 2.
Funding Opportunity: Indoor Air Quality and Climate Change at EPA
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – October 29, 2013
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a new solicitation focused on indoor air quality and climate change, with relatively large award sizes. The solicitation comes from EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, which is the most consistent program at EPA that offers extramural funding opportunities. STAR Requests for Applications (RFAs) are posted throughout the year, but they generally are infrequent and targeted. Funding topics usually are identified through EPA’s Office of Research and Development’s planning activities and are linked to EPA’s strategic plan (available at http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P1008YOS.PDF). This solicitation addresses EPA’s Strategic Goal 1: Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality; Objective 1.1: Address Climate Change; and Objective 1.2: Improve Air Quality.1
Through this solicitation, EPA is seeking proposals that will improve the understanding of the “effects of climate change on indoor air quality and the resulting health effects […] directly through a variety of mechanisms, and indirectly through adaptations in building use and design.” The solicitation notes that of priority is “the evaluation of existing guidelines for building system design or for weatherization to adapt buildings to a changing climate, against evidence of health effects related to ventilation, or at least against ventilation models and findings […] intentional and unintended changes to the indoor environment, with emphasis on actionable thresholds, that affect biocontaminants or emissions from building materials are especially of interest, if they can be related to changes in exposure or health of occupants.”
This is one of the few solicitations EPA’s STAR program has released this year; many of the planned solicitations have been withdrawn, likely due to funding uncertainty. EPA generally offers webinars for its STAR solicitations, though one has not yet been announced for this solicitation.
Letters of Intent: Not applicable.
Due Dates: Proposals are due January 23, 2014.
Total Funding and Award Size: EPA anticipates making three regular awards and three early-career awards. It will award approximately $4.5 million total, with regular awards receiving up to $1 million and early-career awards receiving up to $500,000, both over the course of three years.
Eligibility and Limitations: Non-profit academic institutions of higher education are eligible to apply.
Sources and Additional Background:
• The complete solicitation is available at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2014/2014_star_indoor_air.html#Award.
1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Sept. 30, 2010). FY 2011-2015: EPA Strategic Plan—Achieving Our Vision, p. 7-9. Retrieved from http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P1008YOS.PDF.
As an energy conservation method, F&S is implementing a policy for all individuals to turn off any electronic devices in your office before leaving for the day. This includes desktop computers, printers, monitors, etc. Be advised that when you reboot your computer and a patch or update is waiting, it will load and may request a system reboot. This policy does not include mission critical systems.
Energy Advancement Category
Occupant Action Category
The Executive Director of Facilities and Services approved hiring a Zero Waste Coordinator today. This will be a half-time academic hourly position, working with Tracy Osby at the Waste Transfer Station and Morgan Johnston in Sustainability. The candidate has been selected, and the job description is attached here.
