Revolving Loan Fund Selection Committee,

The time is almost here to select another round of projects for the Revolving Loan Fund. For this upcoming selection we have approximately $1,000,000 to allocate. However, due to a timing issue I am appealing to the committee to decide on a Retro-Commissioning project in advance of the formal selection meeting. The reason for requesting Retro-Commissioning at Memorial Stadium early is due to a deadline associated with the availability of DCEO grant dollars. If expenditures and savings are realized prior to May 31, 2017, DIA could receive $100,000 in grant money from DCEO. Our meeting for project selection is targeted for the first week of May 2017 which does not give us enough time to qualify for the grant.

Below is project specific information that would normally be presented at the project selection meeting. We don’t necessarily need to score this project, all we need is a majority decision (yes or no) to approve this project. If accepted, the committee would be considering $800,000 for allocation at the targeted May selection meeting.

Project Name: Memorial Stadium Retro-Commissioning

Project type: Retro-Commissioning

Buildings: Memorial Stadium

Energy Cost Savings: $300,000 /year

Funding Request: $200,000

Project Cost: $500,000 (DIA will contribute $200,000 and DCEO grant contribution will be $100,000)

Payback Period: Approximately 2 Years

General Description of Work:

Provide temperature control upgrades & retro-commissioning services for the west and north portions of the stadium. During preliminary work, many noteworthy items have been identified. Several HVAC equipment scheduling improvements have been made already.

Project Owners: Brett Stillwell (Athletics) / Karl Helmink (F&S)

Project Execution Contact: Brett Stillwell (Athletics) / Karl Helmink (F&S)

Criteria:

1-      Payback Period: The payback period is approximately 2 years.

2-      Reduction of Greenhouse Gas: Greenhouse gases will be reduced by 3,491,227 lbs due to conservation of electricity, chilled water, and steam.

3-      Fund Size Impact: While grant dollars are available for this particular submission, the grant will not be used to increase the Revolving Loan Fund balance.

4-      Visibility: Memorial Stadium is an iconic building for Athletics on campus.  The energy savings could be indirectly visible in that it could pay for other items that Athletics desires. There is a large amount of diversity in the usage of the space.

5-      Project Coordination: Coordination items need to be considered as the south end zone & east grandstand project approaches. There are temporary plans to be considered prior to the arrival of this particular project.

Other Pertinent Information:

It is proposed that Athletics provide $200k for this project. Eileen Westervelt, via DCEO funding, has provided a building energy study which has identified large energy savings in this building of over $300,000 per year. It is suggested that to secure the $100K DCEO grant, $150K needs to be spent by May 31, 2017 and evidence will need to be presented that the indicated energy is being saved.

The campus has realized a significant amount of utility savings due to the efforts made by the Retro-Commissioning teams and the expectation would be no different at Memorial Stadium. The data the Retro-Commissioning group has provided for this application predicts a very positive outcome which is consistent with most of their projects throughout campus.

The reason for the expedited decision is to take advantage of the possible DCEO funds that will likely not be available in the future. Thanks again for your participation in this selection process and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

I ask that you please reply with your individual yes or no votes before February 10, 2017.

Thanks again,

Josh Whitson

There were nine projects approved by the Revolving Loan Fund selection committee, see attached image.

Morgan Johnston and Shawna Grady met to discuss the potential uses for the Transportation Building's ECIP funding award ($10,000).  Options included additional recycling bins, LED lamps, power strips, battery recycling containers, and potentially a waste characterization study for the building (if available through ISTC).

Logan’s final paper. Pretty fun.

Highlights:

• “[Bicycle fleets] promotes positive social interactions.”
• “..I think most of these worries go away [about bike fleets]… one issue that  I saw coming up almost every time a discussion …was money. While totally understandable, it is also frustrating that there is a lack of desire to spend even a low amount of money to purchase one bicycle for employee use.”
• “…If they [departments] truly don’t have the money to spend, then perhaps the University as a whole should be assigning a sustainability budget specifically to each department that they can spend at their discretion in the name of sustainability.”
• “Bicycling on campus is the fastest mode of transportation; however, that would not be the case if the bikes are not located conveniently right outside your door or at least at a building next door. For bike sharing dock-style to match the convenience of a dedicated bicycle at the department’s building, the docks would have to be ubiquitous across campus, quite literally outside every building. Financially and logistically, I don’t think that is possible. To me, departmental bicycle fleets would be entirely more convenient for staff needing to get around campus quickly and efficiently.”

And, lastly, “In my opinion, the benefits are so numerous [for bike fleets] that the University should be aggressively funding and initiating bicycle fleets on campus.”

~per Lily Wilcock