The Chicago Tribune included a mention of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as one of two schools in Illinois that have joined the Billion Dollar Green Challenge. http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/ct-nvs-north-centra...
Niharika Kishore, masters in Urban Planning (MUP) student, and Corey Weil, sophomore in Electrical and Computer Engineering, are working with Morgan Johnston on the iSEE objective for on-campus solar. Niharika will continue her efforts for promoting rooftop solar to meet the iCAP objective for 12,500 MWh/year of on-campus solar energy generation as part of a MUP capstone project this year. Corey will volunteer in various efforts to support the development of solar solutions for campus, from the Net Zero Energy ECE efforts to advocating for solar energy funding.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-08-26/toms-mailbag-aug-26-20...
UI solar farm
“The solar panel field located near the corner of Windsor Road and First Street has become overgrown with tall weeds. Do the panels still work with that much foliage under and above them? Also, would hiring sheep or goats to ‘mow’ the weeds be harmful to the sheep or goat (heat from the panels)?”
The Solar Farm on the University of Illinois campus was implemented as a power purchase and land lease agreement with Phoenix Solar South Farms, LLC, said Steve Breitwieser of the UI’s Facilities & Services Department.
“The agreements designate Phoenix as responsible for all maintenance of the Solar Farm during the 10-year contract, and this includes vegetation control.
“A contractor hired by Phoenix was on site in mid-June, and they are performing additional weed control activities this week.”
When the agreement with Phoenix ends, Breitwieser said, the UI will assume Solar Farm maintenance responsibilities.
And — how about this? — preliminary discussions have begun with research faculty regarding the use of sheep or low-height food crops in the future, he said.
Meanwhile, neighboring plant growth has not impacted solar production, said Breitwieser.
Solar array data can be viewedat: http://go.illinois.edu/solar.
The SSC funding for Zero Waste Coordination ($64,862) covers four different recycling efforts.
1) Campus-wide infrastructure, $29,750: Expanding the “Dual bins on the Quad” to north of Green and eastward to Goodwin Avenue, in collaboration with F&S Superintendent of Grounds Ryan Welch. Ryan’s Grounds workers are mapping the existing bins, as a first step. All of this funding is for the physical infrastructure (bins and lids, etc.).
2) Campus-wide education, $1,032: The key message of personal responsibility for waste management needs to be communicated through multiple channels on campus, in order to effect the culture shift that we deeply need on campus. F&S will create educational materials to explain the recycling options available to the campus community, to reduce confusion. The funding is based on 8 presentations throughout campus and development of educational materials (which will be used in future years as well). All materials will thank SSC for their funding support.
3) Building specific solutions, $30,520: Per the completed Waste Characterization Studies, there are various changes that can be implemented in the studied buildings to improve waste diversion. These changes need to be approved and implemented in coordination with building occupants, so there is a need for a staff coordinator to work with the individual units. The funding is based on two weeks of staff time per building, for eight buildings.
4) Special recyclables expansion $3,560: There are new programs available for interested units on campus to recycle nitrile gloves, styrofoam, alkaline batteries, and glass. Unfortunately, very few units are aware of these opportunities. We are requested funding for student employees to reach out directly to potential participants and help them incorporate the applicable programs.
Volunteers are needed for Light the Night on Thursday, September 12, 2013. Volunteers can sign up for 1.5-hour or 3-hour shifts here:
http://thebikeproject.wikispaces.com/light-the-night-2016
Light the Night is an annual bike light give-away, sponsored by the CATS agencies.
The Illinois map has a category called bike racks. These were added based on a student survey done several years ago. The Active Transportation Coordinator is working with GIS Specialist James Whitacre, and student volunteers, to update the data and the campus map. This should be completed during FY17.
The Office of Advancement hired Elite Air Productions LLC to create a video flyover of the new Solar Farm. The video can be seen at https://youtu.be/k7b-F0zCgxs.
The rooftop solar project for ECE is moving forward now, and installation is expected in summer 2017.
Brian Finet shared a preliminary sketched layout for the Speech and Hearing Rooftop Solar PV, in a short meeting with Morgan Johnston and Robert Halverson. During the spring funding meeting of the Student Sustainability Committee, they questioned if it was possible to do a scalable design for this building, so more than the originally funded 11kW could be installed in the future. The answer is yes, this is highly scalable.
August, 2016, a new initiative towards promoting departments to start their own bicycle fleets began. Lily Wilcock, Active Transportation Coordinator, took on myself (Logan Ebeling), a student intern to help with this project. I am participating in the project as part of ENVS 491, a class required for my Sustainability Minor.
This project is an evolution from the Departmental Bike Sharing project (see Associated Projects) and is using materials from that project and is drawing off its success.
We met August 24th at the Campus Bike Center to discuss goals for this semester. We settled on two broad goals: First, assessing the health, challenges, and success of already existing departmental bicycle fleets and second, promoting the formation of new bicycle fleets on campus.
Morgan Johnston, Robert Halverson, and Brian Finet met to discuss the design needs of the Speech and Hearing Rooftop Solar PVs project (on building #209). Key points discussed are:
Per the building occupants, this project needs to be installed at the same time as the Capital Project in that building, currently scheduled for summer 2017. Therefore, the bulk of the design needs to be completed by December 2016, and the installation methodology should be clarified in September or October, 2016.
The project must be metered, in order to track the solar energy generation. There are several metering options and considerations to be addressed. The meter needs to track real-time energy generation from the array, but this project does not currently include setting up a dashboard website specifically for this array.
Discussion about the pros and cons of various mounting methods were discussed. Additional potential for rooftop leaks are the primary concern for building occupants and maintenance contacts. The most manageable installation style is to connect the solar panels to an existing load bearing column for the building. Ballast style installations, while not creating an immediate rooftop penetration point, are very likely to wear on the roof and create non-point source leaks which are hard to find and eliminate. Additionally, with a ballasted mounting system the snow load is difficult to calculate due to the unpredictable effect of snow drifts.
Ava Heap and Andrew Stumpf requested assistance from Morgan Johnston on an SSC project proposal for the Idea Garden rooftop solar. Kristine provided a summary of the open issues to be addressed:
Morgan will work with Ava to clarify the needs of this project.
This years Light the Night has 1,090 bicycle light sets for installation on bicycles in the span of four hours. We need all the volunteers we can get! Sign up on the facebook page of the wiki!
http://thebikeproject.wikispaces.com/light-the-night-2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/247904592263343/
Any questions or other ways to help the event, contact Lily Wilcock, lwilco2@illinois.edu .
Prairie Rivers Network, the Illinois affiliate for the National Wildlife Federation, is leading an effort to support monarchs in the local region. The are also working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) on a plan for protecting monarchs in our state. IDNR is planning a statewide event in Springfield on September 9 to share the results of initial surveys.
The Champaign County Sustainability Network (CCNet) participated in the Pollinator Palooza on July 16: "Help plant milkweed at Firefighter Park, 305 S Randolph St, Champaign, Saturday July 16 from 9-12, bring gloves -- The Champaign Park District is transforming Firefighter Park (305 S Randolph) into a butterfly habitat. All City Staff are invited to help plant milkweed this Saturday from 9 am to noon. Champaign joined the Mayor's Monarch Challenge Leadership Circle to save the Monarch Butterfly. In the last 20 years, the Monarch population has declined by over 94%, shrinking from over 1 billion to just 60 million butterflies. Monarchs rely on Milkweed plants, the only plant that they can use to cocoon. The Midwest is an essential breeding ground for the annual Monarch migration from Canada to Mexico, and habitat loss has contributed to their decline."
CCNet also hosted the Pollinator Pocket Garden Tour on July 28: "Walking Tour Begins at Bresnan Center,706 Kenwood Rd, Champaign -- Moving beyond pollinator week in June and to keep the conversation ongoing, CCNET is hosting a tour with, Randy Hauser, Horticulture and Natural Areas Supervisor for the Champaign Park District to learn about "pocket gardens". This will be a great learning experience for people who love plants and want to help the pollinators and the Monarch, but only have small space for gardens."
The City of Champaign and other partners in the community such as the Champaign Park District, Prairie Rivers Network and many others have been working to preserve Monarch Butterfly habitat throughout the community. The City of Champaign joined the Mayor's Monarch Challenge Leadership Circle to save the Monarch Butterfly. In the last 20 years, the Monarch population has declined by over 94%, shrinking from over 1 billion to just 60 million butterflies. Monarchs rely on Milkweed plants, the only plant that they can use to cocoon. The Midwest is an essential breeding ground from the annual Monarch migration from Canada to Mexico, and habitat loss has contributed to their decline. The Champaign Park District hosted a number of Monarch Themed events throughout the summer focused on Monarch Butterfly education and habitat preservation.
City of Urbana staff have planted milkweed seed in landscapes at the Boneyard Creek. They have also designed a butterfly and pollinator garden to be installed south of the City Building next spring. Additionally, Mayor Prussing has signed the Wildlife Federation’s Mayors For Monarchs Pledge. In accordance with the pledge and the Mayor’s interest in supporting monarch populations, staff have assisted in the creation or enhancement of monarch and pollinator gardens with community groups at the Lierman Garden, Urbana Free Library Garden, and Downtown Garden.
Hello all, this past week was busy, we had a lot of people in. We sold 7 bikes for $860, 4 build-a-bikes for $190, 5 memberships for $150, and grossed $1855.70. We got a lot done, I meet with Stacy and Jim and discussed problems and solutions on the University side of things in regards to the Bike Center. Phil held a conflict resolution meeting with Barry and I and went very well. I setup posts for closings and made a temporary schedule for keeping the shop open with Lily and Jake running the shop.
This coming week I'm heading to Colorado. Jake and everyone else will have to write the next chapter.
From the Campus Outpost,
James Roedl
Hello all, this past week was a mixed bag. The patrons were in a good mood and we got a lot done. We sold 7 bikes for $810, 1 build-a-bike for $65, and grossed $1914.10. I built several bike and got about 90% of the reports done.
This coming week I will be organizing the shop, building bikes, and Jake will be job shadowing me.
This is my last week at the shop, and I will close it at 5:30 on Friday.
From the Campus Outpost,
James Roedl
Hello all, this past week was good. We were slower than normal, and the 4th of July shaved a day off the week. We had several people building bikes, and some cool projects came in. We sold 3 bikes for $280, 1 build-a-bike for $60, and grossed $871. We are doing particularly well on bike sales this year. I'm wrapping up reports and YTD bike sales should be about 101. This gets some cash, but the real benefit is the community service that gets more people on reliable bikes. It lowers our work load because considerably less people leave without a bike only to come back with a broken down craigslist find that needs far more work than it is worth. We have also seen a reduction in build-a-bikes, but the completion rate of build-a-bikes has gone from 5%-10% up to 90%. The mood at the shop is much more relaxed because those coming in have small repairs like flats and brake adjustments rather than complete rebuilds. I have been working on yearly and quarterly reports quite a bit as well as getting the shop clean and organized. I have hosted several tours for different student groups who are new to campus and are looking for sustainable transportation. This past week the tours of note were a class of freshman football players, and a group of freshman engineering students. Lily came to the football tour and helped with the talk. She will most likely be in charge of future advocacy events with the athletic dept.
This coming week I will bring all reports up to date with the end of FY16. We will be building bike and cleaning the shop. I will also be taking some time to write down procedures and things only I know to be pass to my successor.
From the Campus Outpost,
James Roedl
The compost turner at the landscape composting site for campus Grounds is out of commission. However, we still windrow our landscape debris and the OE's turn it with a bucket tractor the best they can.
Niharika Kishore will send an email to potential facilities for adding rooftop solar, in support of the 2015 iCAP objective. The draft email is attached and the list of potential facilities is as follows:
| Building | Estimated Yearly Output (kWh/yr) |
| Physical Plant Services Building | 791,522 |
| Activities and Recreation Center | 725,562 |
| Law Building | 395,761 |
| Ikenberry Dining Hall | 382,569 |
| Abbott Power Plant | 263,841 |
| Digital Computer Library | 263,841 |
| Plant Sciences Laboratory | 164,900 |
| Timothy J. Nugent Hall | 164,900 |
| Institute of Genomic Biology | 158,304 |
| Richard T. Ubben Basketball Complex | 151,708 |
| Oak Street Library | 151,708 |
| Bousfield Hall | 145,112 |
| Garage and Carpool | 125,324 |
Hello all, this past week was good. A little slower, but good. I suspect the summer course modules has something to do with it. We sold 2 bikes for $330We were able to get do a really thorough cleaning of the shop both for our own good, but also for a visit from Brian and Lowa some folks from Student Affairs(right Lily?). I spoke to a group who may be putting in a repair station for the new art and design building. I built some bikes and got some cabinets from surplus. We were able to further organize the shop using these cabinets. Each seat post size has its own drawer.
This week I will be building bikes, working on reports, and setting up the transition to my leaving CBC.
From the Campus Outpost,
James Roedl
