EGEN SWATeam Meeting (2.17.17)
Associated Project(s):
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
- Updating the EGEN objectives project page
- Reporting steam generation on-campus
- Plans for this semester
Attached Files:
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Projects Updates for collection: 2015 iCAP Objectives
Carbon Credit funding approved for Virtual Storeroom
Associated Project(s):The Carbon Credit sales funding has been approved by Director of iSEE Evan DeLucia and Interim Executive Director of F&S Helen Coleman for buying 10,000 additional carbon offsets, when purchasing the 103,000 replacement offsets from the carbon credits sold from 2015. The additional carbon offsets will be used as the initial inventory for a new Virtual Storeroom for carbon offsets being developed by iSEE for on campus users.
Inaugural Stormwater Public Meeting
Associated Project(s):Keith Erickson, Morgan Johnston, Jason Jones, and Stephanie Cash attended the first annual Urbana Stormwater Public Meeting on February 15th, 2017. The City of Urbana Engineering Staff led a discussion with community members on the stormwater management practices required for the City’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The City of Urbana owns and operates a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) which is required by the US Environmental Protection Agency to implement minimum control measures to target and improve stormwater quality. The minimum control measures include public outreach and education, public participation and involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site runoff control, post-construction runoff control, and pollution prevention and good housekeeping.
For more information: http://www.urbanaillinois.us/departments/public-works/StormwaterManagement
RFP update for buying offsets
Associated Project(s):The State Purchasing Officer recommends a single quantity for the Request for Proposals for buying Carbon Offsets. F&S and iSEE are considering the use of Carbon Credit (CCs) sales funding for the start-up inventory of 10,000 CCs for the Virtual Storeroom for Offsets.
EGen006 Petascale Offsets recommendation - Submittal
Associated Project(s):The eGen SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG stating, "Continue and/or start discussions with the Vice Chancellor for Research and/or NCSA regarding the development of a plan and budget to procure the offset for all emissions from the National Petascale computing facility as outlined in the 2015 iCAP."
See attached the SWATeam recommendation EGen006 Pertascale Offsets complete with comments from all the eGen SWATeam members.
Attached Files:ALUFS003 South Campus Afforestation Recommendation - Submittal
Associated Project(s):The ALUFS SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG stating, "Recommendation to support a plan for a South Campus Afforestation plot by Jay Hayek, Extension Specialist in Forestry / NRES. Project to convert 2+ acres at the corner of Race and Windsor to a forestry tract. Currently, this land is maintained as turf grass. The new plantings would highlight native Illinois oak and hickory trees and be educational for the campus and surrounding population."
See attached the SWATeam recommendation ALUFS003 South Campus Afforestation complete with comments from all the ALUFS SWATeam members.
Attached Files:SSC semester report submitted
Associated Project(s):The SSC semesterly report was submitted for the Zero Waste Coordination project. This project is pending HR hiring of Academic Hourly position.
Attached Files:Applications open for Sustainability Minor
Associated Project(s):Minor in Sustainability: Encourage undergrads to apply
The Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows Program (SEE FP) is an academic minor open to all undergraduates and a great opportunity to learn to navigate the web of consequences, trade-offs, feedbacks and barriers behind environmental challenges. Students also will develop teamwork skills, broad perspective and networking ability. Info session: 4:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, NSRC Room 240.
Tony Mancuso . Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
EGEN SWATeam Meeting (2.3.17)
Associated Project(s):The EGEN SWATeam a meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
- Determining Team Chair
- Final Review of rooftop solar recommendation and Petascale offsets recommendation.
- What constitutes clean energy usage? (REC count vs. RECs don't count)
Attached Files:Water & Stormwater SWATeam Meeting Minutes 2/2/2017
Associated Project(s):Review of pending recommendations: BIF Greywater, Increase Cooling Tower COC, Design Center Greywater Piping. Discussion on possible edits to the SWAT/iWG process. Student members will submit proposal to Student Sustainability Commision for apermanent meter to measure BIF greywater use. The Water SWATeam will meet every other week and will have a joint meeting with the Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam this semester.
Attached Files:Low Mow Zones signage inquiry to SWATeam
Associated Project(s):F&S Director of Sustainability, Morgan Johnston, asked the ALUFS SWATeam for their input regarding the forthcoming "Low Mow Zone" sign updates. She said, "I would like to talk with you about the “No Mow Zones” on campus and our efforts to better name them as “Low Mow Zones.” Brent and Ryan Welch are working on updating the locations in a map form and our F&S communicators (primarily Steve Breitwieser) are developing a message about the updated words and locations.
As part of this effort, we are also going to be updating the signs, and I am hoping to get your help with taking a look at the specific sign locations (once we have the updated map). We need a volunteer to visit each Low Mow Zone and note the
- How many signs do we have in the existing locations?
- Do any of them need to be moved for better visibility?
- Do any of them need to have taller sign posts?
- Where should signs be placed in the new zones?"
The SWATeam chair, Brent Lewis, indicated she would be included in the first spring semester meeting.
iWG meeting agenda January 27, 2017
Associated Project(s):see file
Attached Files:iWG meeting minutes January 27, 2017
Associated Project(s):see file
Attached Files:EGEN SWATeam Meeting (1.20.17)
Associated Project(s):The EGEN SWATeam held their first meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
- Review draft recommendations for 1) on-campus solar and 2) petascale offsets
- An update from Morgan Johnston on the Associate Director of Campus Sustainability position
- Updating iCAP portal project pages for EGEN objectives
- Clean Energy PPA
- Potential for future solar farm
- Asking for feedback from EGEN team members regarding recommendation proces
Attached Files:iWG meeting agenda and minutes December 20, 2016
Associated Project(s):see file
Attached Files:News Release - Solar Farm one year anniversary
Associated Project(s):In its first year of commercial operation from December 11, 2015, to December 10, 2016, the Solar Farm generated 7,284 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean, renewable energy for the Urbana campus, successfully meeting expectations.
Under a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Phoenix Solar South Farms, LLC, the university acquires all of the power generated by the Solar Farm and all associated renewable energy credits and carbon credits. Notable first-year production achievements of the Solar Farm include:- Provided 1.95% of projected FY17 annual electricity consumption1
- Supplied almost 14% of the campus electrical demand at noon on April 3, 2016
- Delivered 900 MWh of power to the campus grid in June 2016, the highest month of production
- Frequently generated over 4 MW of power; system capacity is 4.68 MWac
- Reduced the campus carbon footprint by more than 6,000 metric tons of CO2e
The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), the Urbana campus’ strategic sustainability plan, set a goal of obtaining at least 120,000 MWh of power per year from low-carbon sources by FY20. With the Solar Farm’s electrical production and the university’s wind PPA with Rail Splitter Wind Farm LLC, the campus is 25% of the way toward meeting this goal.
Hourly information on the Solar Farm’s energy production and impact to campus since first-connected in November 2015 is available at: http://go.illinois.edu/solar.
Attached Files:Final Report by Logan Ebling
Associated Project(s):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
Attached Files:Idea for LEED transportation credit
Associated Project(s):The LEED transportation credit for encouraging low emission vehicles can be obtained if there are dedicated spaces for low-emission vehicles near the building in question. In general, the University is not adding new parking spaces for new buildings, so it is difficult to achieve this LEED point. One method is to add a Zipcar space for the building, and another is to add an Electric Vehicle charging station. Grant Colella, a Project Manager at F&S, suggested a long-term plan to change all of the campus fleet to low emission vehicles, so the dedicated service vehicle spaces would also be low emission vehicle spaces.
EGen004 Electrification Study recommendation - Returned
Associated Project(s):The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on December 6, 2016, to discuss the SWATeam recommendation, eGen004 Electrification Study. The iWG agreed to return the recommendation to the eGen SWATeam for further discussion with F&S, iSEE, and other stakeholders.
See SWATeam recommendation eGen004 Electrification Study here.
iWG meeting agenda December 6, 2016
Associated Project(s):see file
Attached Files:
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