Jennifer from the Innovation and Sustainablility LLC came by to talk about a very small bike share pilot where the students learn to maintain bikes and are encouraged to become bike owning commuters.  We discussed the matter and she has a lot of great ideas and would like to meet with us to discuss them.  She has questions about maintenance, what bikes to get (she wants quality and ease of maintenance), how to maintain consistency with student turn over, a possible LLC membership or bike share membership with TBP, and many other things.  I took notes on our conversation and she is going to try to make an overview of her ideas we can discuss it and find something that can work in the long term.  This sounds like something we want to be a part of. 

From the Campus Bike Center,
James Roedl

Steam traps are not being included in this grant application.  Roger Bensyl said that the tracking of the part numbers and serial numbers for the steam traps is impractical to meet the requirements for this DCEO grant.  This was regarding steam traps completed in the past, but the discussion about potentially getting grant funding for steam traps in the future is still needed.

Paul has a spreadsheet of the pipe insulation work completed from the past, through sometime in FY14.  Brian Kattamay (sp?) said we can submit the efficiency savings information to him starting in June 2014.  Brian will do the calculations and let us know how this can be possibly funded through the FY15 grant program.  Paul will send that information to Brian on June 2.

Paul will also talk to Roger about integrating the tracking system for the grant money into the operational system.

Facilities & Services used funding from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) in Spring 2014 t0 purchase incentives to increase bicycle usage. On Bikes on Campus Day, students were given free leg wraps, educational materials, bike maps, and pins if they stopped by the table. In addition, any bikes that were registered were given free bike lights or bike bell. There was also a raffle for those who brought a friend that normally does not bike to win either a free bike pump or bike lock.

Bicycles Ambassadors have decided to use "Hello, I'm a Bike Ambassador" spoke cards to be idenitfied on campus. These cards are being used as a point of reference for individuals to idenitify fellow bike ambassadors but to help those who may have bicycling questions. These cards represent those who believe in the power of bicycles and want to encourage others to use one as well. Look out for these cards around the CU area!

Hello SWATeam,

Can we talk about the GHG emissions from waste being sent to the landfill(s) please?  Take a look at this complicated emissions calculator.

The Input screen shows that the landfilled waste is going to a methane capture landfill (“Brickyard”).  The “ACUPCC Reporting” screen shows that emissions from solid waste is NEGATIVE 172 MT CO2e. 

I wonder.  How much of the methane is actually collected at that landfill?

Thanks,

Morgan

Robby Bauer, Dave Green, and Morgan Johnston discussed the status of the real-time energy meeter installations, from the SSC funded project.  All of the Housing electrical meters have been installed, but the issue is about steam meters.  Robby talked with the Housing plumber about the steam load.  the water is a constant volume pump, and there is no control system available (other than opening and closing windows).  with a constant flow pump, and without controls in every room, there is no way for students to have control over it. 

If we choose to not put funds into real time steam meters in those buildings, where the students cannot influence the energy demand, we can get real-time electricity meters on all the buildings in the original prioritized list from the SSC. 

IDOT submitted an application for the Illinois Governor's Sustainability Award in 2014, for work completed in collaboration with the University of Illinois Crop Sciences department. 

This project involved collaboration and coordination between UIUC Department of Crop Sciences, the IDOT sustainability manager, and IDOT roadway maintenance field staff.  The Illinois Department of Transportation is interested in utilizing suitable areas of Right-of-Ways to produce cellulosic grasses for ethanol and biomass energy. The goal of this study is to investigate the use of Illinois highway right-of-ways for energy crop production to generate additional revenue to defray the cost of road maintenance and improve the environment.

     In March through May 2014, ten undergrads in NRES 285 chose to evaluate a variety of UIUC sustainability projects.  All of the projects selected were supported by financing from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC).

1. Solar photovoltaic system on BIF
2. Solar thermal system on ARC
3. Solar photovoltaic system and electric vehicles at Sustainable Student Farm (SSF)
4. Wood-burning furnace at Allerton Park
5. LEDs at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
6. Green roof on Art & Design
7. Vermicomposting at SSF
8. Red Oak rain garden
9. Prairie garden at Vet Med
10. Bike shop

     The students were guided to ask questions about the effectiveness of the projects.  The objective was to develop evaluations of how well the projects achieved the relevant goals and what could be learned from these actions.

The photovoltaic panels on LEED Platinum certified Business Instructional Facility (BIF) rooftop harvests solar radiation as a clean renewable energy source for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign facility. The solar system has a combined maximum output of 40 kilowatt per hour (kWh), and has an annual production of 60,000 kWh. The system is expected to produce approximately eight percent of the building’s total electricity demand. However, solar panels require unobstructed access to solar radiation for most or all of the day to be effective

In this case study, an Outdoor Wood Burning appliance was installed in central Illinois as a biomass substitute for existing natural gas heating.  The location is owned by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is operated under the name Allerton Park.  Allerton Park is a 1,500 acre estate with numerous woodland, riparian, and prairie areas.   This location was selected by the University’s Student Sustainability Committee which disperses student fees allocated for sustainability improvements.  The visitor center and several workshops at Allerton Park used a 1960 boiler/heating unit that was expensive to run and produced excessive CO2 emissions.

The Campus Bike Center opened for business in May 2010, funded by The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign, a grant from the Student Sustainability Committee, the Center for a Sustainable Environment, and supplementary funding from the Facilities and Services Department at UIUC[1]. The Center offers a hands-on, educational space in which students and community members can have access to knowledge and experience in maintaining and fixing bicycles, as well as all of the necessary tools and products to do so. The Center’s outlined mission is to teach bicycle maintenance, providing access to affordable equipment, support overall safety education, and participate in campus bicycle community outreach2. The Center also has described goals for sustainability; to contribute towards the ICAP goal to reduce transportation emissions by 50% in 2025, support those who use bicycles for transportation, to make bikes a more feasible alternative to motor vehicles on this campus, and to expand these efforts even more through increased outreach and publicity efforts, increased staff capacity, more events outside of the shop to reach new audiences, more refurbished bikes to sell to students, and more courses, workshops, and demonstrations to educate the campus about bikes2.

[1] Neptune, Amelia. Bike Shop Student Sustainability Committee Application. UIUC ICAP Portal. http://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-updates/102. 11 Nov 2012. Accessed 8 May 2014.

The University of Illinois is an educational institution that strives for excellence in sustainability. Under this new goal, many projects have been funded such as the green roof over the Link Gallery. The Link Gallery is a space used to exhibit student work and is wedged between the Art and Design Building and the Krannert Art Museum. The project, titled GreenLink, was proposed by Nan Goggins, the Director of the School of Art and Design, and David Akins, the Director of Art and Design Facilities in 2008[1]. The goal of this project was to make visible the concerns and interests of Fine and Applied Arts students and faculty in working collaboratively on “greening the art campus”. They also had the goals of lowering the heating and cooling costs for the Link space, as well as collecting and storing rainwater to water the gardens on either side of the Link Gallery.

[1] The original GreenLink Proposal can be found via the iCAP portal.

In the words of Valerie Oliveiro, Assistant to the Senior Associate Director of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, KCPA is “dedicated to the advancement of the education, research, and public engagement mission of the University of Illinois through the pursuit of excellence and innovation in the performing arts.”[1] These words exemplify the importance of KCPA to the campus community. A hub of social interaction and innovation, Krannert has a unique role as a leader and innovator in sustainability initiatives at the University of Illinois. This unique importance is what drove KCPA to the idea of implementing LED lighting in its lobby. After more than two years of research and experimentation, consideration to the developing goals of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) and joint funding from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, KCPA finally decided to pull the trigger on The University’s largest LED lighting project.

[1] Oliveiro, Valerie. ICECF Funding Proposal for the KCPA LED Lobby Lighting Retrofit Project. Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois, September 17th, 2009

The major goal of this report is to quantify and qualify the impacts of Campus Red Oak Rain Garden project from University of Illinois on various metrics, including environmental, economic and educational contexts and to make suggestions for plan implementations of future projects. However, due to limited quantitative information, suggested impacts analysis is primarily based on literature reviews.

For the Spring 2014 semester, I am enrolled in NRES 285 – a field course entitled Performance Metrics and Assessment Techniques for Sustainability Projects. This course utilizes experiential learning in order to gain hands-on experience with sustainability projects on the UIUC campus. In order to assess these initiatives it is necessary to evaluate effectiveness of the project, means of improvement, methods of communicating results, and suggestions for the future. In particular, a project I found particularly appealing is the solar thermal system at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) used to heat the indoor and outdoor pools.

The Vermicomposting project (also known as I-Compost) in Sustainable Student Farm (SSF) began as part of the Transplant and Vermi-Composting Multiuse Greenhouse project. It is a pilot project to close the loop between the student farm and the university dining hall. The Transplant and Vermi-Composting Multiuse Greenhouse project received $65,222 grant from Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) on April 24, 2013. It also received $8,565 grant from the Office of Public Engagement on November 28, 2012 and $1,000 grant from Ernst & Young on March 21, 2012. The constructions of greenhouse and vermicomposting unit are completed on Fall 2013.

The goal of this project was to assess the success of the electric vehicles and solar panels on the Student Sustainable Farm (SSF). In 2010, through Engineering 298, the farm received a 1960 Allis-Challmers G Cultivating tractor that has been retrofitted to contain an electric powered motor. The following year, the same course began a new project to install 8 PV cell solar panels and charging station to service the SSF’s tractor. In 2012, a new course, Engineering 315, proposed and developed a project that would give the farm a delivery truck powered by an electric motor and a set of 24 PV solar panels and charging station to supply enough electricity for the truck’s daily use. As of now, all projects have been installed and are currently being used on the SSF except for the delivery truck, which has taken longer to construct than previously thought. The goal for all three projects is to offset the farm’s fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While these projects have been funded and constructed with the intent they will make significant reductions to the farms energy cost and reduce emissions, they have not been appropriately assessed after implementation to measure if these goals have truly been achieved. With the help of Zack Grant, the SSF manager, the expertise of my professors, and extensive research, I have developed measures reflecting the performance of these projects and the impact they’ve had. I’ve measured water savings, carbon savings, and cost savings in order to express how the Student Sustainability Committee’s (SSC) money has been spent. With this information, I hope to provide honest feedback to the SSC so they can maximize their investments and provide our campus with projects producing the greatest energy savings for the cost. My intent for this paper is to teach people what sustainable really is, not to suggest that this or any other SSC funded projects are bad. I truly believe the work of the SSC is essential to our campus for guiding our students to become stewards of sustainability.

In 1820, Illinois contained 22 million acres of prairie, but due to modern intensive agricultural practices, only a few thousand remain today. Of high quality, remnant prairie, there are only 2,300 acres which mostly persist along railroads, in cemeteries, and in ground that is not fit for farming (DNR, 2014). Prairies are part of the history and culture of Illinois. The rich soils that grow so much food for people all over the country were formed under prairie landscapes. These grassland habitats have a lot of potential to continue providing ecosystem services for the citizens of Illinois, but first we have to recognize those ecosystem services and realize the value of the sustainability of prairie landscapes. Faculty at the University of Illinois Veterinary School and at the Illinois Natural History Survey have aimed to do just that through a prairie restoration project on the Veterinary Medicine campus.

From: Sweeney, Eva Maria
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2014 3:41 PM
To: Chasco, David; Hall, Gaines B; Johnston, Morgan B; Tousignant, Teresa Marie Giardina
Cc: Rubin, Joshua
Subject: RE: Temple Buell - lighting controls upgrade

Dir. Chasco,

Thanks for your reply.  I’ll notify the project coordinator to proceed without the dimming controls.

Regards,

-Eva

From: Chasco, David
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2014 2:05 PM
To: Hall, Gaines B; Sweeney, Eva Maria; Johnston, Morgan B; Tousignant, Teresa Marie Giardina
Cc: Rubin, Joshua
Subject: RE: Temple Buell - lighting controls upgrade

See below.

From: Hall, Gaines B
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 12:27 PM
To: Sweeney, Eva Maria; Johnston, Morgan B; Tousignant, Teresa Marie Giardina; Chasco, David
Cc: Rubin, Joshua
Subject: RE: Temple Buell - lighting controls upgrade

I will defer to Director Chasco for this answer.

Gaines

From: Sweeney, Eva Maria
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 11:24 AM
To: Johnston, Morgan B; Tousignant, Teresa Marie Giardina; Hall, Gaines B; Chasco, David
Cc: Rubin, Joshua
Subject: FW: Temple Buell - lighting controls upgrade

All,

Please see below.  Per our discussions at the 95% review, I added in continuous dimming

to the 2nd and 3rd floor studios daylighting controls.  I had hoped we could afford this within the

project budget, but the bid has come in too high.

Would it be acceptable to the department to remove the dimming function, and have the

daylighting operate in on/off mode only?  This will save a huge amount and put us back on budget. Yes, that is ok if it helps the budget.

Please let me know your thoughts ASAP so I can have the contractor revise their bid.

David

Thanks,

-Eva

From: Rubin, Joshua
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 4:44 PM
To: Sweeney, Eva Maria
Subject: Temple Buell

Eva

As discussed, the fixed cost JOC scope of work for the TBH Lighting upgrades is ~$119,580.  This does not include any F&S system integrity support (this would be time and material support for things like smoke outage support, electrical outage support, ballast disposal) which would be minor on this project.

The emergency exit light replacement cost is approx. $9,500.00

Removal of the dimming requirement for the studio/lab areas would save somewhere in the range of $33,300 - $50,000

Please let me know if you and the customer (Gaines Hall?) would like a more exact proposal for any of the options above and how you would like to proceed with this project.

Thanks,

Josh Rubin

JOC Project Specialist

Facilities & Services

University of Illinois

1501 S Oak St.

Champaign, IL 61820

Office:   (217) 300-2469

Cell:        (217) 377-5493