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Project Updates for collection: 2010 iCAP Projects

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  5. SSC funding award letter

    Associated Project(s): 
    Wind Turbine Generator(s) on South Farms
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    In October 2010, the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) wrote a letter to the Office of Sustainability at the U of I recommending that the wind turbine project receive $500,000 in funding with following conditions:

    1) That all funds provided by the SSC be returned in full if the project is postponed, cancelled or placed on hold.

    2) That all funds provided by the SSC for be expended by December 31 st, 2011 and that a final report of all work completed and accounting of funds spent be provided to us by that date as well.

    Attached Files: 

  7. suggestion from Carl Wegel

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings

    As I have thought about this effort, I concluded that weatherization inspections would be most productive in our converted residential units on campus - frame structures and 1-3 story masonry buildings which were originally constructed primarily as residential units.  While I don't have a ready inventory of those structures, following is an extremely incomplete list meant to typify the kinds of buildings I am thinking about:

    • The two converted houses east of Uni High on Springfield, used by Uni High.
    • The converted house on the northwest corner of Green and Goodwin.
    • The converted house southeast of ISR on the north side of Illinois.
    • 608 S. Matthews, 708 S. Matthews, converted houses along Nevada between Matthews and Goodwin.
    • Converted units along Oregon between Matthews and Goodwin.
    • Converted units on the south side of Nevada west of Lincoln Avenue, etc

    These buildings fly far below the radar of our formal retro-commissioning efforts, since we have so many improvement opportunities in much larger buildings that consume significantly more resources.

    For the Student Sustainability Committee to provide funding for a students who would spearhead and manage the program, in addition to financial incentives to the surveyors, is a brilliant idea that makes this effort that much more workable during a very busy time at Facilities & Services.  That approach will also provide real world, resume quality experience for the people who step up to the challenge.

    A part of program development that such student employees should undertake would be to identify the kinds of information that would be applicable toward weatherization of the types of structures identified above.  F&S staff would discuss with the students their conclusions and would provide grounding in what weatherization remediation activities we could/would actually pursue.  That approach is preferable to F&S telling you what information we want you to gather.

    I just grabbed off the web the single quick reference below as one example of what resources are readily available to the student program managers as they work to identify what information the surveyors would be asked to gather.

    Does this give you what you need to flesh out your idea?

    Carl Wegel

    Director of Maintenance, and all-around nice guy

    Weatherization Tips For Your Home.
    ...Recommended by US DOE (1)

    -- Test your home for air tightness. A professional blower door test is the best option, however you can find major leaks yourself. On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weather-stripping.

    -- Caulk and weather-strip doors and windows that leak air.

    -- Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducts, or electrical wiring penetrates through exterior walls, floors, ceilings, and over cabinets.

    -- Install rubber gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on exterior walls.

    -- Look for dirty spots in your attic insulation, which often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes by foaming the gap, or by stapling sheets of plastic over the holes and caulking the edges of the plastic.

    -- Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with double-pane windows. Storm windows may as much as double the R-value of single-pane windows and they can help reduce drafts, water condensation, and frost formation. As a less costly and less permanent alternative, you can use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold winter months. Remember that the plastic must be sealed tightly to the frame to help reduce infiltration.

    -- When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes 24 hours a day!

    From: Jennifer Koys [mailto:jennifer.koys@gmail.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:14 PM
    To: Wegel, Carl V (Facilities & Services); Henson, K Dean (Facilities & Services); Johnston, Morgan (Facilities & Services)
    Cc: Anna Franco
    Subject: Campus Weatherization Project

    Hello,

    Hope you're all having a good week! I was wondering if you would be able to provide a "wish list" of the data that would potentially be useful to obtain from student assessments, how you would like it organized, and what you would want to do with the data obtained? This would be very helpful to have as I move forward.

    You mentioned at the meeting having students help run the program. Thinking about this, one possibility I came up with was hiring a student worker to work under someone at F&S to run the program. In the years after the initial start-up, this student could be chosen from the students involved in the assessments during the previous year, as they would possess background knowledge and experience necessary to effectively coordinate the program. Do you have any thoughts on this idea?

    Thanks!

    Jenny
     

  8. Update from Jennifer Koys

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings

    I'm meeting with Brian Deal tomorrow to hopefully get a better idea of how we could get students trained and what kind of information we could get from the audit. I've also reached out to Tim Lindsey to see about possible ISTC invovlement but haven't heard back yet. If came up with any other ideas for departments that might be willing to house the program and put a staff member on it (there would be SSC compensation involved for the staff person), that could be helpful.
     

  9. SSC student meeting with F&S Building Maintenance staff

    Associated Project(s): 
    Weatherization of Small Campus Buildings

    I'm from the Student Sustainability Committee. This year, we are interested in funding a project that will utilize students to help to achieve the University goal of weatherizing campus buildings.  Suhail Barot pointed me to you as good people to talk with to start a conversation about what F & S would be looking for in regards to such a program and getting ideas going to submit in response to the Committee's RFP.I'm from the Student Sustainability Committee. This year, we are interested in funding a project that will utilize students to help to achieve the University goal of weatherizing campus buildings.  Suhail Barot pointed me to you as good people to talk with to start a conversation about what F & S would be looking for in regards to such a program and getting ideas going to submit in response to the Committee's RFP.

    Jennifer Koys
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Business Process Management, 2011
    Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Director
    Student Sustainability Committee, Treasurer
     

  10. SSC progress on composting project

    Associated Project(s): 
    Large-Scale Food Waste Composting

    SSC minutes from 10/8/10 include this update:

    1. Compost-Kevin
      1. Met with Ryan Welch
      2. Completely on board
      3. Right now all they have is woodchips and leaves
        1. Used for mulch, and tons of excess
      4. Met with Joe Kunkel from vet med
        1. Director of facilities
        2. On board with anything
        3. Animal science is the hold up, but right now it is composting

  14. News article about guaranteed return on sustainability investment

    Associated Project(s): 
    Wind Turbine Generator(s) on South Farms

    In last week of August 2010, The Daily Illini published an article focusing on the return from sustainability investment -- "Sustainability investment guarantees returns" -- https://web.archive.org/web/20101206070431/http://www.dailyillini.com/op...

    Attached Files: 

  17. BIF Prairie Garden Funding Agreement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    This proposal looks to contribute to the campus wide effort of promoting more sustainable landscaping by creating a Prairie Garden comprised of plant species characteristic to east-central Illinois to surround the Deloitte Auditorium in the courtyard of the Business Instructional Facility (BIF). The Prairie Garden will provide carbon sequestration benefits, aid in management of water runoff, increase biodiversity, and reduce the use of carbon-intensive maintenance equipment. Replacing the current overgrown sedge meadow with low-height, low-growth, native sustainable botanicals will lead to less management needs and greater student engagement with increased access and aesthetics. The Prairie Garden will be highly visible to the thousands of weekly visitors to the BIF, sending a message about the importance of and commitment to sustainable practices. Such education will be furthered through informational signage and orientation of new students. The College of Business and College of Business Class of 2010 will provide the remaining $10,540 expense of creating the Prairie Garden. Further, the College of Business will assume responsibility for ensuring the success and continued maintenance of the project, and the grant will be paid back to the Committee if the project is inadequately maintained and the restoration effort is abandoned in the next five years. The improvements to the Business Instructional Facility courtyard will provide highly visible, tangible evidence of the campus commitment to responsible sustainable behavior. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $10,000.

    Attached Files: 

  18. IUB Retrocommissioning and Occupancy Sensors Loan

    Associated Project(s): 
    Occupancy and Daylight Sensors
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    FY10 RCx

    Program Background:

    The Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) is tasked with the allocation of the proceeds of two student environmental fees – the Clean Energy Technology Fee and the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee, to improve the sustainability of our campus. The committee has established a program to make funds available for efficiency projects that will be later returned for reinvestment in future projects.

    Committee funds will be made available to the Office of Sustainability which will carry out an inter-departmental transfer to the Receiving campus unit. The Receiving unit agrees to return the transfer to the Office of Sustainability, in installments, as described on the next page, for reuse by the SSC.

    Project Description:            

    The Illini Union seeks funding to retro-commission the Illini Union Bookstore building, and to install Occupancy Sensors in the Illini Union building. The Illini Union Bookstore building contains both academic and auxiliary units, and the SSC loan will allow for complete retro-commissioning of the building. Retro-commissioning is expected to cost $113,000; the RCx process identifies defective components within the HVAC systems, reconfiguring and controlling them to function more efficiently, decreasing wear and tear and extending their service life by 20 years (as part of a regular preventative maintenance program), as well as reducing building energy consumption.

    The SSC loan will also provide $67,000 to install lighting occupancy sensors in the Illini Union, in food service preparation areas, restrooms, office areas and meeting rooms, which will reduce energy and lighting use.

    Terms:

    The Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of the Office of Sustainability transferring an amount of $180,000 to the Illini Union completion of this work. These funds are to be drawn from the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee account managed by the SSC, as needed to complete the project. All funds requested from the SSC must be expended before 30th September 2010, else the unit must apply for an extension.

    The Illini Union agrees to return the funds provided by carrying out annual transfers to the Office of Sustainability due on the 15th of August of each year in the following manner:

    $20,000 – Due 15th August 2011

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2012

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2013

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2014

    $40,000 – Due 15th August 2015

    The Office of Sustainability will direct them back to the Committee’s account. The Illini Union will provide a close-out report about the project after installation. The Illini Union will also appropriately publicize the Committee’s support of these projects.

    All funds provided by this transfer will be used in a manner consistent with University of Illinois policies and procedures.

    Attached Files: 

  19. Occupancy Sensors Funding Agreement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Occupancy and Daylight Sensors
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    This proposal looks to install occupancy sensors in classrooms, hallways, restrooms, lounges, and other public areas in twenty heavily used campus buildings, chosen according to the number of student contact hours. This project will reduce energy usage by 30% in affected areas, saving the campus approximately $18,000 per year in energy costs (based on a $0.0689/kWh rate), and reduce emissions by nearly 440,000 lbs of CO2 equivalent. This highly visible effort is expected to increase student and community awareness of the impact of reducing lighting usage. These sensors will serve as a lasting and permanent public statement of campus commitment to responsible sustainable behavior. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding the fully requested amount of $50,000.

    Attached Files: 

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