Getting Your Project Funded by the Student Sustainability Committee

1
Getting Your Project Funded by the Student
Sustainability Committee

• Committee Chair Suhail F. Barot

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Who are We?

• 10 Students Apply to Office of Vice Chancellor
  for Student Affairs, Selected by Illinois Student
  Senate
• 7 Faculty / Staff
• Campus Sustainability Coordinator
• Representative from Division of Facilities and
  Services
• Representative from Office of Sustainability
• Only Students Vote!

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What Do We DO?

• Clean Energy Fee - 80,000 per semester
• Sustainable Campus Fee - 200,000 per semester
• Annual Funding 550,000
• We evaluate proposals for Funding, based on their
  Mandates
• Funding from the 2 Clean Energy Technology Fee,
  will only be allocated to projects aiming to
  increase use of cleaner energy technologies on
  campus including but not limited to solar, wind,
  hydrogen, and geothermal projects, energy
  efficiency improvements, and the purchase of
  renewable energy from non-University producers.
• Funding from the 5 Sustainability Fee, will be
  allocated to clean energy projects, as discussed
  above, and also to other projects that help
  establish a sustainable campus environment by
  financing initiatives including, but not limited
  to, green buildings, engagement of the university
  community, recycling, soil and water
  conservation, waste reduction and environmentally
  responsible purchasing.

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Who else has Similar Fees?

• Just to name a few
• University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign 7.00
  per semester
• Northeastern Illinois University 3.00 per
  student, per semester
• SIU-Carbondale 83 per credit hour student fee
  with a cap at 10
•  
• Appalachian State University 5.00 per semester
• Auraria Campuses 1 dollar per semester
• University of Colorado at Denver  1 dollar per
  semester
• Metro State University 1 dollar per semester
• Community College of Denver 1 dollar per
  semester
• Colorado College 20.00 per semester
• Connecticut College 25.00 per year
• Eastern University 25.00 per year
• Humboldt State University 10.00 per semester
• Middle Tennessee State University 8.00 per
  semester
• UC Berkeley 5.00 per semeseter
• UC Los Angeles 4.00 per quarter
• University of Denver 6.00 per quarter

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What have We Funded?

• Wind Turbine
• Solar Array for Business Building
• Green Roof for Business Building
• Biodiesel Programs
• Solar Decathlon Program
• Energy Audits and Engineering Studies
• Lighting Retrofits
• Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC)
  Retrofits and Smart Controls
• Ethanol Tank for Campus Garage

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Challenges We Face

• Need to actively Solicit and Nurture proposals
• Proposals undergo review by Office of
  Sustainability and Division of Facilities and
  Services
• All Proposals need to engage relevant
  Stakeholders
• Glacial pace of University Bureaucracy
• Internal Politics at University
• Maintain Student Support

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The Request for Proposals

• Initially, we tried to come up with our own ideas
• This was Time-Consuming, Limited in Scope and
  Non-Democratic
• Solution Request for Proposals (RFP)
• Proposals Solicited for Faculty, Students, Campus
  Departments, Facilities and Services
• Two funding deadlines per semester
• To Amplify Impact Revolving Loan Program!

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RFP Rules

• Urbana-Champaign campus Only! (except proposals
  that involve purchasing renewable energy from off
  campus).
• No Research-Only Projects
• Funding is subject to any University restrictions
  on such projects including the bidding process
  and site approval.
• All funding recommendations made by the committee
  must be approved by Facilities Services and the
  Office of Sustainability.
• Proposals must follow the outline in the RFP!
• Proposals will be public (No secret ideas)
• Semesterly status reports and Account Statements
  detailing spending of awarded funds will be
  required until completion of the project.

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Proposal Guidelines

• Detailed Project Description
• - Discussions with Stakeholders
• Budget Fundraising
• Timeline
• For Renewable Energy / Efficiency Projects
• - Energy Balance
• - Payback
• Energy, Environmental, Social and Economic Impact
• - Greenhouse Gas Impact
• - Other Positive and Negative Impacts
• Outreach and Education
• Quantify, Quantify, Quantify !!!

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Funding Criteria

• Funding Criteria
• In addition to the quality and completeness of
  the proposal, the committee will evaluate
  projects based on the following qualities
• Energy and Sustainability Impact
• Campus Impact/Presence
• Project Longevity
• Budget Effectiveness Cost Sharing
• Likelihood for Success
• Creativity
• Education

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Assistance We can provide

• We can direct you to resources at FS and the
  Office of Sustainability
• We have an intern on staff to help you prepare
  proposals
• We can arrange for review of a draft proposal
  before it is formally submitted
• We are happy to talk to you about your ideas, how
  to go about implementing them and whether they
  are appropriate for funding.

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Questions?
https//netfiles.uiuc.edu/ro/www/StudentSustainabi
lityCommittee/