How energy is generated and how it is used are both related to sustainability. And Cornell is working hard to address both. Because Cornell is so big - about 14 million square feet of indoor space across 250 campus buildings - combined tiny individual changes such as everyone unplugging appliances over school breaks can make a noticeable difference in usage.
Cornell's Energy
One major way Cornell is reducing energy use is through lake source cooling. Cold lake water cools a separate closed water loop that is utilized to air-condition campus buildings, allowing the university to reduce electricity use for central cooling by 86% (eliminating 10% of the entire campus electrical use). Cornell also completed a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) project to renew and upgrade its central heating plant. The CHP project adds new cogeneration equipment that produces electricity and heat together, using significantly less energy than making them separately and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by over 20%.
Beyond Coal
On January 15th, 2010 Cornell University officially announced that on-site combustion of coal at the central heating plant will be eliminated by mid-2011. Historically, Cornell has burned about 63,000 tons of coal per year. The addition of combined heat and power would have reduced our coal consumption by over 50%. The impact from NO COAL and integration of combined heat and power will significantly reduce the Campus's major air pollutant emissions. Our total CO2 emissions associated with Scope 1 (on-site combustion) and Scope 2 (purchased electricity) will be reduced in total by approximately 75,000 tons (68,000 metric tons) by 2012. This amount represents over 20% of the Ithaca Campus greenhouse gas footprint (pdf) of 319,000 metric tons.
Increasing Campus Energy Supply
While Cornell's energy needs cannot be met without an adequate supply from the public utility (NYSEG), an impressive 16% of our power is generated by the university. Cornell operates:
- a 1,100-kilowatt hydroelectric plant in Fall Creek, supplying about 2% of Cornell's energy; and
- a steam/electricity cogeneration plant, which extracts added energy from nearly every pound of steam on its way to heat campus buildings- meeting 14% Cornell's demand at 80% efficiency (over twice conventional power plants).
Reducing energy waste
Cornell reduced carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficiency by 50,000 tons per year between 1980 and 2000. A simple program to reduce electric use, including computers and monitors, over the 13-day holiday break alone saves 4,000 kilowatts of electricity. Other methods such as demand controlled ventilation, high performance building controls, high efficiency lighting, increasing building insulation, replacing windows, etc. helps curb energy waste.
