climate action

University Aims For Sustainability with Renewable Energy Projects

By |

The University is trying to renew its permit to operate the Cornell University Hydroelectric Project, which includes a dam, turbines and associated structures which have been on Fall Creek for decades, providing energy to campus. Renewable energy initiatives like the hydroelectric plant are a part of Cornell’s goal of a carbon neutral campus by 2035. According to a Federal Energy Commission Report, the average annual power generation from 2013 to 2018 was over 4,500 megawatt-hours. All the power produced by the plant is used to fuel Cornell’s main campus. The hydroelectric project is designed as a “run of the river operation,” meaning that Cornell uses water as it flows in Fall Creek and does not store water.

Cayuga

First Ever Cleaning Planned for Lake Source Cooling Pipe

By |

For the first time in 15 years, the intake pipe for the Lake Source Cooling project — a low energy system that channels deep water from Cayuga Lake to cool the University’s chilled water cooling network — will be cleaned. Since the pipes were first put in place in July 2000, so many zebra and quagga mussels have covered the pipe’s surface that the amount of water flowing into the plant has significantly decreased, according to Lanny Joyce, utilities and energy management director. To tackle the cleaning, Cornell hired engineering consulting firm Makai Ocean Engineering and diving contractor Global Diving and Salvage, Inc.
The Lake Source Cooling team plans to clean the pipe from Thursday to Oct. 19, pending the weather, by forcing a brush through the pipe and pushing any debris that has accumulated out into Cayuga Lake. This method pushes the mussels back into the lake and it causes no adverse environmental impacts, Joyce said.