Painting Our Campus Green

Last month, the Board of Trustees’ Committee on Governmental Relations welcomed the Executive Director of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York to present on “Green Campuses in New York State.” The director discussed how campuses across the state can become more environmentally-friendly and how his organization assists universities in this goal. Fortunately, Cornell is already a leader in the movement to create more sustainable campuses by reducing current energy use, creating renewable energy sources and reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses.

Cornell has implemented an Energy Conservation Initiative (ECI) to reduce current energy use by 20 percent of year-2000 levels by 2012. The initiative is a multi-phase 10-year plan focusing on maintenance projects and continuing improvements in energy conservation. The total estimated project cost is $25 to $30 million, yet the initiative is projected to save Cornell $7 to $8 million annually in energy costs, offsetting the costs of implementing the initiative within five to seven years. Cornell has already completed studies of 31 buildings and conservation projects in 36 buildings. By 2012, the initiative is projected to have reduced energy use in 105 buildings across campus.

As part of the ECI, Cornell has released data on energy use for all campus buildings and published five years of data on the Internet with “base” averages from 1998 to 2000 for comparison. A new feature also displays data on the CO2 emissions for each building. The data allows the University to compare energy usage in buildings across campus, identify those buildings that consume the most energy and track our progress in energy conservation.

In addition to reducing current energy use, Cornell has actively searched for ways to create renewable energy. Our hydroelectric plant generates 2 percent of our electricity, and an upgrade currently underway will increase annual production by 20 percent. Our lake source cooling process saves 25 million kilowatt hours per year, and our solar photovoltaic panels generate as much as 15 kilowatts of energy during peak daytime hours. Most recently, Cornell announced the development of a new combined heat and power project, scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. The project will add two combustion turbines and heat recovery steam generators which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below 1990-levels. While Cornell currently generates all of the steam necessary to heat the campus, we only generate 15 percent of our electrical needs. This project will increase that figure to 85 percent, while decreasing our carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent and our nitrous oxide emissions by 55 percent.

Cornell has also pledged to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, thanks in part to the work of KyotoNow! A group of students formed the organization in 2001 to advocate for Cornell’s commitment to the goals outlined in the Kyoto Protocol. Although the United States failed to ratify the Protocol, Cornell pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent by the year 2012 and developed a Kyoto Task Team consisting of faculty, students and staff to ensure that we fulfill our commitment to the Protocol. With aggressive conservation and planning strategies, we expect to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 to 30 percent below 1990-levels by 2012, far exceeding our original goal.

Additionally, President Skorton signed the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment Initiative last June. The initiative states that the University must (1) develop a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality; (2) initiate at least two of six tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gasses while a comprehensive plan is developed; and (3) publicly release an action plan, an inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions and periodic progress reports to the Association for the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education. The President’s Climate Commitment Initiative Committee is overseeing the execution of these goals.

To further address the emission of greenhouse gasses, Cornell’s Department of Transportation Services has developed a Transportation-focused Generic Environmental Impact Statement (t-GEIS) and a 10-year Transportation Impact Mitigation Strategy to identify our strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, a number of groups, such as Connect Ithaca, are advocating for the introduction of a Personal Rapid Transit system to reduce our reliance on automobiles.

While the majority of my previous columns have advocated for a particular improvement to student life, we can be proud that Cornell is already actively involved in the movement to create sustainable campuses. The University continues to search for ideas, initiatives and actions that will maintain our commitment to such causes. We must continue to research, develop and implement these mechanisms to ensure that we remain not only a leader in higher education but also a leader in sustainability.

Kate Duch ’09 is a student-elected trustee. She can be contacted at khd5@cornell.edu [3]. Trustee Viewpoint appears alternate Wednesdays.