Lake Source Cooling : An Idea Whose Time Has Come
The Lake Source Cooling (LSC) project is a replacement and upgrade of the central campus chilled water system with a more environmentally sound design that conserves energy and utilizes a renewable resouce, the deep cold waters of nearby Cayuga Lake. With a price tag of $55-60 million, a higher cost than simply replacing the existing chillers with new, LSC is a significant project. It does however provide the university with a method of cooling that eliminates refrigeration equipment and its associated energy use, impacts on the environment from energy use, and any future problems with the new generation of refrigerants that have been designed to replace CFC's.
The new method of cooling is a more cost effective and reliable service in the long run, providing significant environmental benefits at the same time because it reduces the campus energy use for cooling by 80%. In fact, over 20 million kWh/year of electricity (enough for 2500 homes!) will be saved along with the associated regional and global environmental impact reductions. A well proven cooling technology transfers the heat from the campus chilled water to the lake water through heat exchangers that separate the lake water and campus water- the two loops never mix. Because heat flows naturally from hot to cold, no extra energy is required beyond that needed to move the water through pipes.
Six of the university's current refrigeration machines, known as chillers, utilize CFC refrigerants. CFC's have been determined to be associated with ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere of the earth, and have been banned from production or importation in the United States. In order to provide reliable cooling into the next century, the university along with all other building owners must replace all equipment that utilizes these outdated refrigerants.
LSC is also a long term solution to the university's cooling needs. LSC is designed to last over 75 to 100 years, over twice the typical life of chillers. LSC is cost effective in the long run due to its energy savings, long life, replacement of current chillers that are outdated due to their use of CFC's, and because together with remaining non-CFC chillers and the storage tank, it will allow the university to meet cooling needs for many years to come.
LSC was proposed in 1994 and approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 1998. Nearly four years of environmental study and review resulted in a four volume, 1500 page Environmental Impact Statement that thoroughly described the potential impacts of the project on the lake. The DEC determined that LSC could provide the stated environmental benefits without harm to Cayuga Lake. Even so, the DEC has required Cornell to include many special features in the construction and operation of the project to further minimize any impacts identified. In addition, they required the university to carry out a lake monitoring program that, through data and independent oversight, will verify its safe operation on the lake.
Construction began in March of 1999, and the project was completed in the year 2000. The construction phase provided many benefits to the public, which total over $2 million in value to the taxpayers of the City and Town of Ithaca and the City of Ithaca School District. Participants in the project include Cornell University, the City of Ithaca, the City of Ithaca School District, and the Town of Ithaca. Project managers have also made an unprecedented effort to include the community by holding dozens of public meetings and hearings, and mailing regular newsletters to a growing list of over 1000 people.
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