Administrators and trustees help dedicate Lake Source Cooling

Many of those instrumental in the development of Lake Source Cooling gathered last week to dedicate the innovative cooling system, which is outperforming the university's projections in its efficiency, ease of operation and environmental benefit.

Lanny Joyce, center, Lake Source Cooling project manager, speaks with emeritus trustee Samuel C. Johnson, left, and Harold Tanner, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees, during the dedication event for the project at the LSC heat exchange facility on East Shore Drive, Oct. 25. Charles Harrington/University Photography

Harold D. Craft Jr., vice president for administration, presided over the event in the Lake Source Cooling heat exchange facility on East Shore Drive, Oct. 25. President Hunter Rawlings and trustee Thomas Clark, chair of the Lake Source Cooling subcommittee of the board's Buildings and Properties Committee, also addressed the group of about 50, which included Harold Tanner, chair of the board of trustees. Rawlings then cut a ceremonial ribbon in front of the large pumps and motors that make the system work to kick off tours of the facility.

Expressing pride in Cornell's willingness to pursue this $60 million initiative, which will preserve environmental resources for generations to come, Craft cited the contributions of a number of members of the Cornell and Ithaca communities. He reserved special praise for "the unflagging support" of Rawlings and the creativity of Senior Utilities Engineer William S. (Lanny) Joyce '81 and Associate Vice President for Facilities Services Henry E. Doney. Craft cited Joyce and Doney for developing the innovative concept, coordinating the approvals process, managing the construction phase and undertaking the challenge of explaining Lake Source Cooling to the community.

Rawlings, too, praised members of the Cornell staff and faculty for patiently and accurately addressing community concerns about the project.

Lake Source Cooling uses the chill of cold deep lake water -- a naturally occurring, renewable resource that remains at 39 degrees year-round -- to chill the water that cools Cornell buildings, replacing energy-intensive conventional refrigeration. The lake water flows through and is pumped from a quarter-million gallon well in the heat exchange facility into up to seven stainless steel heat exchangers. There it absorbs heat from a second, separate flow of water coming from the campus 2.5 miles away. Once cooled to 42 degrees, this second chilled water flow is returned to the campus to cool labs and other buildings.

The chilled water travels in a closed 5-mile loop to and from the campus, a round trip that takes just 50 minutes when the system operates at its full 32,000-gallon-per-minute capacity on a hot summer day. After it departs the heat exchangers, the lake water flows into a 100-foot-long diffuser 500 feet from shore. It returns to the lake gently through more than 30, 6-inch-diameter nozzles positioned at an angle to avoid scouring the bottom. The two water flows never mix and the variable flow system is designed to use only enough water to meet campus cooling needs at any time.

Early results show Lake Source Cooling has bettered its projected efficiency goal by more than 7 percent, reducing electricity used to cool campus buildings by a total of 87 percent. It was completed on time and under budget, despite procedural delays. Further, Lake Source Cooling delivers its full permitted capacity of 20,000 tons of refrigeration cooling (240 million Btu per hour), 25 percent more than originally budgeted in this first phase.

This reduction in electricity consumption will save 20 million kilowatt hours a year, enough to power 2,500 homes. It thereby eliminates the need to mine, transport, burn and dispose of ash from more than 25 million pounds of coal that would have been required annually from regional power plants to generate this amount of electricity. In turn, 75 million pounds of carbon dioxide, 850,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 80,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides are eliminated from the atmosphere each year.

And, as scientists and environmental regulators had predicted, preliminary data and observations indicate that Lake Source Cooling shows no conspicuous indicators of an effect on the lake.