Want to get people to turn off the lights when they leave? It may not work with the kids at home, but at Cornell, all you have to do is ask.
Before the university closed down for the December 2001 holidays, the newly formed Kyoto Task Team on campus did indeed ask, circulating e-mail and distributing posters asking faculty, staff and students to make a special effort to turn off lights, computers and other electrical devices before going on vacation. The results were a reduction of more than 360,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity used in the 10-day period compared with the same period the previous year and a savings of about $25,000.
The campaign was perhaps the most public action so far of the Kyoto Task Team, a committee of students, faculty and staff members formed last fall in response to student requests for a more aggressive energy-conservation policy. Student groups, particularly one called Kyoto Now!, had asked the administration to bring the university into compliance with 1997 Kyoto protocols for the reduction of greenhouse gases (which were signed by President Bill Clinton but not ratified by the U.S. Senate).
A number of other programs behind the scenes also have been chipping away at electricity consumption, and now the Kyoto Task Team is asking Cornellians to maintain the good habits they developed over the break.
"Our challenge, together with the Kyoto Now! students, is to encourage the campus community to reduce their energy use and to work with them to take existing systems and make them use less," said Lanny Joyce, Cornell's manager of engineering, planning and energy management in the Department of Utilities and Energy Management, who heads the Kyoto Task Team.
The campus community, he said, has submitted many energy conservation ideas and suggestions, many of which are now being acted on. For example, he said, workers in Morrison Hall pointed out that there is no way to provide low-level lighting in the corridors on nights and weekends. And the heat in Sibley Hall, Joyce was told, is excessive.
Joyce is looking for similar reports and suggestions from anyone on campus. Meanwhile, two full-time mechanics are at work on a preventive maintenance and recommissioning program for heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
Often, as in Morrison Hall, the problem is an "all or nothing" system, he said. As an example of what can be done, Lynah Rink has been fitted with new lighting allowing for five levels, from extra bright for tournament-level televised play down to levels appropriate for regular play, practice and background lighting to off.
These conservation features added about $46,000 to the cost of Lynah Rink renovations, Joyce said, with nearly all of that provided by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Joyce and others are seeking NYSERDA matching funds for several other projects, including commissioning of sophisticated HVAC system controls in Duffield Hall, an advanced technology building being erected on the university's Engineering Quad, and upgrades in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. There are also efforts to include solar panels into a future innovative small office remodeling project, and students are exploring this technology for new residence halls. Such installations would not make economic sense without a significant subsidy, Joyce said. "There's a likely 50-year payback, and the equipment has only a 20-year warranty," he noted. But such installations can be valuable to demonstrate the current technology, he added.
Joyce also pointed out that there have been major savings in electricity use since the opening of the new Lake Source Cooling (LSC) facility, which uses the cold depths of Cayuga Lake to cool water for campus air conditioning. The pumping systems of LSC use 86 percent less energy than would be needed for conventional refrigeration.
Other Cornell energy-saving measures in the works:
While reducing the electric and heating fuel bill is an important motivation, these efforts also will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, which help to trap the sun's heat and contribute to global warming. Goals agreed upon by 174 nations at the Kyoto Climate Change Conference in Japan call for reducing these emissions worldwide in 2010 to 7 percent less than 1990 levels. While the current U.S. administration has rejected the Kyoto agreement, Cornell has committed to doing its best to meet the goals.
"I hereby commit Cornell University to do everything within its ability, consistent with the university's obligations for teaching, research, service and extension, to implement the Kyoto protocol standards and to issue a regular report on our progress," said Harold D. Craft Jr., vice president for administration and chief financial officer of the university, in a statement issued last April, after discussions with student organizations, including Kyoto Now! and Cornell Greens, along with the Cornell Center for the Environment.
Shortly thereafter, Craft created the Kyoto Task Team, which includes, besides Joyce: Audrey Lowes, administrative assistant in Utilities and Energy Management; Jim Kazda, statutory contract college facilities office associate director; Randy Lacey, university engineer; Jim Gibbs, maintenance management director; Timothy Fahey, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in natural resources; Zellman Warhaft, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; students Moss Templeton '03 and Abigail Krich '03, members of Kyoto NOW!; and Tad McGalliard, education and development coordinator in the Center for the Environment.
"I'm very happy about what they're doing," Krich said. "I've seen a lot of changes that have happened on campus because of Kyoto Now! and the Kyoto Task Team working together. They're definitely taking it seriously, and we're working together to achieve the same goals."
Krich added, however, that the task team will be stepping back over the next few weeks to decide on long-term goals. "When 2008 rolls around, I don't want to discover that we've been working on a lot of small projects and forgetting the big picture," she said.
The team currently meets biweekly. Eventually it may become a subgroup of a soon-to-be-proposed universitywide Environmental Stewardship Council, to be launched on or before Earth Day 2002, Craft says. The council would advise Cornell's administration on such issues as energy conservation, construction of "green" buildings, recycling, grounds maintenance and other environmental issues as appropriate. Max Pfeffer, professor of rural sociology and director of the Center for the Environment, and Robert Bland, director of the Environmental Compliance Office, head an ad hoc group that is preparing a proposal to create the council. "The idea would be to make Cornell a leader in environmental stewardship on campus," Pfeffer said.
Of the several greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered by far the most important contributor to global warming. Since CO2 is produced by the burning of fossil fuels, the best way to reduce emissions is to reduce the use of electricity and heating generated by burning those fuels. While the university generates some of its own electricity through a small hydroelectric plant on Fall Creek and a larger cogeneration plant associated with the central heating plant, conservation also results in reducing the emissions from regional generating plants that supply electricity to the campus. The committee has begun a CO2 emissions audit for 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2001 to provide a baseline for the future.
To meet Kyoto goals by 2008, the total CO2 emissions resulting from campus electricity use and heating would need to be 7 percent less than they were 12 years ago. This is a difficult target, Craft said, given that the university has grown since then and has many significant building projects under way. In other words, the problem is to heat, cool, electrify and light more buildings with less total resultant emissions.
"We agreed to do the best that we can consistent with the mission of the university," Craft said. "I've really been pleased with the way the Kyoto Task Team working with Lanny have pulled together, and their enthusiasm and creativity have been very gratifying."
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |