Wind energy use studied for campus

Prompted by students from KyotoNOW!, Cornell is studying the possibility of producing wind-generated electricity for its campus and has opened discussions with its neighbors.

"Our investigation into using renewable wind energy is still in the study phase, and there still are a lot of issues to explore," said Harold Craft, Cornell vice president for administration and chief financial officer, "but, so far, the possibility looks promising."

In 2004 Cornell's Department of Utilities and Energy Management completed an investigation into whether locally produced wind-generated electricity would be cost effective for the Ithaca campus. This work was prompted by a request in the fall of 2003 by students from KyotoNOW!, an environmental advocacy organization on campus.

"The students are aware of many of the benefits of wind energy, and we agreed that looking into that possibility for Cornell made sense," said Lanny Joyce, Cornell manager of engineering, planning and energy management in the Department of Utilities and Energy Management, who leads Cornell's Kyoto Task Team, chartered by Craft in 2001 to guide the university's effort to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Wind energy could complement the many other conservation measures the campus utilizes, Joyce added.

Cornell's utilities and energy management department completed a wind inventory study for a 15-mile radius around Ithaca, and Mt. Pleasant, on university-owned property in the town of Dryden, has been identified as a possible wind resource site.

The next step for exploring the feasibility of wind energy generation on the Mt. Pleasant site is to install a temporary (24-month) meteorological station to better assess the wind resource, Joyce said. That temporary station will be constructed in April.

Cornell has initiated open discussions with residents in the Mt. Pleasant area about the study and about the plan to install a temporary meteorological test station. And the university is talking to immediate neighbors about the possibility of wind energy planned for the Mt. Pleasant hilltop.

Cornell's energy and other sustainability initiatives are described online at http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu and http://www.utilities.cornell.edu.