What Are Scope 1 Emissions?

Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse (GHG) emissions that occur from sources controlled or owned by an organization. Cornell’s direct emissions come from:

1) Production of power, heat and cooling:

Cornell produces its own power, heat and cooling. Heat and power are produced in the Combined Heat & Power plant (CHP) with natural gas as the main energy source. Cooling is mainly produced by utilizing the cold deep water in Cayuga lake, Cornell’s innovative Lake Source Cooling.

2) Use of vehicles

Owned or leased by Cornell (approximately 2% of Scope 1 emissions.)

3) Fugitive Emissions

Fugitive emissions of GHG compounds from various types of equipment and research (approximately 1% of Scope 1 emissions). Though the consumption of these gases is small, they typically have 1,000 times greater global warming potential (GWP) than CO2.

How are we reducing Scope 1 emissions?

What we have already done:

Transition to Combined Heat & Power

As a step towards reduced GHG emissions and dramatically higher efficiency, Cornell transitioned in 2009 from separately burning coal to heat campus and purchasing power from the grid, to burning gas on campus to make electricity and then capturing the waste heat from that process to warm the campus. Heat and power from Combined Heat & Power Plant (CHP) is transported to campus buildings through a district energy system.

The transition has several advantages. Natural gas produces fewer hazardous air pollutants during combustion than coal per unit of energy produced, and the overall efficiency is increased by using the waste heat from electric turbines to heat the campus. This transition also eliminated 100’s of truck trips through Ithaca streets and their associated emissions and impacts. While a big step in the right direction, natural gas fired combined heat and power is still contributing to significant direct and indirect GHG emissions, and Cornell is working on fully fossil free solutions for heat and power production.

Cooling the campus with lake water instead of chillers

View of campus with Cayuga lake in the background — Cayuga Lake cools campus

Fossil fuel emissions from cooling are avoided through the use of a renewable energy cooling system: Lake Source Cooling (LSC). Since 2000 cold water from Cayuga Lake has been utilized to cool campus. It reduces the campus’ energy use for cooling by 85%! Buildings connected to the system don’t need cooling & air conditioning equipment. This is a double win – the innovation both reduced the energy demand for cooling and greatly reducing refrigerants use on campus.

What we are doing:

The Energy Conservation Initiative

The Energy Conservation Initiative (ECI) was launched to study and identify high-impact energy saving projects across the university. The result so far is reflected in Cornell’s Ithaca Campus reduced overall energy usage, despite 20% growth in campus square footage since 2000.

Steam-to-hot water conversion

Currently, most distribution of heat to campus is by steam. Cornell is now working on converting the steam distribution system to hot water, which will increase efficiency about 20%, and enable fossil-fuel free heat sources in the future. This conversion is done incrementally. By the end of 2025, the east campus will be converted to hot water distribution.

Heat pumps

Heat pumps are evaluated for buildings that are not connected to the district energy system. The first building that was upgraded with ground source heat pumps is the childcare center which was converted in 2024.

Renewable energy production

President Michael Kotlikoff at the opening ceremony for the EV charger from the Abruña Energy Initiative — As part of our Living Laboratory, Abruña Energy Initiative installed the first Level 3 battery charger on campus winter 2025, powering Cornell’s fleet electric vehicles. It can charge a battery during half an hour.

Campus has a long tradition with renewable energy production. The hydro plant in fall creek was established in 1898. Cornell is pursuing projects on and off Campus with a goal of bringing enough renewables online in NYS to annually match 100% of the electricity used on campus.

Renewable energy-fueled Fleet Vehicles

A small fraction of Cornell’s owned and leased vehicles is Electrical Vehicles (EV) or hybrid. The goal is to transition the full fleet by 2035, consistent with the Climate Action Plan and New York State Law. To facilitate the transition, updating and improving the charging infrastructure is part of the transitioning plan. Currently, we have some chargers only available for fleet vehicles and some open for the Cornell community.

What we are planning to do:

There are several ongoing initiatives to reduce the campus’ direct emissions, and the Climate Action Plan covers this in more detail. In 2024, the BIG RED Utilities Reliability & Energy Transition Program was established to plan and implement the energy transition toward a reliable, efficient and decarbonized energy system on campus. Read more about it on the BIG RED website.