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Campus Sustainability News

News on campus sustainability initiatives, emerging programs, rankings, awards, student initiatives, green teams, and more from across the Cornell University campus.

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Mui Ho Fine Arts Library exterior

Cornell’s Mui Ho Fine Arts Library in Rand Hall earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification in late January.

Solar panel with sun beating down on it.

Rooftop solar arrays on Cornell’s North Campus Residential Expansion will generate around 35% of the buildings’ power.

Cascadilla Solar Farm

The university’s sixth large-scale solar project is online.

Snowy footprints leading to Baker Tower

As the university prepares to shutdown for winter break, Vice President of Facilities & Campus Services Rick Burgess reminds faculty, students and staff of ways they can help conserve energy over break. 

Staff installing LED street light

The Cornell Energy Conservation Initiative completed a multi-phase comprehensive lighting upgrade earlier this year which replaced lighting in indoor and outdoor spaces with energy-efficient LED bulbs and has saved the campus over 18,000 tons of carbon and $2.9 million to date.  

arc Daly, Nick Van Eck,  and Bob Wilson

"...the team came up with a vision for chambers that would have a streamlined mechanical design and a much smaller carbon footprint..."

Daylight hour poster

On Friday, June 21st, Cornell participated in Daylight Hour 2019. 14 departments participated by turning off artificial lights and relying on sunlight, in an effort to reduce energy consumption in office spaces on campus and worldwide. 

LEED gold seal

“It’s fair to say that this atrium is now the heart of our college – our ‘living room,’ so to speak – where everybody goes,” said Wayne A. Davenport, director of facilities at the College of Veterinary Medicine. “The expansion has transformed us. Striving for LEED certification helped to create a strong sense of community in the center of our college.”

Environment America report cover: America’s Top Colleges for Renewable Energy

Awarding renewable energy accolades in several categories, Cornell was ranked second in the list of schools replacing fossil-fuel powered systems with renewable systems for efforts to transition heating, cooling, and power systems over the last decade.  

Interior of the combined heat and power plant at Cornell

New research conducted by Cornell researchers used campus data to create new models for hybrid energy systems using both heating and electricity. The study was inspired by the Cornell Earth Source Heat project, in which faculty, students and staff are exploring geothermal energy as a sustainable method of heating the Ithaca campus.