Lake Source Cooling

From CUWiki

The Lake Source Cooling (LSC) project is a network of pipes carrying chilled water used to cool buildings on the Cornell campus. On campus cooling has been available since 1963. The system built then utilized eight electric chillers, which transmitted the heat removed from the buildings into the air. In 1994, Cornell needed to update this system to replace the aging chillers and employ technologies which were free of chlorofluorocarbons, which were banned for their environmental hazards. A series of studies and approvals preceded the construction of the Lake Source Cooling project in 1999. Lake Source Cooling pumps cold water from the bottom of Cayuga Lake and uses it to cool water from the campus pipe network. The lake water and the campus water never touch.

When the project was completed in 2000, it had cost the University $55-60 million, which was more than a replacement system, but it had created a more sustainable way to cool buildings. The project reduces campus energy use for cooling by 80%.

[edit] How it works

Cold water is pumped from an intake two miles out and 250 feet deep where the water is 39°F year round. The intake of the pipe has a screen to fend off animals as well as a light and a high-pitch sound emitting device. The lake water is drawn to a plant where it is run in parallel pipes to the campus water to absorb the campus's extra energy. Pumps in the plant then drive the water out to a shallow out-take area where the slightly warmer water is released. Other than the winter time, the released water is no warmer than the surrounding water. The now cooled campus water is piped back up the hill and reused to cool all of the buildings on campus.

[edit] External links

• Lake Source Cooling Project - Utilities and Energy Management
• Lake source cooling in Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia