Lecture 29- Cornell's Neutrality Plan Flashcards
2001
the Kyoto Now! Student Organization protested in front of Day Hall and after 3 days, Cornell agreed to reduce carbon emissions consistent with the Kyoto Protocol
original target date for carbon neutral
2050
2013
recognizing the urgent need for climate action leadership, the faculty senate passed a resolution calling for the target date to be 2035
methods
- lake source cooling (since 2000)
- earth source heating
- solar farms/ wind farms
- combination of everything
earth source heat (ESH)
uses deep earth source (4-6 km)
ground source heat pump (GSHP)
uses shallow ground source (400-500 feet)
biomass combustion
generate heat during peak loads
nuclear
- small modular reactor to generate heat and electricity - back up plan if earth source doesn’t work out
reduced CO2 emissions by — since 2008
36% since 2008 and 50% relative to 1998
what has already been done
- more than 40,000 solar panels on 5 solar farms
- provides 7% of campus electricity
2017-2022
- earth source heat test well
- ground source heat evaluations
- renewable power projects (wind and solar)
2022
- begin earth source heat if viable (5-7 well pairs)
- else, begin ground source heat pumps (geothermal heat pumps) and other new energy plans
2035
reach carbon neutral
quadruple bottom line decision making
- can we generate enough renewable energy to operate the campus?
- is it affordable?
- will it help with climate change?
- the living laboratory
point 1
the cornell climate action plan got its start by students raising their voices for what was socially just to their generation and future generations
