Lake Source Cooling Heat Exchange Facility

Welcome to the Lake Source Cooling (LSC) Campus Heat Exchange facility! Look up and to the right of the Lake and you will spot it! This might just look like an ordinary lakeside building, but this building represents a huge leap in green technology. This facility began operation in the summer of 2000 and was the first major deepwater source cooling installed in the United States. Only a few deep water source cooling systems exist in the world. Constructing the LSC was a difficult task and required the City of Ithaca and Cornell University to work together. East Shore Park, across from the LSC Campus Heat Exchange Facility, was gifted to the City of Ithaca as part of their negotiations. Other negotiations include giving Ithaca High School Lake Source Cooling and Direct Optic Ethernet to Cornell University.

The LSC system contains an open lake-water loop and a closed campus loop which work together to cool Cornell University and Ithaca High School. This location is where the water is drawn from Cayuga Lake for the open lake-water loop. The cool water pulled from the lake absorbs heat from the water in the closed campus loop. When the water is chilled, it is then sent back up to cool the campuses. The water from the two systems never mix. The system relies on a body of deep water, which in this case is made possible by Cayuga Lake.

The LSC System uses about 80% less energy than conventional refrigeration, minimizing cost, and environmental impact. In addition, the system avoids using the refrigerants replacing chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s). On going research is being done to ensure the LSC system does not negatively impact aquatic ecosystems in Lake Cayuga by releasing sunken phosphorus from the lake sediment. Research reports may be found on the DEC website.