Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Cornell is a global leader in sustainability and climate change research, teaching and engagement. Our campuses are living laboratories for developing, testing and implementing solutions that address these most challenging issues.


Engineers to work on disaster risk management strategies

The researchers will develop mathematical representations of strategic interactions between building owners and insurance companies in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Devastation in Haiti had human causes, too, panelists say

The tragedy surrounding the earthquake in Haiti is the result of human failure as much as natural disaster, said geology and engineering faculty members in a panel discussion Jan. 25 in Phillips Hall. (Jan. 26, 2010)

Why climate change threatens our inner life and survival

Citizen Science director Janis Dickinson discusses why many people are in denial when it comes to climate change.

Spices were an early engine of globalization, says Tagliacozzo on New York City panel

"Dating back to Asian spice trading routes around 200 B.C., globalization began long before the Internet," said Eric Tagliacozzo, Cornell associate professor of history, at a Jan. 14 panel discussion at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

CU moves beyond coal with opening of new power plant

Cornell's new combined heat and power plant will reduce carbon emissions by 28 percent and serve as an example to other institutions.

Cornell's JumpStart program chooses four New York small businesses for collaborations

Four small businesses will collaborate with Cornell Center for Materials Research scientists to improve their products. (Jan. 14, 2010)

Simple measures to freeze your runaway energy spending

A program that helps New Yorkers save hundreds of energy dollars a year should be leveraged nationwide, says a founder of the Consumer Education Program for Residential Energy Efficiency.

Recycling mattresses to help former convicts and the homeless find jobs

Katie Broadbent '09 and Arthur Maas '09 are working with Andy Potash '66 to design a business with one goal in mind: creating jobs for workers often overlooked by employers.

Lessons from the ivory-billed woodpecker

Ron Rohrbaugh of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology uses the ivory-billed woodpecker to illustrate the concept of a 'lost' species, one that is so rare that it is not able to be detected or studied. (Dec. 22, 2009)