Building on Cornell's leadership in sustainability and the knowledge gained through development of its Climate Action Plan (CAP), Cornell has entered into a collaborative agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) that will result in creating an important virtual resource for other organizations.

In July, University Engineer Randy Lacey, associate director of Cornell's Office of Project Design and Construction, will begin a three-month term at NREL's research facilities in Golden, Colo. His assignment is to develop a virtual, national Center of Expertise on Net-Zero Carbon Campuses, create a webcast advising research universities how to use renewable energy to reduce their carbon emissions and organize a symposium on attaining climate neutrality for a national conference in September.

"This is an exciting time for renewable energy and, as the country's primary laboratory for research and development in renewable energy and energy efficiency, NREL is at the cutting edge," said Lacey, a licensed professional engineer who has received two national awards for technology innovation. "This is a tremendous opportunity to develop partnerships between Cornell and NREL and to do outreach for Cornell research and expertise."

Lacey has been actively involved in developing Cornell's CAP, leading a team examining energy standards for new and existing buildings. Universities across the country are developing CAPs as a result of the Presidents Climate Commitment, which President David Skorton signed in 2007. Cornell's CAP, created with financial support from the New York State Environmental Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), is a framework for the university to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

"We are creating Cornell's CAP to be a model for other institutions," said Kyu Whang, vice president for facilities services. "It will establish the campus as a learning laboratory for teaching and research projects in energy efficiency, energy conservation and renewable energy, and it will integrate operational efforts with teaching, research and outreach. Randy's work at NREL will be an important contribution to national efforts in confronting the problem of global warming."

The new Center of Expertise on Net-Zero Carbon Campuses will include definitions, tools, best practices and case studies to complement the extensive Web resources NREL already has in place. Lacey will assess university CAPs already completed, using Cornell's CAP as a benchmark.

"Cornell's CAP is bolder and more technically rich than many other university plans," Lacey said. "Sharing our expertise will help other institutions and solidify Cornell's status as a leader in this effort. Meanwhile, NREL and other campuses have implemented climate actions that we can learn from."

Lacey said he is hopeful that society is finally taking interest in renewable energy. "We have more incentive to embrace renewable energy now," he said. "It's more mainstream and is receiving more support at federal and even local levels. We've got to do things differently than in the past."