Cornell University's Lake Source Cooling (LSC) project has been honored with a first-place American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Technology Award.

The ASHRAE Technology Awards recognize outstanding achievements by members who have successfully applied innovative building design in areas that include energy conservation. Award-winning designs incorporate ASHRAE standards for effective energy management, and performance is proven through one year of veriÞable operating data. LSC was launched in 1994 and began operating in July 2000.

William S. "Lanny" Joyce, chief engineer for LSC, will accept the first-place award in the alternative and/or renewable energy use category on behalf of the Cornell design and construction team at the society's 2002 Winter Meeting, Jan. 12 to 16 in Atlantic City, N.J.

The Cornell energy project also was named energy project of the year by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The AEE is a nonprofit professional association with 8,000 members. Joyce accepted the AEE award at the World Energy Engineering Congress in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

Also honored Oct. 23 was John Nettleton, senior program leader, Cornell Cooperative Extension, who was named environmental professional of the year by the AEE. Nettleton directs community-based economic development programs that help urban neighborhoods retain their resources and build the local economy. The programs include New York City's Small Business Energy Program and the low-income energy education program funded by Consolidated Edison.

LSC uses cold water from Cayuga Lake to cool a separate closed-loop water supply that is pumped to the Cornell campus and circulated to cool campus buildings. The project replaced an aging system of huge water refrigerating machines known as chillers. The new system uses 86 percent less electrical energy than the chillers it replaced, thus reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned and the amount of pollution released into the atmosphere by regional electric generating plants. The LSC system also eliminates the need for ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants or their replacements.Joyce estimates the cooling project will eliminate the need for some 20 million kilowatt hours per year to be generated by regional electric power plants, or enough power to serve 2,500 homes, while preserving and protecting Cayuga Lake.

The AEE award statement noted, "LSC has reduced Cornell's reliance on refrigerants and has reduced the emissions of pollutants produced in the generation of electricity in regional power plants, reducing the potential for global warming and acid rain." Further, said the statement, "LSC also offers a 75- to 100-year system life, instead of the 30 to 40 years typical for chillers."

Earlier this year, LSC was named by the New York State Society of Professional Engineers as the society's outstanding engineering achievement of the year. Cornell's chilled-water cooling and its steam heating also were named district energy system of the year by the International District Energy Association.