Deep Water Source Cooling - First Major System in The United States

First Major System in The United States

Cornell University's Lake Source Cooling System uses Cayuga Lake as a heat sink to operate the central chilled water system for its campus and to also provide cooling to the Ithaca City School District. The system has operated since the summer of 2000 and was built at a cost of $55–60 million. It cools a 14,500 ton (51 megawatt) load.

Lake water enters the system via a screened intake structure 10,400 feet (3,200 m) away in 250 feet (76 m) of water. The intake pipeline is 63-inch (1.6 m) High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) that was deployed from the surface using a "controlled" sink process where water was pumped in at the shallow end and air was released at the other end. A series of stiffener rings and concrete collars keep the pipeline on the lake floor and protect it from mechanical forces. The outfall is 48-inch (1,200 mm) HDPE and is approximately 750 feet (230 m) long. The last 100 feet (30 m) of the outfall has 38 six-inch (152 mm) nozzles, about 1 foot (0.30 m) above the bottom of the lake floor in 14 feet (4.3 m) of water, pointed up at a 20 degree angle and pointed north only. This helps promote mixing of the return water into the receiving water. The water cools a heat-exchanger which is connected to a closed-loop campus chilled water distribution system linked to many buildings on the main campus.

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