[SustainableTompkins] Cornell Daily Sun: Cornell chapter of Engineers for...

Wed Nov 1 05:29:08 PST 2006

I also don't think you can get LEED certification for "a roof"....

Christian

In a message dated 11/1/2006 6:37:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
ws at twcny.rr.com writes:

Please  take the paragraph that mentions TCAT with a large grain of salt. It  
contains many inaccuracies and questionable factual statements that we're  
trying to track down. While TCAT has 6 (not 3) hybrid electric buses on  
order to arrive in 2007, we have not formally committed to having an  
all-hybrid fleet by 2015. Our funding streams do not allow us to make such  
long-term commitments, and changing technology may offer an even better  
choice. Fuel savings are anticipated at 25 percent. We are not sure where  
the ridership projection came from. And can this be true: "Transportation  is 
the source of 53 percent of Tompkins County's emissions, compared with  a 
national average of 14 percent."??

----- Original Message -----  
From: "Stephen Nicholson" <scnfish at clarityconnect.com>
To:  "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv"  
<sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October  31, 2006 10:30 PM
Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Cornell Daily Sun: Cornell  chapter of 
Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) Top 10  Technologies

>
>>From Today's
>
>
>  http://www.cornellsun.com/
>
>
>
>
>
>  Engineers Present Top 10 Technologies for Sustainability
>
> By  Rachel <http://www.cornellsun.com/user/1345>  Ensign
> Oct 31  2006
> Imagine painting your house red, purple or the color of your  choice and
> in the process generating enough energy to keep your lights  on, run your
> washing machine and do just about anything else that  requires
> electricity.
> Sound farfetched? Devin Cowan '10  doesn't think so. He and six other
> members of the Cornell chapter of  Engineers for a Sustainable World
> (ESW) presented "Ten exciting  technologies enabling a sustainable 21st
> century" yesterday in  Phillips Hall.
> The presentation followed Sunday's daylong symposium  "Challenges of
> Energy in the 21st Century," consisting of lectures by  professors from
> Cornell, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of  Technology. Their
> prognosis for the future of the environment was  bleak.
> "I'm insistent that it's not only a gloom and doom story. The  message is
> that the United States is not funding sustainable  technologies and that
> China's not either and they're going to start  consuming enormous amounts
> of energy [in the future]," said Evan  Variano grad, vice president of
> advertising for ESW. He then  introduced the ten new sustainable
> technologies.
> The  presentation mainly focused on alternative energy sources, such as
>  mechanisms that harness the energy found in breaking waves and tidal
>  currents and prairie plants that can be burned in power plants that
>  typically burn coal. Cowan's house-paint example was based on new
>  organic solar panels that, when painted with a special liquid and
>  attached to generators, would be a source of solar energy. These new
>  panels also have the potential to be more efficient than the current
>  silicon-based solar technology.
> Small-scale energy changes going on at  Cornell include the new
> biotechnology building being Leadership in  Energy and Environmental
> Design (LEED) certified by the U.S. Green  Building Council, meaning that
> it is an "energy-sustainable  construction." The Alice Cook House is also
> LEED certified and the new  roof of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall will also
> be LEED  certified.
> Another noted push for environmental sustainability in the  area is
> Tompkins County Area Transport's (TCAT) decision to convert  their bus
> fleet to all hybrids by the year 2015.  With an  expected ridership 
> increase of 36 percent
> over the next 20  years, TCAT decided to buy buses that use nickel metal
> hydride  batteries to capture breaking energy. Although these buses are
> more  expensive, they reduce diesel use by 30 percent. Three of these
> buses  have already been ordered.
> However, in terms of funding for energy  research, a front-page article
> in yesterday's New York Times reported  that federal spending on energy
> technology is half of what it was in  1979. Although "President Bush has
> sought an increase to $4.2 billion  for 2007, but that would still be a
> small fraction of what most  climate and energy experts say would be
> needed."
> According to  the members of the group, despite the government's lack of
> monetary  emphasis on sustainable energy, research and design (R & D) is
>  making progress. "You wouldn't see the hybrid car if R & D wasn't  having
> an impact. It definitely matters," Variano said.
> John  Erickson '07, vice president of finance, thought that the emphasis
> on  sustainable technologies was "strong" at Cornell. He said that while
>  looking for jobs in sustainable engineering, there were mostly "a lot  of
> jobs in academia."
> "The entire budget to put on this event  was $17," Variano said, "We're
> going to do it five more times,"  including later this month for 100
> students at Dryden High School, a  huge crowd compared to the 13 that
> were in attendance at yesterday's  presentation, "It's about education.
> It'll be easy once America is  committed to it. We've got the
> technology."
> Erickson wasn't so  sure. "I wonder if the future comes from someone
> making some big new  discovery and saving the world or from existing
> technologies," he  said, "it'll probably be a combination of both."
> Engineers for a  Sustainable World was first founded at Cornell in 2001
> and currently  has over 60 chapters on college campuses nationwide.
> Recently, the  Cornell chapter won the Best Project award with their
> "AguaClara"  initiative, where they brought fresh drinking water to
> impoverished  Hondurans.
>
>
> Stephen C. Nicholson
> Governance  Chair, Sustainable Tompkins
> Ithaca, NY
> 607-539-6923
>  scnfish at clarityconnect.com
> www.sustainabletompkins.org  <http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/>
>
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