Ithaca 2030 District

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County is a founding member of the Ithaca 2030 District, an interdisciplinary public-private collaboration working to create a groundbreaking high-performance building district in Downtown Ithaca. A project of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI), the Ithaca 2030 District is part of a larger effort in Tompkins County to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.

Cooperative Extension has undertaken many energy efficiency projects in their building thus far:

• Reduced electricity usage by more than 45% over 12 years by:
  • Converting from T12s to T8 fluorescent tubes
  • Delamping
  • Replacing old refrigerators with energy efficient models
  • Reducing plug loads by converting computers and monitors to energy efficient models, and installing power strips with shutoff switches.
  • Reducing air conditioning needs by cooling down the building with cool night air brought in through low cost attic fans
• Installed 25 kW of solar panels on the roof, resulting in another 15% decrease in fossil electricity use
• Reduced natural gas usage by 20% through:
  • Phased replacement of some gas-fired heating equipment with heat pumps 
  • Addition of insulation in roof areas and walls
  • Window insulation on large windows
  • Installation of setback thermostats

The above measures combined with increased efficiency of usage of office space resulted in a net reduction in energy usage per workstation by more than 75% over the past 12 years.

Last updated August 24, 2020