989 East Shore Dr Ithaca

Cooling Cornell. Decision nears on cooling plan.
The Ithaca Journal, Jun 6 1998, P. 5, full page, with many diagrams

"In 1994, Cornell engineers proposed cooling the campus using water drawn from deep in Cayuga Lake.
  If constructed, the project would cool the central campus using about 80 percent less energy than traditional air conditioning. The energy savings would power 2,000 homes a year, according to the recently released Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the project."
...
"Present vs. proposed
  At a cost of $55 million, the Lake Source Cooling project entails building a 14,000-square-foot chilled water plant at 983 East Shore Drive and installing piping uphill from East Shore Drive and along Ithaca City School District property.
  The plant would draw cold water from about 250 feet deep in the lake and run it alongside warm water pumped down from Cornell to a heat exchange facility near the lake's east shore.
  There, the lake water - drawn in at between 10,000 and 30,000 gallons per minute — would cool the Cornell water. No water from Cornell would mix with lake water or enter the lake through the cooling system. The newly chilled water from Cornell would be pumped back up to campus to cool buildings and equipment while the lake water would circulate back into the lake."

Follow the link provided below to read more of the pros and cons of the project that were discussed in 1998.  Although controversial at the time, as of 2022, the project was regarded as a great success.  

By Deirdre Lord, Robert R. Bland, and Angela Zeng
Winter 2022

Overview:
 "The introduction of lake source cooling in 2000 ushered in a new era of sustainability for Cornell’s chilled-water system (Figure 3). The project involved decommissioning two of three campus cooling plants, including all five system chillers using ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants. One plant remains in operation equipped with three ozone-friendly hydrochlorofluorocarbon chillers that, together with a 4.4 million-gal thermal energy storage tank, can be tapped to meet peak loads or as backup to LSC.

The system draws water from Cayuga Lake through a screened intake about 10 feet above the lake bottom at a water depth of 250 feet. At 39 to 41 degrees F year-round, the water is piped to the onshore heat exchange facility where its coldness is transferred to the campus chilled-water loop. This water is then returned to the lake at 50 to 55 degrees F through a diffuser 500 feet offshore at a water depth of 10 feet. No chemicals are added to the recirculated lake water.

The environmental impact of LSC on Cayuga Lake is continually assessed and monitored, including by Cornell’s faculty Technical Review Committee. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has also continued over 20-plus years to determine that the system is not a significant contributor to water quality impairment, leaving Cornell’s LSC permit in effect."

Note: The lake source cooling plant occupies land on which 4 small cottages stood: 983, 985, 987, and 989 East Shore Dr.