Cornell Tech unveils plans to reach Net Zero at The Bloomberg Center

Cornell Tech, under construction on Roosevelt Island in New York City, recently announced details of its plan to achieve Net Zero energy efficiency for The Bloomberg Center.

Designed by the architecture firm Morphosis, The Bloomberg Center is the first academic building to be constructed on the Cornell Tech campus. The first phase of this development will open this September.

The campus plans include photovoltaic arrays, geothermal ground source heat pumps, an energy-efficient facade balancing the ratio between transparency and opaqueness to maximize building insulation and decrease energy demand, and smart building features that will monitor lighting and plug load use. The strategy to achieve a low energy building is through a stepped approach, prioritizing reduction in energy demand through load reductions and maximizing passive and energy efficient design, as well as using renewable energy to power the building systems.

There are 80 closed-loop geothermal wells, each 400 feet deep, that were drilled below the main campus public open space. The ground-source heat pumps will be used with an active chilled-beam system.

An acre-sized photovoltaic array tops The Bloomberg Center and neighboring The Bridge building. The building designs incorporate the panels as an integral architectural feature. The array on The Bloomberg Center also provides building shading.