Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Cornell is a global leader in sustainability and climate change research, teaching and engagement. Our campuses are living laboratories for developing, testing and implementing solutions that address these most challenging issues.


On-farm research shows farmers can use less nitrogen to save money and reduce environmental impact

CherryPharm Inc., a start-up company that sells an all-natural, tart cherry sports drink developed in conjunction with Cornell food scientists, has received $2.3 million from the Cayuga Venture Fund. (June 19, 2007)

Cornell's 2007 solar home is taking shape, featuring a 'light canopy,' 'green' screens and adaptable sunroom

Cornell's 2007 Solar Decathlon entry, now being built, features a freestanding 'light canopy' to support the house's equipment, 'green' screens and an adaptable sunroom. (May 1, 2007)

Confront climate change by encouraging trading in greenhouse gas credits, says Christine Todd Whitman

The best way to confront climate change is by encouraging trading in greenhouse gas credits, said Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the EPA and ex-governor of New Jersey, April 23.

Researchers develop new test to rapidly detect virus killing fish from New York to Great Lakes

Cornell researchers are fine-tuning a new technique they developed to rapidly detect a deadly fish virus that has increasingly appeared in the Great Lakes and neighboring waterways. (Feb. 14, 2007)

Deadly virus in freshwater fish is found in Northeast for the first time by Cornell researchers

A deadly fish virus has been found for the first time in a variety of freshwater fish in the northeastern United States by Cornell University researchers. (June 14, 2006)

Decades of acid rain is causing loss of valuable Northeast sugar maples, Cornell researchers warn

Acid rain, the environmental consequence of burning fossil fuels, running factories and driving cars, has altered soils and reduced the number of sugar maple trees growing in the Northeast, according to a new study led by Cornell researchers.

Chris Barrett takes a collaborative approach to the world's poorest people

Chris Barrett's economic development research takes him into the most poverty-stricken areas of rural Africa, the halls of Washington, D.C., and back to Cornell University, where he collaborates with biophysical and social scientists on innovative ways to improve the lives of some of the poorest people on Earth.

'Slow, insidious' soil erosion threatens human health and welfare as well as the environment, Cornell study asserts

Around the world, soil is being swept and washed away 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished, destroying cropland the size of Indiana every year, reports a new Cornell University study.

Moving loons change their tunes

Bird experts believed for years that once a bird learned songs, the calls stayed relatively fixed throughout their lives, but a new study of loons, streamlined fish-eating water birds, calls those beliefs into question. (March 7, 2006)