Cornell University
IN-4: Innovation 4

Lights Off Cornell

Launched in Spring 2010, Lights Off Cornell (LOC) is a student-led energy conservation program that organizes Cornell students, faculty, and staff to turn off lights after hours Monday through Friday in seven buildings on campus. The program uses a smartphone web interface to schedule volunteers and to track the amount of money, kWh, and carbon emissions that an individual has saved after completing a volunteer shift. The interface was the final project of a student team in a software engineering class. The website is able to provide relatively accurate feedback to its volunteers because the number and wattage of the lights associated with each light switch are incorporated into a customized database. To date over 160 students, 9 student organizations, and 2 staff members have volunteered in the program. The program has saved more than $2,500 and13 tons of carbon dioxide. Though originally a student driven initiative, at the end of the Spring 2010 semester Cornell’s Department of Energy and Sustainability hired an Energy Conservation Intern to expand and provide institutinal support for the project, incorporating it into the Cornell Climate Action Plan.