I2SL Welcomes Collaboration with Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute
In March 2008, I2SL’s President and Executive Director, Phil Wirdzek, traveled to Germany to speak about I2SL and Labs21. The Labs21 Benchmarking tool was a topic of special interest to the audience of the 2008 Lab 2020 conference in Frankfurt, and I2SL left Germany with a commitment from conference organizers to explore an international collaboration on benchmarking energy in laboratories.
Sponsored by the Fraunhofer Insitut Arbeitswirtchaft und Organisation, the 2008 Lab 2020 Conference, titled “The Lab as an Engine for Innovation,” aimed to advance well-founded know-how in order to deduce requirements for sustainable lab design.
Joining Mr. Wirdzek at Lab 2020 on the topic of benchmarking energy use in laboratories was Prof. Dr. Fritz Runge of the Institut an der Technischen Fachhochschule. These presentations provided lively discussions which culminated with a commitment to explore international collaboration on benchmarking energy in laboratories. Since the Lab 2020 Conference, I2SL has coordinated with the EU, UK, and U.S. interests on benchmarking and plans to have a series of discussions at the Labs21 2008 Annual Conference.
The Fraunhofer Institute recently became a Labs21 Supporter and will be represented at the Labs21 2008 Annual Conference by Dipl.-Ing. Joerg Castor in a half-day symposium on life cycle cost savings. I2SL welcomes the Institute’s participation in the Labs21 Conference and a future of collaboration and research.
