The 2009 Go Beyond Awards
Criteria
Applications due July 17
The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), in partnership with R&D Magazine, is pleased to announce the second annual Go Beyond Awards. This award program will honor individuals, organizations, projects and manufacturers that “go beyond” the status quo to minimize the environmental impacts of laboratory and other high-technology facilities (including, but not limited to cleanrooms, healthcare facilities, data centers, vivaria, etc). Award winners will show their commitment to the goals of Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21®) and that excellence in sustainability means going beyond the laboratory, beyond the United States, and beyond being “green” when considering building projects, products, and services. The 2009 Go Beyond Awards will recognize these outstanding commitments in the following categories:
As co-sponsor of the Labs21 2009 Annual Conference and Workshops, I2SL will present the Go Beyond Awards at the Labs21 2009 Annual Conference. Award criteria are aligned to support the Labs21 Approach for building sustainable, high-tech facilities. These are the only awards specifically designed to encourage extraordinary leadership, innovation, and achievement of the goals of Labs21. The Go Beyond awards are open to all related organizations and individuals within and outside the U.S. and are not limited to Labs21-affiliated individuals and organizations.
Award Criteria
View printer-friendly criteria and guidelines (111 KB, 4 pp)
Individual Award and Organizational Award: These awards will be presented to an exemplary individual and a commendable organization that have demonstrated extraordinary leadership and innovation in creating and maintaining sustainable, high-performance facilities. Organizations can include, but are not limited to, architecture, engineering, and construction firms as well as trade associations.
Individuals and Organizations will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Development of a facility project by the nominee or their clients that implements the Labs21 Approach. Nominations may, but are not required to, include calculated savings attributed to the project(s).
- Implementation of educational activities that the nominee uses to inform all employees, managers, facility staff, clients, and neighboring or affected communities about the Labs21 Approach and its benefits to the organization, the client, and the community. The nomination should provide examples of these activities.
- Promotion of Labs21 and its benefits to the laboratory and high-tech building community and to other individuals and organizations outside the nominee’s firm. Promotional activities could include presentations at conferences, site visits, articles, correspondence, information on company Web sites, and/or meetings where information on Labs21 is shared.
- Documentation of the commitment and leadership role being pursued consistent with the Labs21 Approach in marketing materials, outreach to the industry, advertisements, and other promotional activities.
- Participation in the Labs21 2007 or 2008 Annual Conferences through attendance and/or sponsorship.
- Promotion of the Labs21 Conference and Workshops to peers, management, and facility staff. Additional credit will be given if the nomination can show that these parties attended a conference or workshop due to the nominee’s promotional efforts.
- Encourages new ideas that connect sustainability to user satisfaction, safe environments, and healthy conditions for employees and surrounding environments. For organizations, the integration of Labs21 goals into its company business plan, objectives, and services.
View the full set of questions for this category (63 KB, 2 pp)
Equipment Manufacturers’ Award: This award will be presented to a manufacturer that is contributing significantly to reducing the environmental footprint of a whole facility through innovative design and engineering of sustainable equipment. Nominees must also demonstrate leadership consistent with the goals of this award through the company’s business model.
Equipment manufacturers will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Dissemination of information to buyers and users which describes the equipments’ contribution to offsetting resources employed in the product’s manufacture, use, and disposal.
- Promotion of the manufacturer’s commitment and leadership to the Labs21 Approach in its marketing materials for the product or service.
- Documented performance narrative, and if possible supporting metrics, for equipment use in a specific project or application.
- Presentation of product at the Labs21 2007 or 2008 Annual Conference Technology and Services Fair.
- Integration of Labs21 goals into manufacturer’s business plan, objectives, and products.
View the full set of questions for this category (62 KB, 1 pp)
Project Awards: The three types of awards in this category are:
New Construction: Given to a newly built facility—and recognizing the architect, engineer, builder, and project team—that best exemplifies the pursuit of Labs21 goals through the use of Labs21 tools, including components of the Environmental Performance Criteria (EPC). New construction projects will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Achievement or expectation to achieve the Silver Level for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) for New Construction.
- Achievement or expectation to achieve a number of the Labs21 EPC points and prerequisites. Nominations should describe how nominee met/is meeting the EPC in the following areas:
- Sustainable sites
- Water efficiency
- Energy and atmosphere
- Materials and resources
- Indoor environmental quality
- Innovation and design process
- Submission of facility data to the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool.
- Commitment to prepare within 1-year an in-depth case study of the project for inclusion in I2SL’s E-Library.
View the full set of questions for this category (65 KB, 2 pp)
Renovation or Adaptive Reuse: Given to a renovated or adaptive-reuse facility—and recognizing the architect, engineer, builder, and project team—that best exemplifies pursuit of Labs21 goals through the use of Labs21 tools, including the Environmental Performance Criteria (EPC). Renovation or adaptive reuse will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Achievement or expectation to achieve the Silver Level of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification for existing buildings.
- Achievement or expectation to achieve a number of the Labs21 EPC points and prerequisites. Nominations should describe how nominee met/is meeting the EPC in the following areas:
- Sustainable sites
- Water efficiency
- Energy and atmosphere
- Materials and resources
- Indoor environmental quality
- Innovation and design process
- Submission of facility data to the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool.
- Commitment to prepare within 1-year an in-depth case study of the project for inclusion in I2SL’s E-Library.
View the full set of questions for this category (63 KB, 1 pp)
Innovative Technology and Systems Awards: Given to recognize the inventive use of a specific technology or system that has improved the environmental performance of a laboratory or other high-tech facility. Innovative Technology and Systems submissions will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Use of on-site renewable energy technologies, or
- Use of passive design strategies to support renewable technologies, or
- Use of water management strategies including rain water collection and storage, green roofs, gray water systems, irrigation, etc.
- Aggressive and innovative energy efficiency.
- Demonstration of the technology or system enabling a new or existing facility to reach a level of performance required by any of the Labs21 Environmental Performance Criteria.
- Development of a lab “user’s handbook” for facility management and staff to assure the continued operability of new technologies and processes.
View the full set of questions for this category (65 KB, 1 pp)
Eligibility
The 2009 Go Beyond Awards will recognize achievements accomplished and projects completed from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2008. I2SL reserves the right to only give awards within each category if a nomination shows merit.
Although the use of the Labs21 Approach and tools will be favored in the judging of nominations, it is the concept behind these resources—building sustainable, high-performance, low-energy buildings—not the specific use of them, that will be judged within each nomination. Therefore, affiliation with the Labs21 conference, workshops, or program is not required to submit a nomination or be considered for an award. Applications will be accepted for nominees within the U.S. and abroad.
How to Apply
To nominate an individual, organization, or facility for the 2009 Go Beyond Awards, please complete the online application.
Applications are due July 17, 2009. Award decisions will be made in late summer 2009.
Awards will be presented at the Labs21 2009 Annual Conference.
View the 2008 Go Beyond Award Winners