Dedicated to advancing sustainable laboratories globally.
B1 System Optimization | Improving Fume Hood Management
Fume Hood Fundamentals for Safe, Accessible, and Energy-Efficient Laboratories
Fume hoods remain one of the most critical pieces of equipment in research environments, yet their performance, energy impact, and safe use are at times at odds with one another. This session will provide a practical overview of when a fume hood is required, how containment and robustness differ, and what facility managers, researchers, and architects should consider to ensure safe and accessible operation for all users (included seating and standing researchers). In addition, this session will ask why the safety versus sustainability conundrum still exists. The presentation explores the human factors that influence sash use, sightlines, reach ranges, and ergonomic access. The presentation will examine how design decisions can affect safety outcomes. A significant portion of the session will focus on energy efficiency, giving a deeper understanding of how VAV and automatic sash closures along with technology can reduce operational costs while maintaining (or even improving) containment. Delegates will leave with a clear understanding of how to evaluate fume hood performance, how to support diverse users, and how to make informed decisions that balance safety, accessibility, and sustainability.
Focus on the Fume Hood Challenge: Sneak Peek and Steps for Success
I2SL has been planning an International Fume Hood Challenge to build awareness about and save energy from shutting fume hood sashes when not in use. Since energy savings from shut-the-sash efforts are based on the types of fume hoods, sash height data collection, proper system operation, and other building parameters, the Challenge will include requirements for collecting information about buildings and fume hood use. Participants will learn what the Challenge will require, the program structure, and tips for success when it launches in 2027. Presenters will explain how to gather building and utility benchmarking data and use the Labs2Zero Actionable Insights and Measures (AIM) software to run a report to identify the best buildings for participation in the Challenge. Challenge participants will conduct some basic testing on fume hood operation, and this presentation will walk through the testing procedures. Some of the best practices that will help participants achieve success in their shut-the-sash campaigns and, ultimately, in the Challenge will be covered. Finally, attendees can provide input on some aspects of the program that will be refined before the Challenge launch, as well as its promotion.
Net Zero Laboratories: The Dramatic Savings Potential of "Idle Fume Hood Management"
Fume hoods are the largest energy user in laboratories, yet they are inactive (i.e., idle) often 70 percent of the time and in some cases significantly more. And during these extended idle periods, even with the sash closed, they draw significant amounts of conditioned air and consume substantial fan energy, as if the hood were in active use. “Idle Fume Hood Management” is an essential component of achieving net zero energy goals in labs. This presentation will discuss the typical energy consumption of fume hoods as a percentage of total lab energy use. It will demonstrate how idle fume hood management can, in many cases, reduce energy usage significantly by determining when a hood is idle and lowering the fume hood flows to the valve minimums during these extended periods of inactivity. It will discuss applications for high-density hood facilities in both new construction and retrofit applications (both variable volume and conversion of constant volume labs). Lastly, it will touch on strategies to drive behavioral improvements in sash management to enable significant energy savings.
B2 Sustainable Design | Historically Adaptive Lab Spaces
Transforming Historic Lab Buildings for Modern Research, Teaching, and Deep Decarbonization
Historic lab buildings, composed of both carbon and heritage, are special candidates for renovation. The long-term future value of these buildings demands high performance in terms of fitness for modern research and/or teaching, as well as for operational efficiency. This presentation charts how a planning and design team may navigate the wide array of possibilities and constraints that present themselves in embarking on comprehensive renovations to aging laboratory buildings, and particularly historic buildings. Determining the ideal path towards long-lasting, successful outcomes requires critical early conversations and investigations that support analysis-driven decisions for every key area of renovation: program and space planning; infrastructure and envelope upgrades; code compliance and lab safety; phased and partially occupied renovations; and integrating modern lab solutions into a historic fabric. This session demonstrates a planning framework and recommendations for asking and addressing key questions by presenting the case study of the ongoing, phased renovation of the century-old Plant Science Building at Cornell University.
Adaptive Reuse: Modern Biotech Laboratories in a Historic Shell
United Therapeutics and EwingCole transformed a 19th century Seal Tanning Building in Manchester, New Hampshire, into a state-of-the-art research facility advancing 3D-printed organ technologies. This adaptive reuse effort leveraged the embodied carbon and resilient structure of the historic masonry and timber mill while converting it into three floors of flexible R&D laboratories and a workplace floor. Design efforts balanced preservation with performance, retaining exposed masonry and timber ceilings, while integrating modern laboratory infrastructure. The team evaluated, but set aside, GMP-compliant spaces due to constraints inherent in the historic structure, opting instead for a lab-focused environment that maximized flexibility and future adaptability. Mechanical systems were engineered to address strict environmental control requirements and sustainability goals through enthalpic energy recovery, variable air valve zoning, and high-efficiency cooling, while new emergency power systems, including a 1,000-kW generator and UPS units, supported complex research equipment. Workplace areas drew inspiration from the site's industrial heritage, incorporating globe lighting, bold geometries, biophilic elements, and a gallery highlighting organ printing innovations. The result exemplifies how historic industrial buildings can be sustainably repurposed for cutting-edge biotechnology, merging preservation, sustainability, and innovation to support next-generation medical research.
Post-War to Post-Carbon: Renewing the Legacy Labs of California's Mid-Century Educational Building Boom
Current performance standards and building codes pose challenges for aging mid-20th century campus lab buildings. Preserving both academic heritage and embodied carbon through strategic renovation requires flexibility and perseverance but pays dividends in continuity and conservation. In this session, SmithGroup and UCLA will share examples from Southern California that balance functional performance and contextual preservation, highlighting transition strategies for design flexibility, seismic retrofits, system optimizations, and efficiencies that limit carbon emissions, both embodied and operational. Today's universities and cities must increasingly find ways to meet new program or growth requirements within fully built-out campuses. Aging buildings are both too expensive to replace and too valuable to discard, and the vanguard lab designs of yesteryear do still hold intangible qualities of place worthy of honor and renewal. Creative solutions to reimagine and reinhabit these labs and maintain continuity, resilience, and integrity while revitalizing buildings are far less expensive to build new in today's market. With lessons for systems integration, material reuse, sustainable certification, high-performance lab requirements, and flexible lab configuration, the examples shared will illustrate planning and design principles to integrate cutting-edge research within existing legacy buildings to produce facilities greater than the sum of their parts.
B3 Decarbonization | Heat Recovery in Action
HVAC Electrification: Operational Performance of Combined Exhaust Source Heat Pump and Energy Recovery
Laboratory building design has increasingly shifted towards electrified HVAC systems in recent years. However, there is limited evidence on how electrified laboratory HVAC actually performs in day-to-day operation, due to the novelty of these approaches. This presentation addresses the gap between design and operation by examining measured data from a combined high-performance runaround energy recovery system and exhaust air heat pumps, demonstrating their capacity to eliminate the majority of fossil fuel use for heating. Initially, real-world operational data is characterized and analyzed. Subsequently, this dataset is employed to conduct a performance evaluation comparing actual performance against design baselines. Integral operational considerations revealed by the design-operation gap analysis are described. Finally, combined system efficiency is assessed by integrating part-load efficiency and seasonal performance characteristics.
Old Labs, New Tricks: Decarbonizing a Historic Renovation
During the recent renovation of Cordley Hall, a historic 235,000-square-foot lab building at Oregon State University (OSU), the design team overcame the historic constraints and met both rigorous lab requirements and lofty sustainability goals by strategically coordinating around energy-saving systems. The team leveraged energy models and wind-tunnel studies to inform design decisions such as envelope upgrades and exhaust fan setbacks. The hydronic-based HVAC system allowed for lower airflows dictated by ventilation instead of temperature control. This also reduced duct sizes, mitigating historic ceiling height limitations. Heat recovery coils and a heat pump chiller contributed to OSU's decarbonization goals by reducing reliance on steam. Cordley's shared chilled water loop allowed the team to capitalize on the efficiencies of the chiller plant designed and constructed in tandem with the project. These strategies helped Cordley earn a LEED Gold equivalent and exceed sustainability goals with a 36 percent lower EUI and a carbon footprint reduction of over 12,000 tons of CO2/year compared to code baseline. OSU aims to increase savings by using Cordley's chiller to recover heat from other labs on the shared chilled water loop. Cordley proves that historical lab renovations do not have to compromise on heritage, performance, or sustainability. Strategic system selection and coordination and an emphasis on energy recovery allowed Cordley to trade its problematic past for a high-performance future.
A Hyper-Flexible, Net Zero Lab as the Hub for Holistic Campus Decarbonization: Planning, Design, and Systems
Brown's new Danoff Laboratories will advance the university's ambitious net zero goals while ensuring long-term adaptability, enhancing resilience, and engaging meaningfully with a revitalizing neighborhood. To support this adaptability, the laboratory planning is fully modular, and the HVAC system mirrors this modularity to accommodate phased growth and varying laboratory intensities. A key challenge was selecting a mechanical system that could maintain this flexibility while meeting EH&S requirements and upholding the electrification mandate. This session will explore how the ultra-efficient heat recovery and exhaust-source heat pump system enabled the project to achieve ambitious targets for energy performance and programmatic versatility. These choices redefine the lab as an energy asset instead of an energy hog and will position it to be the cornerstone of a decarbonized precinct with the ability to export thermal energy to other buildings. Speakers will also examine how whole-life embodied carbon analysis informed project decisions and will continue to guide Brown's broader decarbonization and resiliency planning.
B4 Sustainable Science | Lab Sustainability and Ethics
Is That Okay? Exploring Ethics in Lab Sustainability
Most professional sectors and institutions, from architecture to medicine, have a code of ethics to guide professionals and internal operations according to established standards of behavior. This session will explore the lack of a code of ethics within the lab sustainability community and discuss potential benefits of implementing a code of ethics, including guiding responsible decision-making, mitigating risk, increasing accountability, and strengthening culture and reputation. What is your responsibility as a lab sustainability professional? How do you balance safety and sustainability? How do you tackle greenwashing? How do you present program metrics while maintaining integrity and authenticity? This interactive session will tackle these tough questions and other moral dilemmas lab sustainability professionals might face in their career. We will have an introductory presentation sharing code of ethics standards from various sectors, followed by an open dialog about the ethical challenges lab sustainability professionals face, utilizing participant examples. We will also discuss how we as a group can support each other through an established lab sustainability code of ethics. We will conclude with a discussion of if and how to continue this conversation beyond the conference.
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