Dedicated to advancing sustainable laboratories globally.
C1 Decarbonization | Designing for Decarbonization
Integrated Approach for High-Performance Sustainable Laboratory Design
Laboratories are prodigious consumers of energy, use a lot of water, and generate excessive waste. Lab buildings can consume 5 to 10 times more energy than office buildings. Ventilation (HVAC) design plays a critical role. In addition, due to complex risk and safety requirements, there can be various challenges to meet adequate indoor air quality (IAQ) goals. Optimized cooling and heating strategies, energy recovery, intelligent building management systems, and lab controls are some of the many other building systems that can have substantial impact for high-performance sustainable lab design. This presentation will provide a holistic view of high-performance decarbonization strategies for laboratory infrastructure based on a life cycle assessment approach. The presentation will include technical examples on energy efficiency/LCCA, embodied carbon, climate risk, resiliency, and enhanced IAQ without compromising on safety.
Understanding the Scale and Impacts of Energy Efficiency Strategies on Laboratory Decarbonization
Most design guides or recommendations for energy efficiency and decarbonization efforts in buildings typically address the scale and impacts of strategies either in generic terms or as part of a specific project case study. Laboratory buildings offer unique challenges and opportunities in finding appropriate design strategies because of the complexity and energy intensity of engineering systems as well as the varied occupancy and operational needs. In addition, the operational goals of a lab building typically involve concepts and materials that can significantly impact carbon use beyond building operations and maintenance components. It can be challenging to develop a realistic sense of the energy and carbon intensity of a specific building during the conceptual and design phases before many details have been defined. This presentation will summarize for multiple project types and climate locations. How the differences in projects ultimately impact both the energy and carbon use in the building and how some differences in construction implementation and building operation can distort or even improve upon original design assumptions. Based upon this presentation, owners and designers will be better prepared to characterize and understand the relative impact of design strategies on energy use and carbon use for their building and location.
The Hidden Carbon Impact: Uncovering MEP's role in Embodied Carbon
In the quest for sustainable building design, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems—critical components in data centers, semiconductor plants, and lab-manufacturing facilities—have long been overlooked in whole-building life cycle assessments (WBLCA). While efforts to assess embodied carbon in structures and enclosures have gained traction, MEP components remain a blind spot due to their complexity and lack of available data. To bridge this gap, a BIM Manager, an environmental specialist, and a sustainability expert worked together to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing MEP's embodied carbon. This presentation delves into our innovative approach to MEP life cycle assessments. We'll explore strategies for overcoming data limitations, utilizing proxy methods for missing manufacturer information, and leveraging industry tools to refine impact estimates. Our discussion will showcase how advanced analytics can transform disparate data into actionable insights, empowering project teams to make informed decisions for carbon reduction. Beyond methodology, we'll discuss how this approach can drive collaboration among designers, engineers, and procurement teams to demand better data, influence material selection, and promote environmental product declarations (EPDs). As the industry moves towards stricter regulations and net-zero goals, integrating MEP systems into the embodied carbon conversation is crucial for the decarbonization of high-tech and industrial facilities.
C2 Sustainable Science | Better Chemistry for Conservation
Encouraging Substitution With Less Toxic Chemicals in Common Bioresearch Procedures
A project at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder asked bioresearchers to challenge the way procedures have traditionally (or “always”) been done in labs. More specifically, they encourage biological labs to reduce toxicity through the use of greener chemical substitutes in common biolab procedures, including: replacing ethidium bromide (EtBr) use for staining DNA and RNA with safer stain alternatives (SYBR Safe and Gel Red), and replacing methanol use with ethanol for reduced toxicity in protein gel stain/destain solutions and Western Blot transfer buffers. The majority of the work for this project has been done by students connected with the CU Boulder Green Labs Program who created a flyer to promote the substitutions, funded the project through a Sustainable CU grant, and conducted outreach for the project.
Green Lab Initiatives for Water Reduction
Get an inside look at how Gilead Sciences, Inc., has implemented their green labs program with a focus on initiatives. Learn how the green labs program enables sustainability champions to test sustainable technology. Get introduced to the program setup, including designing an effective-implementation team, how to engage and leverage sponsorship from leadership, and how to target and implement high impact initiatives. Gilead's green lab program manager and process chemistry research scientist will share the green labs program structure and dive into impactful water reduction campaigns. Water conservation in chemistry laboratories is becoming increasingly crucial due to growing environmental concerns and the rising costs of water resources. This pilot explores two innovative approaches to reducing water consumption in laboratory settings: waterless condensers and in-house water recirculation systems. Waterless condensers, the Findensers in this case rely on advanced materials and efficient heat exchange mechanisms to significantly reduce or eliminate the need for external water sources during distillation and cooling processes. In addition, the implementation of in-house water recirculation systems allows for the reuse of cooling water, minimizing waste, and reduction of overall water consumption. Join the green lab champion as they discuss the design, benefits, and practical implementation of these systems, highlighting their efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Mission-Critical Gas Management at the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Helium (a finite and expensive resource) is essential to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s research mission. However, to embed sustainability in laboratory operations, it has become critical to manage this input in a more efficient way. Hence, the Pollution Prevention Program committed staff resources to meet this challenge and completed a helium user characterization study in FY 25. A project member will discuss the findings from the characterization study; topics include uses of helium, helium economics, and the nexus between gas and liquid helium. Past, current, and future recovery efforts will be presented. In conclusion, through the characterization study, the Pollution Prevention Program became a relevant stakeholder to the laboratory’s research mission by identifying and working to fund helium projects that improve resource management, save money, and enable scale-up of operations.
C3 Sustainable Design | Case Studies in Modeling
Performance in the Palmetto State: Bringing Sustainability to Advanced Materials Research
High performance for new academic facilities can be achieved even when the facility includes heavy chemistry research in the deep south. The Advanced Materials Innovation Complex (AMIC) at Clemson University exemplifies a state-of-the-art, high-performance facility designed to foster interdisciplinary materials research. The new 140,000 square foot building will include adaptable laboratory space and over 150 fume hoods. By collaborating closely with lab research staff and adhering to University Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) guidelines, the design team successfully optimized the modeled energy performance of the AMIC building. This was accomplished through strategic architectural decisions, robust engineering energy conservation measures, and strong commitment from both the design and commissioning teams. This presentation will detail the strategies employed to achieve an anticipated 30 percent energy cost savings over its baseline building comparison.
Leveraging Technology to Ensure Success in Sustainable Laboratory Renovations
Renovations and retrofits offer substantial embodied carbon reduction and pose a unique set of obstacles and opportunities for all entities involved. With existing infrastructure comes the unknowns of past construction and building improvements that create a challenge for both the design team and construction teams to accurately identify deviations in as-built information and effectively and efficiently design and construct new laboratories in these existing spaces. Let’s explore how leveraging laser scanning and our BIM models can help our design teams plan with more efficiency and our construction teams coordinate and install with more accuracy. Through the use of these tools, our renovations and retrofits can not only be more sustainable through the re-use of existing space but can also be more sustainable in our improved efficiencies in design and construction.
Cold-Climate Innovation: Sustainable Design at the University at Buffalo
The University at Buffalo's new Agrusa Hall for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences features prototyping, fabrication facilities, collaboration spaces, offices, and labs, aligning with the university's award-winning climate action plan and New York State University Construction Fund sustainability directives. Labs consume more energy per square foot than office buildings, a challenge that is amplified in cold climates with significant heating demands. In this session, speakers will delve into sustainable design and the strategies employed, including: early-stage analysis parametric energy modeling optimized building massing, envelope, and orientationl solar exposure, wind, and shading evaluated to inform design decisions; envelope configuration/facade that minimized thermal losses through iterative window-to-wall ratio tuning; orientation-specific shading that enhanced passive solar heat gains in winter while limiting summer overheating; an HVAC multi-objective, iterative optimization process; performance criteria for energy use, thermal comfort, and reliability; and evaluation of high-efficiency heat recovery, water vs air, advanced air handling schemes, including using the campus chilled water to generate heating in the winter. The design team leveraged energy modeling and innovative HVAC concepts to achieve a mechanically robust design, tuned to complement the building's passive strategies to achieve energy savings under extreme conditions.
C4 System Optimization | Fume Hood Operational Improvements
I2SL's New International Fume Hood Challenge
In 2024, the University Alliance Group organized a pilot of the first I2SL Fume Hood Challenge engaging and educating research organizations and their scientists. Building on the pilot's success, I2SL is developing a broader, more inclusive and international Fume Hood Challenge; this effort will go beyond shutting fume hood sashes to include promoting user behaviors, technologies, and strategies that monitor and enhance fume hood performance. The Fume Hood Challenge will encourage a variety of actions and strategies to improve both the energy efficiency and safety of fume hoods and the building systems that support them. Key focus areas will include improving fume hood energy efficiency, enhancing user safety, providing educational resources, improving resource efficiency, and maintaining operational integrity of building air systems. Finally, best practice guides will provide step-by-step strategies for optimizing airflow, retrofitting legacy systems, and training staff on good fume hood operational practices. This session will highlight opportunities to join the Challenge Technical Advisory Groups, participation in 2026 pilot testing, or sponsor the effort.
HVAC Validation of Fume Hood Challenge Successes
The future I2SL Fume Hood Challenge will serve as an important resource for promoting safety and professional responsibility, even in constant volume buildings. In variable volume buildings, testing mechanical performance can confirm energy savings and assess HVAC system health. Issues such as degraded control valves, static pressure leakage, faulty flow and pressure sensors, or improper settings and sequences can reduce an air handler or exhaust fan's responsiveness to sash positions, undermining energy efficiency goals. We propose a simple, crowd-sourced fume hood and HVAC test to provide a coarse but effective validation of supply and exhaust system responsiveness. By collaborating with the facilities controls team, Fume Hood Challenge coordinators will be able to add system credibility with savings data to behavioral change initiatives. This integration reinforces claims of cost, energy, and carbon savings, promotes system maintenance or recommissioning when performance issues arise, and fosters support for green labs programs.
Can You Reduce Fume Hood Exhaust and Still Be Safe?
Laboratory fume hoods are ventilated enclosures that capture and remove gases, vapors and fumes from the work area. They are used to protect laboratory staff. They also consume a great deal of energy. This paper will focus on proven ways to upgrade conventional hoods to high performance hoods. We will look at how an optimized fume hood operates as a part of the overall HVAC system. Upgrading fume hoods improves performance, saves money and frees up HVAC capacity. We will also look at new ways to verify performance and safety, by understanding just how low fume hood exhaust can go and still be safe.
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