Dedicated to advancing sustainable laboratories globally.
F1 System Optimization | Retrofits to Realize Savings
Converting Traditional Fume Hoods to High-Performance Systems for Measurable Airflow and Energy Reduction
In many existing laboratory buildings, traditional fume hoods operating at 80 to 100 cfm/ft of hood opening remain the dominant driver of airflow demand, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. In hood-dense facilities, fume hoods can account for 50 to 70 percent of total airflow, translating to thousands of dollars of annual energy consumption per hood. Despite this impact and the availability of new high-performance fume hoods, wholesale replacement is often cost-prohibitive and very disruptive. This session explores a practical retrofit pathway: converting traditional hoods into high-performance configurations capable of safe operation at significantly reduced airflow. Field implementations have demonstrated 30 to 50 percent airflow reduction per hood, yielding 20 to 35 percent whole-building HVAC energy savings in hood-driven spaces. Presenters will review aerodynamic modifications, control sequence adjustments, containment verification methods, and performance testing approaches required to ensure safe low-flow operation. The presentation connects hood conversion strategies to Labs2Zero Energy Use Intensity (EUI) targets and illustrates how measured airflow reductions can be reflected in AIM reporting, Smart Labs, and energy optimization projects. Attendees will gain a decision framework for determining when hood conversion is the most appropriate and impactful airflow optimization measure in existing hood-driven laboratories.
System Optimization Over Replacement: Delivering Energy Performance in a Phased Lab Retrofit
Renovation projects present a significant opportunity to improve laboratory performance while advancing sustainability goals, particularly in emerging life-science markets. This case study examines the phased retrofit of a 50,000-square-foot cGMP laboratory headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina, delivered through collaboration between Solvias, SCB, and WB Engineers+Consultants. Sustainability was driven by corporate values rather than regulatory mandate, requiring alignment of performance objectives with capital constraints. Instead of full mechanical replacement, the project implemented a VRF overlay integrated with an existing constant-volume system and DOAS units with energy recovery to optimize ventilation and efficiency. Enhanced commissioning, advanced energy metering, and energy modeling-informed system optimization, contributed to measurable improvements in energy performance and indoor environmental quality. The design team partnered with Solvias to evaluate potential facilities through the lens of operational efficiency, growth, and scalability, informing a tailored two-phase strategy that supported immediate program needs while positioning the organization for expansion. Presented as a panel featuring the MEP engineer (WB), architect (SCB), and end user (Solvias), the session will examine lessons learned from phased delivery, system optimization versus replacement, and cross-disciplinary coordination within an active retrofit environment.
CFD in Action: How One Laboratory Retrofit Team Cut Air Without Cutting Safety
This session presents a case study demonstrating how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to address competing safety, energy, and operability constraints in a major laboratory retrofit. Baseline conditions included pressurization challenges, varied fume hood usage, and high make-up air energy penalties, highlighting the limitations of conventional fixed air-change-rate strategies.The presentation describes a validated CFD workflow encompassing domain definition, emission source characterization, boundary conditions, turbulence and thermal modelling, and acceptance criteria aligned with exposure control and capture performance. Using these simulations, the team evaluated displacement and VAV hybrid approaches, energy-recovery strategies with leakage controls, and diversity-based ventilation resets to reduce supply and exhaust volumes while maintaining protective pressure cascades. Results show improved contaminant capture effectiveness, reduced fan energy and coil loads, and the development of an operator-ready sequence of operations that preserves energy savings without compromising research integrity. The session concludes with commissioning insights, model-to-field reconciliation lessons, and a practical “CFD trigger” checklist to help owners determine when analysis is warranted. Attendees will gain a replicable, risk-informed approach for applying CFD to support decarbonization and reliable operation in critical laboratory environments.
F2 Sustainable Design | Climate and Energy Resilience
Designing for the Edge: A Model for Climate-Resilient Coastal Laboratory Buildings
The demand for modernized STEM education requires laboratory facilities that are not only technologically advanced but also environmentally responsible. However, laboratory buildings are traditionally high energy consumers. As coastal universities face increasing risks from climate change—ranging from tidal surges to hurricane-force winds, the demand for resilient, high-performance, and sustainable laboratory buildings is urgent. This presentation explores the architectural and engineering strategies for a next-generation university laboratory building, showcasing how high-sustainability design is achieved through electrification and climate-adaptive resilience. The featured project, Massachusetts Maritime Academy STEM Building, demonstrates that stringent decarbonization goals are achievable in high-risk coastal environments. Key strategies include: systems electrification, resilient coastal site strategies, and low-energy lab operations. This session will demonstrate how the integration of these strategies not only protects invaluable institutional assets but also fosters a healthy, sustainable environment for students and faculty. Participants will learn how balancing advanced, electrified laboratory systems, a robust building envelope, and low-embodied carbon materials provides a template for resilient, future-proofed laboratories in vulnerable coastal zones.
The Resilient Research Core: Synergies in Shared Space Planning and Prefabrication
As research shifts toward interdisciplinary models, architectural responses must balance operational efficiency with environmental performance. This presentation examines the Moffitt Discovery & Innovation Center at the Speros FL campus in Tampa as a case study for a new laboratory paradigm: integrating "Shared Space Planning" with "Multi-Scale Prefabrication" to achieve long-term resiliency. The session first explores planning innovations, specifically the "Lab-as-a-Service" (LaaS) model and the Linear Equipment Room (LER) spine. Attendees will learn how consolidating heat- and noise-generating equipment into a central corridor improves wellness and energy efficiency while optimizing institutional ROI by converting circulation into grant-eligible net assignable square footage, while utilizing social and technical collaboration hubs to sustain a resilient, integrated research ecosystem. The second half pivots to technical execution, detailing a three-pronged prefabrication strategy for building envelopes, vertical shafts, and horizontal utility distribution. By shifting construction to controlled environments, the project reduces site waste and enhances quality. The session concludes by synthesizing these strategies into a holistic resiliency framework, demonstrating how high-performance prefabrication components and shared resources protect research continuity against extreme climate stressors while ensuring building longevity.
Lab Buildings in the Age of AI Hyperscalers and Constrained Energy Markets
The rapid expansion of hyperscale data centers is reshaping regional power grids and energy markets. While much attention has focused on data centers themselves, their growth has significant and often overlooked implications for laboratory buildings, among the most energy-intensive and operationally sensitive building types. This session explores how grid congestion, interconnection delays, and market volatility driven by hyperscalers are impacting lab design, operations, and project economics. We will examine competition for electrical capacity, evolving utility rate structures, and the role of demand response and flexibility programs for labs with high reliability requirements. Drawing on real-world experience, Thrive Buildings will share strategies for maintaining resilience in this changing energy landscape, including electrification, load optimization, on-site generation, and intelligent participation in energy markets. Attendees will gain practical insight into how proactive energy planning can help labs navigate constraints and turn disruption into opportunity.
F3 Decarbonization | All-Electric Case Studies
Revolutionizing Flexible Research: Decarbonization and Design at Genentech B86
Genentech's Building 86 (B86) Laboratory Tenant Improvement in South San Francisco represents a new benchmark in sustainable lab design. Encompassing 230,000 square feet across seven stories, B86 was transformed from a warm shell into a highly flexible, future-ready facility supporting Genentech's world-class gRED research initiatives. This presentation will explore the advanced engineering and design innovations that enabled B86 to function as an innovative, all-electric life sciences building. By eliminating on-site fossil fuel combustion, the project aligns with ambitious corporate decarbonization goals while maintaining the rigorous demands of biotech research. Attendees will gain a technical overview of the project's core sustainability strategies, including high-performance MEP systems, advanced ventilation optimization, and energy efficiency measures that support the facility's pursuit of WELL and Fitwel certifications. Our session will provide an in-depth case study of the collaborative delivery process that successfully balanced complex infrastructure needs with occupant wellness and adaptability. We will highlight how the design team navigated heavy electrical load requirements and integrated green labs principles to create adaptable research modules that can scale as science evolves.
Simplifying the All-Electric, Zero-Water Central Plant
As electrification accelerates, all-electric, zero-water central plants are becoming more common —often with added complexity. Many designs layer new technologies onto legacy controls, increasing first costs, complicating commissioning, and relying on operator intervention rather than engineered intent. This presentation outlines a simplified systems architecture that integrates generation, storage, controls, and constructability from the outset. Thermal energy storage (TES) is treated as core infrastructure, improving economics through incentives such as the investment tax credit and accelerated depreciation when designed within a unified energy strategy. Hydronic air-source heat pumps maximize efficiency when paired with internal heat recovery and storage-enabled load shifting. Reject heat becomes a resource, reducing energy use while eliminating cooling tower water consumption. Reliability improves through primary-secondary hydronic separation that stabilizes flow across heat exchangers while concentrating pumping variability on distribution. Off-site plant assembly further reduces risk and accelerates commissioning—delivering central plants that are lower carbon, water-free, resilient, and easier to own and operate.
Decarbonizing Large Public Health Labs
This presentation explores strategies for decarbonizing large public health laboratory facilities in alignment with New York State Executive Order 22, which requires new state buildings to avoid fossil fuel systems beginning in 2024. It highlights an integrated design approach for delivering an all-electric, low-carbon laboratory complex that meets stringent performance, safety, and operational needs for high-intensity labs and vivarium environments. The session covers electrification strategies, system planning, and methods to reduce reliance on backup fossil fuel systems. It examines high-performance envelope design, low-pressure-drop air handling, demand-controlled ventilation, staged exhaust, and energy-recovery chillers that enable simultaneous heating and cooling. Modeling approaches using ASHRAE 90.1-2016 to meet the 2020 New York State Energy Code and exceed LEED v4 energy requirements are discussed, along with anticipated energy savings. Together, these strategies demonstrate a practical path to delivering fully electrified, high-performance public health laboratories that reduce emissions, improve resilience, and support statewide decarbonization goals.
F4 Sustainable Science | Sustainable Lab Procurement
The Certified Most Sustainable Conference Session Part 2: Greenwashing 102
The sustainable science community continues to make great strides towards more efficient laboratories, buildings, and practices, and many purchasers desire to prioritize sustainable procurement. However, the sustainability of consumables, equipment, or other products is not always clear to purchasers, as global bioscientific supply chains are long, multi-tiered, and opaque, often lacking transparency. Many companies use greenwashing and intentionally misleading advertising, certifications or public-facing language to convince consumers they are sustainably superior. This session builds on the Part 1: Greenwashing 101 talk at the 2025 I2SL Annual Conference and delves deeper into the concept of greenwashing, including methods and examples for navigating supplier claims. We will explore the complexities of selecting sustainable products when given limited data and resources and when navigating competing priorities. New attendees are welcome.
Sustainable Procurement in Practice: Advancing Reuse and Resource Sharing in Laboratories
Laboratory buildings are among the most energy-intensive facilities in the built environment, yet a significant portion of their environmental footprint is embedded in the procurement, underutilization, and premature disposal of equipment and consumables. While energy efficiency strategies receive growing attention, circular procurement and resource recirculation remain underexplored levers for reducing both operational and embodied carbon in research settings. This presentation examines how structured reuse and shared access models can extend the lifecycle of laboratory assets, reduce capital expenditure, and lower waste without compromising scientific performance or safety. Drawing on real-world case examples from active research environments, it will quantify financial recovery, avoided embodied carbon, and workflow efficiencies achieved through recirculation of surplus lab resources. Attendees will gain practical insights into implementation challenges, procurement policy alignment, risk mitigation, and measurable sustainability outcomes. The session will outline how circular procurement strategies can integrate with broader green lab initiatives and support institutional decarbonization goals.
From Carbon Neutral to Carbon Negative: The Circular Pathway for Plant-Based Labware
This presentation examines how plant-based labware can move beyond carbon reduction toward carbon-negative outcomes through material circularity. It addresses current barriers to circularity, including limitations in collection, sorting, and end-of-life infrastructure that prevent material recovery. Emerging solutions are explored, including advanced recycling technologies capable of depolymerizing PLA to its molecular building blocks and repolymerizing it without loss of material performance. Using lifecycle assessment data, the resulting shift in net carbon impact is evaluated. Finally, the presentation seeks to identify the inflection point at which circularity becomes viable, enabling plant-based labware to transition from carbon-neutral to carbon-negative lifecycle outcomes.
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