A Smart, Green Combination Earns UVA the Top Sustainable Lab Program Award

As the 2026 I2SL Sustainable Lab Award winner, the University of Virginia (UVA) shows how Smart Labs and green labs can work together to achieve real savings. While green labs and Smart Labs programs are often distinct efforts at research institutions, UVA’s Sustainable Labs Program takes a dual approach to get the best of both worlds: a bottom-up green labs effort to engage researchers, combined with retro-commissioning and ventilation strategies to improve lab building energy efficiency. The result? Over 200 labs engaged, 72 of which achieved Green Labs certification, and over $5 million saved in utility costs since 2018!

The university has a goal to be carbon-neutral by 2030, along with ambitious energy, water, and waste reduction goals. As an R-1 research institution, UVA has 2.8 million square feet of research-intensive lab buildings. These 18 buildings account for 14 percent of UVA’s physical space but use about one-third of the university’s energy consumption.

UVA launched a Green Labs Working Group in 2014 with monthly meetings engaging a mix of researchers, building managers, sustainability proponents and environmental health and safety (EH&S) professionals. A full-time Green Labs Coordinator in the Office for Sustainability supports UVA’s Freezer Challenge participation, a fume hood “Shut the Sash” competition, a Green Labs Resource Fair, and a Green Labs Certification program developed by the university to address waste, chemicals, cold storage, procurement, and other aspects of lab management. 

Since 2018, UVA’s Office for Sustainability has utilized a Smart Labs approach to initiate top-down, building-level energy efficiency projects through retro-commissioning and ventilation optimization. A Building Efficiency Program (BEP) revolving fund model supports energy upgrades across campus; the trust established under the Green Labs Program among the Sustainable Labs team, EH&S, and facilities management has encouraged collaboration to leverage BEP revolving funds to reduce labs’ energy and carbon footprint, as well as operating costs, by reducing utility consumption.

For example, in UVA’s Medical Research 4 (MR4) building, the university’s Deferred Maintenance fund paid for an upgrade from pneumatic HVAC controls to digital controls. Another $1.9 million in BEP revolving funds were used to support commissioning, optimize HVAC controls, provide airflow setpoints, upgrade lighting fixtures, and fix malfunctioning equipment. MR4 achieved a 30 percent energy reduction and paid back the funds by saving $1.1 million annually in utility costs. Because researchers appreciated the lighting and other improvements, this project also helped build support for Green Labs initiatives.