Shut-the-Sash, Smart Labs, Lead the University of Chicago to Energy Savings

With over 1.5 million square feet of lab space, the University of Chicago (UChicago) launched a Smart Labs effort in 2025 as a key initiative in implementing the university’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal. Lab buildings account for 39 percent of campus energy use, yet only 10 percent of the university’s overall gross square footage. During I2SL’s Education Month in February, UChicago Energy Manager Henock Kidanu described the opportunities and challenges faced while implementing Smart Labs, offering ideas for other campuses with GHG goals.

UChicago started by recruiting ambassadors representing various stakeholders on campus, including lab users, EH&S, senior leadership, and student-run organizations. They conducted energy assessments of their lab buildings to prioritize opportunities for improvement using tools such as the I2SL Labs2Zero Lab Benchmarking Tool. Henock emphasized the importance of energy studies and retro-commissioning to identify both low-cost measures and capital investment opportunities.

One of the low-cost measures was checking fume hood air change rates; UChicago identified a number of hoods that were operating at higher air change rates than required, likely because labs had incorporated COVID-19 safety practices that were necessary at the time, but operations had remained unchanged since the pandemic. Continuous tracking and managing of these systems helped ensure they will not use more energy than necessary.

UChicago also implemented behavior change efforts to save energy, including educating researchers to shut fume hood sashes when not in use and promoting freezer management best practices. Since implementing shut-the-sash efforts in multiple lab buildings starting in 2022, Henock said, the university has seen year-over-year improvement in the sash open rate. Combined with operational improvements, monitoring systems, and retro-commissioning their runaround heat recovery system, UChicago has achieved continuous improvement and energy savings.

Henock emphasized the importance of developing relationships and communicating with key stakeholders throughout the Smart Labs process, including members of UChicago’s Department of Health and Safety and Office of Research Safety. Key decision-makers were identified to serve as ambassadors for the Smart Labs program; establishing regular communication, with action items and progress discussed during periodic team meetings, kept the Smart Labs momentum going even as stakeholders changed roles at the university.