Energy & Water Efficiency

Energy and water efficiency is the implementation of more efficient practices and technologies in the lab in order to minimize consumption. 
In the face of climate change and the degradation of the planet's health, efficient use of resources is more important than ever including energy and water.   Efficient use of energy and water in the lab also helps to keep overhead costs down and therefore more funding from sponsor budgets available for research direct costs rather than overhead costs.

Laboratories are among the most energy intensive spaces on research university campuses.  According to the Smart Labs Toolkit,  "Laboratories typically consume three to 10 times more energy than similarly sized commercial buildings and as much as 50% of that energy can be wasted by inefficient and poorly operating fume hoods and ventilation systems. When properly implemented, the Smart Labs approach enables facility stakeholders to plan and cost effectively achieve high performance laboratories that mitigate risk, operate reliably, provide greater flexibility and reduce energy costs by as much as 50%." 
​Did you know....
  • Ultra-low temperature freezers can use as much  electricity as an average household every day.
  • Small water baths can consume as much energy as a dishwasher every hour; large water baths can consume as much energy as a window air conditioner every hour.
  • Even heat blocks can use as much energy as a 50" TV per hour.

Source: My Green Lab

TOPICS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PROPOSAL

While energy and water use in support of research are overhead costs rather than direct research costs, laboratories are recognized as energy and water intensive spaces.  The urgency to address climate change and environmental degradation of the planet means that research enterprise also needs to do its part to reduce its environmental footprint.   Besides, efficiency with utilities helps to keep overhead costs down and therefore ultimately funding paid from granting agencies program budgets for overhead costs down. 

1. Describe how your research group and/or institution is working to minimize energy and water use within research spaces
  • Highlight if your lab uses existing and shared equipment resources to avoid additional consumption (see Equipment Sharing section for more ideas)
  • Include your commitment to purchase Energy Star or ACT Label rated equipment when possible
  • Describe best practices and processes for efficiency implemented into your research, including participation in laboratory assessments and certifications (see Assessments, Tools, and Programs page for ideas)
  • Consider including a section on what Facilities Management is doing at your site to maximize efficiency in research spaces including
    • optimizing air change rates for safety and energy savings (see Smart Labs Toolkit)
    • optimizing fume hood resources before adding more  ​[NOTE: Fume hoods are typically very large energy consumers because they are part of the laboratory ventilation]
    • ​​locating heat-producing equipment in spaces designed to efficiently address heat rejection
    • providing closed-loop process chilled water in place of single-use (once-through) tap water cooling

2. Describe how you and your research will grow a culture of energy and water efficiency (in biosketches, training plans and broader impacts)
  • Highlight how you will set an example for other researchers and lay a cultural foundation for the next generation of scientists in your lab, department, and at your institution. 
  • Describe efforts that you lead or will lead for efficiency within your department and institution such as incorporating the importance of energy and water efficiency and sustainability in the on-boarding process for new graduate students, post-doctorates, staff and faculty.

Benefits of Energy & Water Efficiency

  1. ​Reduced carbon footprint - Laboratories are very energy intensive spaces especially because of their ventilation needs and large electrical plug loads.  However, they also represent significant opportunities for energy efficiency and reductions through improvements, best practices and technical advancements.   As a result, lab buildings also present great opportunities for research institutions to reduce their carbon footprint via reductions in needed energy coming from fossil fuel sources. 
  2. Selection of energy efficient pluggable equipment also benefits energy savings through reduced ventilation needs: Equipment that plugs into electrical outlets also reject heat into the room space.  For example, when a group of inefficient lab freezers are placed in small room, the room will heat up if the room's ventilation cannot remove heat rejected by the freezers fast enough.  An option would be to see if the building has the capability to increase the ventilation in the room, but this also increases energy consumption.  And if the building is not able to increase ventilation to the space, it can become an expensive infrastructure upgrade to add more ventilation or cooling to the space.  A better option would be to try to avoid this problem altogether by purchasing energy efficient freezers.  Not only do the efficient freezers use less electricity, they will also reject less heat into to the room and thus do not require as much ventilation to remove the rejected heat.    
  3. ​​Saving water correlates with energy savings: Research shows that reducing water use also has significant energy conservation benefits.  The connection between water and energy is often referred to as the energy water nexus. 
  4. ​​Less overhead costs to support research - Energy and water use are overhead costs in research that are included in the Facilities rate portion of the Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Rate calculation (also known as the Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) Rate) for large research institutions in the US.  The more energy and water use, the more the overhead costs to support research.  From a national level perspective, the more funding needed to support overhead costs means less funding from research sponsor budgets available to support the direct costs of research.  Scientists in general would like to keep the overhead rates and costs down.  Efficient use of energy and water helps that goal.   ​
  5. ​Responsible use of taxpayer dollars: Efficiency is the right thing to do because it leads to optimized use of taxpayer dollars. 

Webinar on Efficient Cold Sample Storage