2012 Go Beyond Awards
A unique awards program honoring organizations, individuals, products, and projects that are advancing sustainable, high-performance facilities.
Nominations will be accepted through July 13, 2012.
The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), in partnership with R&D Magazine, is pleased to announce the fifth annual Go Beyond Awards.
This awards program will honor individuals, organizations, projects, and manufacturers that "go beyond" the status quo to minimize the environmental impacts of laboratories and other high-technology facilities (including, but not limited to, cleanrooms, health care facilities, data centers, and vivaria). Award winners will show their commitment to excellence in sustainability in laboratory and other high technology facility projects by going beyond the facility itself to consider shared resources, infrastructure and services, and neighboring communities, and contribute to increased use of energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable designs, systems and products. The 2012 Go Beyond Awards will recognize these outstanding commitments in the following categories:
I2SL will present the Go Beyond Awards at the Labs21 2012 Annual Conference. These awards are specifically designed to encourage extraordinary leadership, innovation, and achievement in sustainable high-technology facility design consistent with I2SL's mission. The Go Beyond Awards are open to all organizations and individuals within and outside the United States.
Awards Criteria
View printer-friendly criteria (52 KB, 4 pp).
Individual Award and Organizational Award
These awards will be presented to an exemplary individual and a commendable organization (including universities, private companies, government entities, or nonprofits) that have demonstrated extraordinary leadership and innovation in creating and maintaining sustainable, high-performance facilities. Individuals could be employed by and organizations could include architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as well as trade associations.
Individuals and organizations will be judged on the following criteria:
- Encourages new ideas that connect sustainability to user satisfaction, safe environments, and healthy conditions for employees and surrounding environments, and increases the market opportunity for implementing such ideas.
- Completion of a laboratory project by the nominee or one of its clients that implements a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission. Nominations may include monitored or calculated savings attributed to the project(s), but this information is not required.
- Internal promotional activities that the nominee uses to inform employees, managers, facility staff, clients, and neighboring or affected communities about sustainable approaches consistent with I2SL's mission and their benefits to the organization, the client, and the community. The nomination should describe these activities and their impact.
- External promotional activities that the nominee uses to promote a whole-building approach to sustainable design, consistent with I2SL's mission, to the laboratory and high-tech building community and to other individuals and organizations outside the nominee's firm. Promotional activities could include presentations at conferences, site visits, articles, correspondence, information on company websites, and/or meetings where information on a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission is shared. The nomination should describe these activities.
- Participation in the Labs21 2010 or 2011 Annual Conferences through active participation and/or sponsorship.
- Promotion of the Labs21 Annual Conference and I2SL's workshops and webinars to peers, management, and facility staff. Additional credit will be given if the nomination can show that these parties attended a conference, workshop, or webinar as a result of the nominee's promotional efforts.
- For organizations, the integration a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission into its company business plan, objectives, and services. The nomination should provide examples of how this information is incorporated. For individuals, efforts toward the integration of I2SL's mission into his or her company's business plan, objectives, and services should also be described in the nomination.
- Special consideration will be given to organizations that demonstrate the establishment of specific sustainability goals, or individuals that demonstrate the effective advocacy for such goals. Examples of such goals include:
- Zero-Net Energy Research Campus by 2025
- Use of the Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21®) Environmental Performance Criteria (EPC) for laboratory buildings
- Best 20 percent in as-operated benchmark energy use intensity for all laboratory buildings
Equipment Manufacturers' Award
This award will be presented to a manufacturer that significantly contributes to reducing the overall environmental footprint of a laboratory facility through innovative design and engineering of equipment. Nominees must also demonstrate leadership consistent with the goals of this award through the company's business model.
Equipment manufacturers will be judged on the following criteria:
- Impact the product had on the overall sustainability of the facility in which it was used. Impact may be demonstrated with performance metrics or through an independent assessment of the product.
- Dissemination of information to potential buyers and users that describes the equipment's contribution to offsetting resources employed in the product's manufacture, use, and disposal. Such information, to be included in the nomination, should also show the manufacturer's commitment and leadership to a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission.
- Presentation of the product at the Labs21 2010 or 2011 Annual Conference Technology and Services Fair.
- Integration of a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission into the manufacturer's business plan, objectives, and products.
Project Awards
The three types of awards in this category are:
- New Construction
Given to a newly built facility—and recognizing the architect, engineer, builder, and project team—that best exemplifies the pursuit of a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission through the use of I2SL's tools, including those developed by Labs21. New construction projects will be judged on the following criteria:
- Achievement of or expectation to achieve several Labs21 EPC points and all prerequisites. Nominations should describe how nominee met/is meeting the EPC in the following areas:
- Sustainable sites
- Water efficiency
- Energy and atmosphere
- Materials and resources
- Indoor environmental quality
- Submission of facility data to the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool.
- Commitment to prepare within one year an in-depth case study of the project for inclusion in I2SL's E-Library.
- Renovation or Adaptive Reuse
Given to a renovated or adaptive-reuse facility—and recognizing the architect, engineer, builder, and project team—that best exemplifies the pursuit of a whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission through the use of I2SL's tools, including those developed by Labs21. Renovation or adaptive-reuse projects will be judged on the following criteria:
- Achievement of or expectation to achieve several Labs21 EPC points and all prerequisites. Nominations should describe how the nominee met/is meeting the EPC in the following areas:
- Sustainable sites
- Water efficiency
- Energy and atmosphere
- Materials and resources
- Indoor environmental quality
- Submission of facility data to the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool.
- Commitment to prepare within one year an in-depth case study of the project for inclusion in I2SL's E-Library.
- Innovative Technology or Systems
Given to recognize the inventive use of a specific technology or system that has improved the environmental performance of a laboratory or other high-tech facility. Innovative Technology or Systems Award submissions will be judged on the following criteria:
- Use of any of the following:
- Onsite renewable energy technologies
- Passive design strategies to support renewable technologies
- Water management strategies that include rain water collection and storage, green roofs, gray water systems, irrigation, etc.
- Aggressive and innovative energy efficiency.
- A level of performance consistent with the Labs21 EPC.
- Development of a laboratory "user's handbook" for facility management and staff to assure the continued, successful operation of new technologies and systems.
Eligibility
The 2012 Go Beyond Awards will recognize achievements accomplished and projects completed from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2011. I2SL reserves the right to present awards within each category only if a nomination shows merit.
Although the use of whole-building approach to sustainable design consistent with I2SL's mission and the use of I2SL's tools and resources, including the Labs21 Toolkit, will be favored in the judging of nominations, it is the concept behind these resources—building sustainable, high-performance, low-energy buildings, not the specific use of them—that will be judged for each nomination. Therefore, affiliation with the Labs21 Annual Conference or I2SL's workshops, webinars, or other initiatives is not required to submit a nomination or be considered for an award. Applications will be accepted for nominees within the United States and abroad.
How to Apply
Nominations will be accepted online through July 13, 2012.
Award decisions will be made in summer 2012.
Awards will be presented at the Labs21 2012 Annual Conference, which will be held October 2 through 4 in San Jose, California, USA.
Back to Go Beyond Awards Index