Dedicated to advancing sustainable laboratories globally.
8:30 am - 10:00 am CDT
H1: Energy Recovery
System Optimization
Optimizing Energy Efficiency in Laboratories: Exploring Energy Recovery Systems
HVAC systems generally comprise 50 to 65 percent of energy usage in life science facilities. As energy codes progress towards limiting overall MEP energy usage, facilities are being pushed to look at ways to introduce energy recovery into their HVAC systems. This is particularly challenging in life science applications, where many systems are considered hazardous and cannot risk contaminating supply air. This presentation will assess the different means of energy recovery, their spatial impacts, and their applicability in existing life science facilities. Integrating energy recovery systems in new and existing life science settings represents an important step toward achieving sustainable and energy-efficient laboratory practices, allowing the life science community to contribute towards a more sustainable future.
Energy Recovery Design Development for a Net Zero Future
Balancing cost vs. performance of energy recovery design options can be a challenge, especially across different climate zones with varying project goals and budgets. This presentation includes the results of two distinct design paths, each of which provided opportunities to capitalize on the characteristics of the lab facilities and their associated climate zone, in order to deliver unparalleled performance at a simple payback of five years or less.
System 1: A Colorado lab facility design incorporates multiple options, including a one-coil concept where all heating, cooling and energy recovery functions are delivered using a single supply air coil, indirect adiabatic cooling of the exhaust, and an integrated heat exchanger to supply free cooling to internal building loads at low outside air ambient conditions. The end result was 86 percent of the annual heating energy and 21 percent of the annual cooling energy requirement supplied via recovered energy.
System 2: A Baltimore lab facility includes the application of heat pump technology combined with a secondary energy recovery coil, resulting in a 100 percent electric design, with lower utility operating costs per heating Btu generated by the heat pump than a comparable high-efficiency gas boiler design, in addition to delivering 82.4 percent of the annual heating energy and 33% of the combined cooling and summer reheat requirement via recovered energy.
Energy Recovery Technologies and Opportunities in Laboratory Facilities From the Updated I2SL Best Practice Guide
When an energy recovery system is designed, installed, and operated correctly, it can provide significant energy, cost, and environmental benefits. This presentation will cover the content of the recently published the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories' Best Practices Guide for Energy Recovery in Laboratory Facilities. There are two basic types of energy recovery systems suitable for labs that the guide covers: air-to-air energy recovery devices and methods, such as using fixed plate heat exchangers, enthalpy/sensible wheels, heat pipes, and run-around loops; and water-to-water systems that collect heat from high-load spaces and transfer that energy to spaces that need heat. The type of energy recovery system that will work best in a laboratory depends on a variety of factors and considerations that will be covered.
H2: Waste Management and Recycling
Green Labs
The Impact of Laboratory Waste on Sustainability
This presentation will be a continuation from Part 1 in 2023 when the general impact of single-use laboratory and medical supplies on sustainability was discussed. This year, the focus will be on how lab and medical supplies are treated after they leave the site of generation. Known as Regulated Medical Waste (RMW), biohazardous waste, or “red bag waste”, laboratory and medical waste requires special transportation and sterilization prior to being disposed of as solid waste. Through the lens of a case study at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the presentation will cover the various disposal methods and the important factors to consider when determining what method is correct for your institution, such as cost, environmental impact, and public health and social impact.
Let's Get Wasted: Improving Biohazardous Waste Program
Join "Get Wasted" to learn about our innovative approach to managing biohazardous waste. We'll discuss how we tackled safety and sustainability challenges in lab and healthcare settings, from identifying system flaws to implementing data-driven strategies. Discover our transition to MPW burn boxes, which reduced plastic waste and boosted safety.
Our presentation focuses on enhancing waste management in labs, detailing challenges, solutions, and results. We'll cover complex issues like waste collection, container odors, employee injury risks, and sharp container misuse, leading to higher disposal costs and plastic overuse.
Next, we'll outline our data-centric strategy, involving cost analyses, staff consultations, vendor discussions, and a full evaluation of waste collection. Insights from these efforts helped us understand financial implications and find efficiency savings. Guided by these insights, we developed a revamped campus-wide strategy, introducing MPW burn boxes and optimizing sharps containers.
We'll conclude with the pilot program's success, showing reductions in plastic, injury risks, and odor issues. The new system signifies a major leap in safety and sustainability, demonstrating the benefits of strategic waste management reforms in lab environments.
Learn How CU Boulder Tackles Hard-to-Recycle Lab Materials
University of Colorado (CU) Boulder Green Labs has been working to set up recycling of laboratory waste streams since 2010 in partnership with Facilities Management (FM) and Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S). Over the years, streams have been added to the list of lab materials we can recycle as outlets for the streams are identified and signage with rules (including safety considerations) are created with input from FM waste diversion and EH&S. We have the processes in place now that in 2023 diverted numerous hard-to-recycle materials such as: brown glass, 6,435 pounds (lbs); plastic film, 10,960 lbs; foam, 3,800 lbs; pipette tip boxes, 1,720 lbs; and metal lab containers, 3,150 lbs.
On CU Boulder’s main campus, students working for Green Labs check sites for contamination biweekly and bring collections from within the building to the loading docks to be picked up by FM and brought to recycling centers. Student staff are assigned one of four main routes (blue, green, gold, and purple). As staff collect recycling, they inform the recycling lead who then sends the email requesting for bulk pickup by the Recycling Operations Center staff with FM. This is then all organized within a spreadsheet that is regularly checked and updated. The established lab recycling processes CU Boulder has set in place have contributed to successful laboratory waste diversions, which may be replicated by other institutions with nearby center nearby for hard-to-recycle items.
H3: Planning for Climate Resilience
Sustainable Design
Fast Forward: Using Labs to Bridge Campus and Community
Higher education academic science facilities are at a crossroads due to climate change and public health crises. These institutions boast some of the most sustainable and energy-efficient buildings, leading the way in carbon neutrality and innovation. They also play a crucial role in community health, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these advanced facilities are costly, often five times higher than those of traditional office buildings, in the face of declining U.S. undergraduate enrollment. In response to these challenges, the Gensler Research Institute, in collaboration with Thornton Tomasetti and Van Zelm, developed “Fast.Forward.,” a visionary future for academic science facilities that focuses on cost mitigation, adaptability, and resilience. This concept was tested in various U.S. cities, integrating it within or adjacent to green infrastructure projects like Atlanta’s Beltline, Toronto’s Ravines, and the LA River transformation in Los Angeles. The goal is to rebuild local ecosystems, enhance mobility, and support community resilience. “Fast.Forward.” is envisioned as a modular, rapidly deployable, and decentralized research and STEM facility that is flexible, produces more energy than it consumes, and supports place-based research. It aims to bridge gaps between campuses and communities, providing spaces for scientific exploration and training for underserved communities, in alignment with lifelong learning and resilience against climate change.
Assessing and Responding to Climate Change Impacts at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Labs
To address future projected impacts from climate change and respond to the Biden administration’s focus on climate adaptation, resilience, and disaster planning in the federal government, beginning in 2022 EPA and its contractor ERG developed a comprehensive climate resilience assessment framework for EPA’s owned laboratories. The five-step framework involves pre-site visit data collection; an onsite visit and interviews; recommendation development; project ranking; and implementation. The assessment team created tools for EPA’s national lab portfolio to systematically conduct a risk assessment of each lab’s likelihood of exposure to 18 climate and other hazards, level of vulnerability, and magnitude of consequence, as well as inform asset management. Vulnerability and consequence are assessed through four lenses: impact to EPA’s mission, workforce, physical assets, and transportation and utilities. To address the highest likelihood and most consequential hazards to each facility, the assessment team develops recommendations related to policies and procedures; operations and maintenance; retrofit; lifecycle; removal and remediation; education; and relocation. An EPA workgroup ranks the recommendations using set criteria, and projects determined to be a very high priority are added to EPA’s strategic goal. In FY 2022 and 2023, EPA assessed 11 of its 18 owned laboratory facilities. EPA has ranked projects from nine of the assessments and is in the design phase for one project.
The Divergent Lab, a Study in Resiliency: Sustainable, Energy-Efficient, and Healthy Labs
Discover HED’s Divergent Lab concept and how this informs designing labs to be more resilient and more productive places for our clients to live and work. Strategies will be shared for resilient materials selection, improved energy management, and design methodologies.
Integrated design, with all parties collaborating, allows design teams to share information seamlessly. Engineering approaches are best discussed and integrated into the building design in the early design stages. Strategies include hybrid ventilation, which uses all air handling unit(s) headered together to serve not only the lab spaces but also the remainder of the building. Lab air is still exhausted and the remaining areas are 100 percent return air. This allows for not providing outdoor air to non-lab spaces, reducing the total HVAC loads for the building. Remaining areas then receive much more outdoor ventilation without any penalty of added HVAC. Energy recovery systems are recommended to still be used on lab exhaust air.
Learn how to lower energy costs while maintaining a safe environment for research and learning activities. Cup sinks in hoods are being eliminated or reduced in the United States, especially in regions most affected by water issues. Review options for high performance fume hoods, sash closers, automatic setbacks, and proximity sensors. Finally, the presenters will offer simple steps and guidelines for developing sustainable and resilient labs.
H4: Decarbonization Dilemmas
Decarbonization
Decarbonization Dilemmas: Deliberating Difficult Decisions in Laboratory Design
Dive into the depths of design and decision-making, while we discuss the decarbonization of laboratory buildings! Delve into the dense domain of laboratory design and operations, where every development presents a diverse array of dilemmas and delights. Join us for these dynamic sessions focused on decoding the secrets of sustainable success.
Dig deep into the dynamic world of heat pump designs and the delicate balance of heating and cooling loads. Debate between constant and variable fume hood designs, where these decisions determine outcomes. Discover the divergent paths of HVAC system implementation, from the deployment of chilled beams to the diverse array of different terminal unit types. But don't delay; decisive action is demanded for these goals!
Dare to dream of decarbonization as we direct discussions on retrofitting existing building stock versus innovative new design approaches. Delve into the depths of debate and emerge with a decisive strategy for sustainable success. Discuss recent discoveries in development from experts associated with existing laboratory buildings with decarbonization goals. These insights and lessons learned will help determine the path forward in our industry’s drive for decarbonization designs.
Decarbonization is no easy task, but with determination, dedication, and devotion, we can defy the odds and forge a brighter future for laboratory design and operations. Let's dare to decarbonize together!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Platinum
Gold
Silver
Bronze
