Roll Up Your Sleeves Roundtable

Energy-Efficient Cagerack System in a Rodent Facility

Germain Rivard, DVM, PhD, MouseCare, Inc.

Rodent facilities use forced-air devices, such as individually ventilated caging (IVC) systems, to house a rapidly increasing number of mice. This process increases HVAC requirements, plug loads, and energy consumption quite significantly—three times more than a typical wet lab. MouseCare, Inc. looks at energy-efficient engineering controls that could reduce HVAC first and annual energy costs second, and is in the process of evaluating a prototype animal room with an innovative cagerack system to develop a large rodent facility. The company expects to cut HVAC requirements by more than half and improve energy efficiency significantly. These modifications would also save on room balancing, building commissioning, and maintenance, service, calibration, and validation of fans and filters. The design review would summarize a key opportunity to use an innovative caging system to optimize whole building efficiency and minimize overall environmental impact.

Biographies:

Dr. Germain Rivard is President of MouseCare, Inc., in Ithaca, NY. MouseCare, Inc. develops cost-effective, integrated contamination control solutions of safe, performing, energy-efficient facilities and advises on rodent facility design, construction/retrofit, and operation to commercial, academic, and government research institutions worldwide.

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