I²SL Sustainability Scoop

January 2017

Don't Benchmark in a Bubble – Join Over 600 Facilities Using the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool!

You may know how energy efficient your lab has become over the years, but do you know how it stacks up against other labs in the U.S.? The Labs21 Benchmarking Tool, a national database of laboratory facility energy use data, gives you this power. Since 2002, the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and I²SL have teamed up to bring you the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool, in which users can view nationwide data and input their own data in a communal effort to make meaningful comparisons across facilities.

To date, the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool represents 5 to 10 percent of U.S. laboratory square footage, making it the largest known repository of its kind—and it continues to grow. In addition to current updates, user-submitted data helps keep the database current, and new users can help increase the tool's scope. Individual labs' data is kept anonymous and confidential.

Visit the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool website to learn how the tool can be used for LEED rating systems, to delve deeper into the database's inner workings, and much more! If you want to find out about updates to the tool, check out the I²SL Laboratory Benchmarking Working Group.

Dig Deeper Into Benchmarking

To learn more about the importance of benchmarking and the maintenance of the tool, check out these 2016 I²SL Annual Conference presentations from members of the I²SL Laboratory Benchmarking Working Group:

• Jacob Werner of Wilson Architects discusses "The Demand for Lab Benchmarking."
• Alison Farmer of kW Engineers and Chair of the Laboratory Benchmarking Working Group takes us through the tool's progress in "The Evolution of the Labs21 Benchmarking Tool."
• Alison Farmer examines the future of the tool by asking, "Where Do We Go from Here?"