The Green Labs team, a partnership between UAB Sustainability and UAB Occupational Health & Safety, is now ready to gather more data on the impacts it may have on campus energy consumption.The initial goal of Green Labs was to spark interest in lab efficiency across campus. Beginning in 2017, 20 UAB Research Labs volunteered to participate in a pilot year of the program. An additional 55 labs have since signed up to participate.
“We have projected annual energy savings from five labs that were in our pilot program,” said Nick Ciancio, UAB Green Labs Coordinator and Intern. “Based on conservative estimations, we predict savings of over 150,000 kWh of electricity from the five labs alone over a one-year period.”
According to Ciancio, one lab in the pilot has an estimated annual electricity savings, based on known plug loads for standard pieces of equipment, that equals the annual consumption of seven standard homes.
“I am looking forward to seeing numbers from across campus that relate to energy savings for the university and the amount of waste that has been diverted from landfills through lab recycling efforts,” said Lyse Norian, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, and first year participant in Green Labs. “If changes in just my lab can make a difference in energy use, think what an effect we will have once labs across campus are taking these same simple steps.”
Since most of the current data for annual savings per year is estimated, the Green Labs team led by Ciancio proposed a building-wide study to measure the influence of the program on the budget: saving money by reducing whole-building electricity consumption. Ciancio said he believes there will be even more support across campus by obtaining this information.
UAB Sustainability partnered with UAB School of Medicine and UAB Energy Management to select a test pilot building. Bevill Biomedical Research Building was chosen because it was recently retro-commissioned with new mechanical systems and is one of the most energy efficient research buildings on campus. Other buildings on campus might produce skewed data due to wide variations of energy usage.
“I hope to see the Green Labs Program become standard in all academic and research labs across campus,” said Sarah Sterrett, Research Assistant at Bevill, “I think that would really contribute to a university-wide philosophy of sustainability.”
During 2018, every lab located in Bevill has been encouraged to implement the program in their own particular areas. A survey about lab equipment, protocols, and behaviors was provided to each lab in Bevill earlier this year. The survey was developed by My Green Lab, a nationally-recognized organization that partners with universities, utilities, and government organizations to collect data and make innovative recommendations for reducing the environmental footprint of laboratory research.
The surveys are completed by at least 50 percent of lab members from each lab and based on the results, each lab was provided with cost efficient recommendations on how to incorporate sustainable lab techniques unique to their lab’s survey results.
The purpose of the recommendations is to implement approaches that reduce the use of energy, water, material goods, and hazardous chemicals without compromising safety standards, research integrity, and productivity. Implementation of the recommendations is voluntary and non-punitive.
UAB Sustainability sponsors programs that make the Green Lab recommendations easy to implement. Lab Recycling and Glove Recycling are two of the major programs offered. Labs participating in the Green Labs Program can request recycling services for laboratory items such as pipette tips, polystyrene, Styrofoam, packing peanuts, and nonhazardous nitrile and latex gloves.
“I’ve learned that there are so many simple, easy changes you can make – like turning off equipment after each use, turning off lights when you leave a room, chilling up freezers, being aware of your ordering practices, etc. – that really add up to a big difference,” Sterrett said. “It’s really just a matter of changing habits, and while that can be difficult initially, once you get started it’s really not burdensome.”
The participating labs will have a six-month period to incorporate any recommendations and will receive a Green Labs Certification after successfully implementing suggested sustainable techniques.
More than 30 labs have achieved the baseline “Green Lab” certification so far. This means each lab is practicing above 40 percent of recommended sustainable lab techniques within their own lab. The highest rank a lab can achieve is "Platinum" by fulfilling more than 80 percent of the recommendations.
This year, labs that complete the full Green Labs certification in the Bevill Building will be entered to win a free ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer, which operates between -86 degrees Celsius and -40 degrees Celsius and uses three times less energy than a traditional ULT freezer.
Last year, Lyse Norian, Ph.D., won the Stirling ultra-low freezer for her lab’s participation and certification as a pilot lab in the Green Lab Program.
“We will be using the new freezer as our main -80 freezer,” said Norian. “Our old freezer will be run at -70C to store items that can be kept at this temperature, and we will be sharing this space with another lab. But first, we are going to use the extra space to allow our lab and a neighboring lab to defrost our current -80C freezers. We are very thankful for the extra freezer.”
To begin the process of becoming a UAB Green Labs Member, email
with your intent to participate. Then, take this survey: UAB Green Labs Assessment.