Sustainability honored with inaugural DEI Impact Award
UAB Sustainability was one of the first recipients of the Smart Energy Decisions’ (SED) DEI Impact Awards at the Net Zero Forum in September. The department and the Solar House and Sustainable Community were recognized for their work with local under-resourced communities to showcase renewable energy, energy efficiency, urban farming, and habitat protection.
Read moreNew partnership enables researchers to share supplies, reduce costs
Research requires materials from the largest pieces of equipment to the smallest microcentrifuge tubes. When there are extra materials, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researchers send them to the UAB Surplus Warehouse for proper processing and disposal. While other researchers can comb through the supplies and take them back to their labs, it’s been a tedious task as it can’t be done online. UAB Sustainability has partnered with a shared resource platform – Rheaply – to make sharing supplies as easy as a click of a button.
Read moreUAB Green Labs Program repeats international freezer challenge win
For the second year in a row, The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Green Labs Program competed against universities and colleges across the globe and saved more electricity than any other academic institution in the annual Freezer Challenge hosted by My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories. More than 140 UAB labs competed, quadrupling 2021 participation and conserving enough electricity to power 97 homes.
“The ‘Winning Streak’ award requires the winning university to not only save more electricity than all other universities, but also to save more electricity than their previous year. We could not have won this award without our fantastic labs,” said Nick Ciancio, program coordinator at UAB Sustainability. “UAB winning the Freezer Challenge for a second year proves that world-class research and sustainable lab techniques can be synonymous.”
Read more3 ways to celebrate sustainably during graduation
The end of a semester always comes with the joy of a new batch of graduates. Finishing college calls for celebration. However, documenting these milestone moments can create environmentally damaging waste.
“UAB Sustainability works hand-in-hand with our Facilities Grounds team to find solutions to everyday problems,” said Bambi Ingram, manager of UAB Sustainability. “One of those problems is how good-intentioned students can cause harm to our campus and our environment. Graduation celebrations are understandably festive, but we want to ensure you can celebrate sustainably.”
Read moreGreen Labs finds cool way to reuse ice packs
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We’re all familiar with this adage from the 1970s environmental movement. On our campus, UAB Sustainability is always on the lookout to find innovative ways to reduce, reuse and recycle materials.
“The saying ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ is often misinterpreted as all three actions being equal – we really want to emphasize that these actions are in this order for a reason: if you have too much of something that would otherwise end up in a landfill, find another use for that item by reusing it before trying to recycle it,” said Nick Ciancio, sustainability coordinator.
One initiative has helped find another use for the many ice packs that are used in deliveries to UAB’s research laboratories. Through the UAB Green Labs program, the ice packs are collected and sent to the Market at Pepper Place and other organizations.
Read moreUAB Green Labs conserving thousands of gallons of water in UAB labs
UAB’s Green Labs program piloted two water conservation measures in four UAB chemistry laboratories in 2021. The team installed waterless condensers in place of traditional condensers and vacuum pumps to replace water aspirators. Nick Ciancio, sustainability program coordinator with UAB Sustainability, has worked closely with the labs to make the transition.Read more
UAB Green Labs Program wins international freezer challenge
The UAB Green Labs Program bested more than 40 universities and colleges from around the globe to win the overall academic award in the annual Freezer Challenge hosted by My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL). More than 30 UAB labs competed and UAB conserved 872 kWh/day (318,280 kWh), equivalent to roughly the annual energy usage of 30 homes.
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