Green Laboratory
What can a lab manager do to help his own laboratory go green?. He may has already discovered that recycling can reduce his costs and enhance the bottom line. His customers may be asking him to provide evidence that he is operating in an environmentally sensitive manner so that they can rest assured knowing their supply chain is "clean & green". Even his own employees may be concerned with environmental issues and want to become part of the solution, knowing that they are helping to reduce negative impacts on our world.
Laboratory Environmental Guidelines
Laboratories use three to eight times as much energy as a typical office, "Plug load"; or the things we plug into the walls and turn on, use 20-45% of total electricity.
Although your laboratory may have green guidelines, you may not know about them or how to implement them under tight time and performance pressures.
To minimizing environmental impacts in laboratory:
- Maximize conventional recycling programs (paper, commingles, electronics, etc.).
- Explore potential for lab-ware/supplies recycling: being sensitive to any health and safety concerns.
- Utilize chemical re-use/recycling.
- Utilize equipment re-use/recycling.
1. Individual Actions:
- Turn lights off when not in use.
- Enable computer power management software: sleep & hibernate.
- Don't use screen savers.
- Switch off all equipment when not needed (use power switch where possible).
- Purchase only energy efficient laboratory equipment when possible. Require only Energy Star rated equipment.
- Turn down thermostat when heating (or up when cooling).
- Practice fume hood sash best use practices.
- Identify optimal ventilation requirements for your lab's needs.
- Determine minimum ventilation requirements in laboratories based on user needs, health/safety protection and energy consumption; and set accordingly.
- "Right-size" mechanical equipment by improving estimates of heat-gain from laboratory and process equipment.
- Design labs for energy efficiency/environmental performance: low energy fume hoods, variable air volume, heat recovery systems.
- Use high performance low-flow fume hoods, when appropriate.
- Use variable air volume fume hoods (combined with VAV supply and exhaust).
- Eliminate problematic simultaneous heating and cooling issues.
- Use evaporative cooling when ambient conditions allow.
- Deploy occupancy sensors for reducing lighting and ventilation needs.
- Develop a lab energy conservation project applicable to larger campus implementation.
- Substitute process inputs with less polluting alternatives.
- Modify processes to reduce pollution.
- Modernize processes.
- Improve operation and maintenance (O&M).
- Recycle waste products.
- Maintain chemical inventories to reduce over purchasing.
- Conduct waste stream analyses.
- Use closed-loop cooling water for equipment cooling instead of open-loop/once through processes.
- Use non-potable water sources.
- Use vacuum pumps instead of aspirator fittings at cold-water faucets. One way to discourage this is to specify the use of non-threaded faucets, unless threaded faucets are required for other laboratory functions.
- Reduce process water use and process wastewater generation.
- Purchase energy efficient equipment.
- Purchase recycled paper and office supplies.
- Purchase recycled or remanufactured toner cartridges, etc.
- Purchase equipment with "take-back" programs.
- Develop lab education and awareness campaigns.
- Develop local lab facts and best management practices.
- Develop incentive and award programs to encourage best practices.
- Incorporate green practices into Chemical Hygiene Plans.
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