Infrastructure Energy
Introduction
The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories reports that plug-in laboratory equipment accounts for as much as 50% of the total energy use in a laboratory.1
Lab Equipment
Lab equipment is often very specific to each lab and the type of research being done. Purchases of large pieces of equipment are infrequent, and those devices will generally be in use for years. Therefore, evaluating long term energy consumption of equipment is important. There are two categories to think about in terms of energy consumption with lab equipment: new equipment and existing equipment.
- Steps to mitigate energy use by older equipment that is already in use may look different than those for newer items.
- The purchase of new, energy-efficient equipment should be made only when necessary and/or when the energy savings will offset the impact of disposal.
Table 1: Energy saving tips
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Action |
Impact |
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Install timers on water baths and heat blocks.
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Small water baths can consume as much energy as a dishwasher every hour; large water baths can consume as much energy as a window air conditioner every hour. Heat blocks can use as much energy as a 50″ TV per hour. |
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When purchasing new equipment, look for energy star ratings or devices that automatically power down.
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Energy savings over the lifetime of the device will result in substantial savings. |
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Utilize shared equipment whenever possible.
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Shared equipment reduces waste when said equipment must be disposed of at end of life, decreases purchasing costs, and maximizes the energy usage when powered on (such as cooled centrifuges). |
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Turn off equipment when not in use or use standby mode when available. |
Simply being plugged in often uses energy in the form of display screens or cooling. Making sure equipment only draws energy when in use can result in significant reductions when multiplied by multiple pieces of equipment. |
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Coordinate simultaneous use of energy intensive equipment or combine experiments with others. |
Use of some equipment, such as lyophilizers, can be used by multiple individuals at the same time, decreasing the overall amount of energy used. |
Energy Star/Rebates
Energy rebates are a common way that governments and utility companies incentivize energy projects. There are two main avenues for energy rebates listed below. Importantly, these resources may be useful less in financing projects led by a laboratory or graduate student but more for financing a project conducted by Facilities Management.
- Energy Star is a governmental program that provides rebates to businesses and individuals purchasing more energy efficient products (Table 3).
- The City of Fort Collins provides rebates for energy efficiency projects (Efficiency Works)(Table 3).
Lighting
Lighting is an important source of energy consumption, and many aspects of lighting can be improved, including individual use of lights and design of lighting systems. Below are general recommendations for light use management and comments on the role of Facilities Management on lighting changes that are more large-scale.
Table 2: General tips for decreasing energy use by lighting in research spaces
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Action |
Impact |
Notes |
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Turn off lights in support rooms when you leave or have motion sensors to automatically turn lights on or off.
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Reduces energy use in rooms that are not currently in use. |
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Turn off lights in hoods when not in use.
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Reduces hood energy use. |
Confirm that this is allowed in different types of hoods. |
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Utilize daylight when possible.
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Reduces energy use during daylight hours and simulates natural light rhythms. |
This may not be possible in rooms without windows. |
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Turn off lights at the end of the day and over lunch.
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Reduces energy use when lights are turned off. |
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Large Facilities Changes (resource guide)
Most large-scale facility changes require approval and implementation by CSU Facilities. This may require a simple conversation with appropriate facilities personnel, or it may require a proposal and extra legwork. The following tables provide guidance about appropriate individuals to contact and resources to inform proposals.
Energy and Lighting Information Resources
Table 3: Financing Energy Projects and Larger Institutional Organization Sources
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Resource |
Description |
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The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education provides many resources to universities regarding sustainability, including the STARS certification (discussed below). Note: to access some materials on this site, an account must be created |
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These are grants promoted by My Green Lab® for energy, water, and other solutions to reduce consumption and improve sustainability. |
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This source is the Higher Education Financing portion of DOE’s Better Buildings initiative. It provides financing information and links to different projects that have been completed successfully at other universities. This includes lighting and other energy use changes. |
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This is the City of Fort Collins website for energy project efficiency rebates. Importantly, it has options to contact the program for funding larger projects. |
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This is a general resource to find rebates for energy efficient products including wall outlet timers and other products. |
Table 4: General Energy and Energy Database Sources
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Resource |
Description |
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This source provides information about energy use by building on the CSU campus. This includes year over year change, GHG emissions, and cost expenditures. May be useful in creating petitions or proposals for facilities changes. |
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This source provides information on the sources of energy to power the Fort Collins area. Useful in the discussion of where CSU energy comes from and the sustainability of electricity use as a whole. |
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This source provides information on CSU buildings that are LEED (Ledership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. LEED has specific guidelines on energy use including lighting and is a core component of the STARS certification system for higher education institutions. |
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CSU was the first STARS accredited member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS is AASHE’s means of ranking and assessing institutions based upon predefined sustainability parameters. CSU’s score report can be viewed at the second link. |
CSU Contacts
These are the point contacts for sustainability projects and questions about implementation on campus (Table 5 below).
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Individual |
Responsibility on Campus |
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Stacey Baumgarn |
Campus Energy Coordinator |
Stacey.Baumgarn@colostate.edu (First Contact) |
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Carol Dollard |
Facilities Management Energy Engineer |
Lasers
Lasers are used in a variety of research settings and depending on the age of the laser, they may consume substantial amounts of energy and generate heat.
Table 6: Energy saving tips for lasers
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Action |
Impact |
Notes |
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Upgrade to solid state lasers. |
Relative to traditional gas lasers, solid state lasers use less energy, reduce heat generation, and last longer. |
Upgrading may qualify for a rebate through federal, state, or university programs. |
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Use cold water to maintain laser temperature. |
Cold water supply lines can be used to cool lasers as they generate heat. Using cold water reduces stress on air conditioning units and avoids the need to cool the entire room that contains the laser. |
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Biosafety/Tissue Culture Cabinets
Biosafety cabinets and tissue culture hoods that are left on 24/7 are responsible for a substantial amount of energy use. Those that exhaust to the outside are not only using energy due to their operation but also impact facility energy use due to exhausting heated or air-conditioned air.
Table 7: Energy Saving Tips for Biosafety Cabinets
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Action |
Impact |
Notes |
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Shut down when not in use. |
Biosafety cabinets consume between 2.34 kWh/day and 18.8 kWh/day.2 When you consider that the average American home uses 29 kWh/day3, reducing energy usage in this area can make a significant impact. |
This will be dependent on your building ventilation system and BSL level as to whether it is a viable option. |
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Only leave UV lights on for 30 minutes or use liquid disinfectant. |
Longer time is not necessary and causes plastic degradation as well as is not good for people working in the area around the UV lights. Liquid disinfectant is preferred over UV sterilization. |
Be sure to follow manufacturer instructions for use including contact times as listed on the label for liquid disinfectants. Verify that the disinfectant is effective against the target organism(s). |
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Share cabinets with other labs to maximize use. |
Sharing cabinets means less money spent on equipment as well as better utilization of money already spent. |
Have a sign-up sheet to coordinate use and shared protocols. |
General computer use
Computers make up a group of devices that consume a substantial amount of energy but have the potential for dramatic reduction in energy usage. There are numerous computers throughout the university, and many are left on 24/7 resulting in the wasting of roughly 50 kWh per computer per year. By taking simple measures, we can reduce the amount of wasted energy associated with computer use.
Table 8: Energy saving tips for computer use
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Action |
Impact |
Notes |
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Upgrade to newer hardware; especially ENERGY STAR rated products. |
Modern computers use less energy and will reduce energy demands. |
Assess benefit of newer model with costs of disposal. |
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Set monitor and computer to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. |
Reduces the amount of unused energy and minimizes heat generation from the device. |
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Reduce monitor screen brightness. |
Reduces energy use while also reducing strain on your eyes! |
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Power down computers. |
When using older computers (or any computer), consider powering down overnight and over weekends. |
Confirm that IT (Information Technology) is ok with the device being powered down and ensure no one needs to remote in. |
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Close background applications. |
Having many applications open on a computer increases energy demand and heat generation; try to close programs that are not actively in use. |
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Only plug in laptops when they need to be charged. |
Laptops are not designed to be plugged in 24/7, so only plug them in when they need a charge. This will not only save energy, but also help your battery life. |
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Disconnect devices when not in use. |
External devices (printers, hard drives, etc.) draw power even when not being actively used. Considering unplugging extra devices to reduce energy consumption. |
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Research computing
Most computer users across the university require minimal computing resources, however there are a subset of researchers who require a substantial amount of computing power. When a research group finds the need to complete complex computational tasks, it is often most efficient (energy and time) to complete these tasks on designated computers. At CSU we have access to a supercomputer supported by the National Science Foundation, run by the University of Boulder, and designed for advanced research computing (Table 9 below).
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Resource |
Impact |
Notes |
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University of Colorado Boulder Research computing |
Large, well-managed supercomputer designed for research computing. Accessible and has a substantial amount of resources available for computing. |
Data Storage
As research projects progress, large amounts of data are generated that often must be stored and maintained indefinitely. This results in the need for ever growing storage space to accommodate the amassing data demands. There are many storage options each with different energy requirements to maintain and varying degrees of data security (Table 10 below).
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Resource |
Impact |
Notes |
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Personal hard drive |
Least energy efficient and most prone to data corruption |
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Fixed hard drive |
Moderate energy efficiency with reduced likelihood of corruption due to the device being stationary |
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R stor |
CSU supported data storage which is easily accessible, secure, and energy efficient |
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UC Boulder – Petalibrary |
University of Colorado and CSU supported data storage which is easily accessible, secure, and energy efficient
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Ideal if users are comfortable working in a Linux terminal |
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Cloud storage |
Various companies offer these services. Cloud storage is energy efficient, secure, and easily accessible. |
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Table 11: Energy saving tip for data storage
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Action |
Impact |
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Compress files when archiving data |
If data are not going to be used but needs to be stored indefinitely, it may make sense to compress the files to reduce the amount of space they take up. |
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Freezers (See section on Cold Storage)
Fume Hood (See section on Fume Hoods)
Authors: Dylan Ammons, Rebecca Staudenmaier, and Grace Jakes
References: My Green Lab®