The International Institute for Sustainable Labs (I2SL) annual conference is the preeminent gathering of individuals who work on laboratory sustainability issues throughout the United States and worldwide, bringing together engineers, designers, architects, safety professionals, scientists and sustainability professionals to discuss cutting-edge ideas to reduce the environmental impact of scientific research.
This October, the conference was held in Raleigh, North Carolina, taking advantage of the proximity to the Research Triangle in that area. Six individuals from the University of Colorado Boulder were able to attend the conference including myself (CU Green Labs Program Assistant), Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar (CU Green Labs Program Manager), Elizabeth Stoneham (Electrical Engineering Masters student and CU Green Labs student assistant), Shannon Horn (Lead Mechanical Engineer for CU), Jason Schlosser (Assistant Director of Building Trades and Facilities Operations for CU) and Wayne Northcutt (Facilities Planning Architect for CU), gaining experience and insight we could bring back to campus. Several members of the CU Green Labs team were able to take a tour of the Duke University campus with our counterpart there, Randy Smith, who took us to several laboratory buildings that have been upgraded in recent years with more efficient HVAC systems, passive lighting designs and modifications that keep in mind that research requirements change over time, and therefore lab spaces need to be flexible to accommodate that.
The conference itself was truly incredible for our CU Boulder team, with many excellent presentations, panel discussions, working group meetings and casual interactions that will help advance the work we are doing at CU Boulder and nationally over the next year. We were also able to share information with the conference community. Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar spoke about how indirect cost recovery rates are calculated and how efficiency actions in research would impact that calculation and the funds that are available for scientific research on a national scale. Furthermore, she gave a presentation on how to create a Green Labs program and the many different formats that can take and led an I2SL University Alliance Group meeting on the Bringing Efficiency To Research Grants effort (BETR grants). In addition, Shannon Horn, Jason Schlosser, Wayne Northcutt and Kathy participated in a joint presentation giving an update on CU Boulder’s participation in the DOE Smart Labs Accelerator Program. I spoke about Community Based Social Marketing and how this framework can be leveraged to benefit scientist engagement with laboratory sustainability topics. Elizabeth Stoneham spoke about an autoclave comparison study she is currently conducting looking at the difference in steam, water and electricity use between a very old autoclave and a brand new one in Cristol Chemistry.
Meeting individuals in person that I’ve been communicating with all year was the most rewarding aspect of this conference. It is wonderful to get updates from Green Labs programs across the country, find out where they are succeeding, where they struggle, how their campus culture or infrastructure is different from ours at CU and how we can help each other. One major focus of my discussions this year was lab assessment and how different campuses and organizations have tried to assess and certify sustainable labs on their campuses. This is a road CU Green Labs would like to go down, but we wish to learn as much as possible from those that have tried before us.
I am excited to report that the next International Institute for Sustainable Labs (I2SL) annual conference will be held in Denver with a 1.5-day extension at University of Colorado Boulder in October 2019. So, the torch has now been passed to the Colorado Chapter of I2SL to plan next year’s conference. This is a wonderful opportunity for all research institutions on the front range! CU Boulder will certainly be doing all that we can to participate and share our efforts for efficiency at next year’s conference and collaborate with individuals from across the world as we all work together to enhance efficiency, safety and success in research laboratories.