Hi Mackenzie,

You may want to check out AASHE's Green Science Buildings resource which has several universities and colleges that have achieved a LEED rating for science buildings and labs in particular.

Harvard, for instance, has seven LEED rated labs, one of which recently was awarded LEED Platinum.

My best,
Ashwini

Mackenzie,
Another resource you might find helpful is this guest AASHE blog post by Walter Simpson, titled "Energy Pigs - What Are They? What to Do About Them?" Labs are a major focus of the article. Good luck with your efforts!
-Judy Walton, Director of Resources & Publications, AASHE

Hi Mackenzie,

I'm the former Energy Program Manager at the University of Colorado, where there's been a pretty concerted effort over the past couple years to reduce energy waste and improve the efficiency of labs -- energy, water and materials waste.

With the exception of adjusting air systems for (determined surplus) fume hoods taken offline, CU is not using conservation funds on lab building envelopes. instead funds are going towards equipment upgrades, replacements, low-cost fixes and outreach projects that promote and enable conservation behaviors. I've included some links here to descriptions of these at CU.

The CU Green Labs website which is a great collection of the spectrum of lab activities, including free timers, EcoLeaders, a fume hood competition and behavioral change materials. http://www.colorado.edu/cusustainability/solution/greenlabs.html
Here's a link to a video describing a refrigerator maintenance program focused on reducing redundant equipment, coil cleaning, freezer ice reduction, checking seals and inventorying contents. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQt6KFeUrgw
A link to a Boulder newspaper story about a national Higher Ed lab freezer competition in which CU and several other schools participated this past Spring. Also a link to Harvard's page about the competition which does a good job of explaining the how-to's and benefits of efficient freezer use. http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_17911961 ; http://green.harvard.edu/harvard-joins-national-freezer-cleanout-competi...

Hope you find these helpful and that they give you ideas for projects in your labs other than building upgrades.

Rob Hall

I would also recommend checking out Labs21, a program of the US Department of Energy and US Environmental Protection Agency, that facilitates the development of best practices and design guidelines for "Laboratories for the 21st Century." A lot of their materials seem to address new lab design but I know existing lab retrofitting has been a major discussion within their network, so dropping them a line might get you to those discussions quickly.

-Sam

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Sam Hummel
IT Team
AASHE

Laboratories generally consume the most energy of any building, and thus are ripe for the biggest energy and cost savings. This is especially true with research laboratories, and can also be true with classroom laboratory buildings. On the other hand, older buildings that ventilate at a constant rate are breathtakingly expensive to rennnovate. With the most assertive technology such as demand control ventilation, the return on investment can be faster. Look at the air flow through your building. If it greatly exceeds 6 ACH or 1 CFM/SF, you may be able to save $100k per year, (plus or minus a lot.)
For financing, you may want to investigate Environmental Performance Contracts such as done by ASU. The nice part is a third party fronts the capital; the hard part is they might cherry pick only the easy energy savings measures.
Labs21 is a great place to start, especially their toolkit on the website, and you can also have some of your staff take their course which is both for new design and retrofits. This will increase expertise on your campus. The annual conference is a cornucopia of case studies and best practices, and plenty of excellent consultants, engineers and architects attend. It will be in San Jose next October; visit the proceedings from 2011 to get an idea of the quality. For the long run you will absolutely need a consultant.
http://labs21century.gov/
I suggest you check in with UC Irvine next door to Chapman. They are doing excellent upgrades and rennovations, and may have a building similar to yours they have rennovated.