Energy Saving Tips for the Lab

Laboratories are well known to be energy intensive facilities, consuming many times the energy use of the average non-lab academic building. Labs use large quantities of heated and cooled, one-pass air for ventilation and fume hoods; electricity to operate fans, lighting, and an enormous variety of specialized lab equipment; and water and process chilled water. Some lab facilities also use substantial quantities of natural gas.

Many improvements to facility design, including the computerized control of lab buildings, have lead to substantial energy savings in recently constructed lab buildings. However, many of these energy saving improvements are only fully effective if the people working in the labs "the end users" are involved in the energy conservation efforts. There are many things that you can do as both a laboratarian and energy consumer to reduce the overall consumption of energy in your lab:

• Turn off the lights when you leave for the day or for a meeting mid-day, especially if your lights do not have a setback (turn off themselves after a few minutes).
• Turn off all electrical equipment, when possible, when you leave for the day.
• Use timers to turn other pieces of equipment on and off.
• Turn off your computer's monitor when not in use. The monitor consumes over half of the energy used by the average computer. Even if you can't turn it off, always set your computer's energy savings features to put your computer and monitor "to sleep" after 10 minutes which cuts power use nearly to zero.
• Close the sash on your fume hood, especially if you have a VAV type fume hood. A typical five foot hood uses $5000 per year in heating/cooling, closing a VAV hood sash can cut the air volume and cost by two thirds!
• Promptly report room comfort conditions that are not normal. Rooms that are too hot or two cool may be due to faulty thermostats or other controls that are malfunctioning or have drifted from set-points resulting in wasted energy as well as uncomfortable conditions for you.
• Report drips of water from sink taps, chilled water connections or RO faucets.
• Buy energy efficient equipment. Look for the Energy Star logo or other statements that an electrical device is designed to be energy efficient. Each 1000 watts costs $850 per year in electricity. If the extra cost of a "high efficiency" unit can be paid for in 5-7 years or less, that is what you should choose.
• When purchasing natural gas powered or consuming devices, buy equipment that uses an electronic ignition instead of a pilot light. Pilot lights waste over 20 percent of the gas used in the United States.
• Use shades and blinds as provided to help keep your space cool on sunny days. The shade can reduce your peak cooling load in a south or west facing room by over 30%.

The money we save on energy costs is money we can invest in our core mission of Patient Care, Education and Research. Each of us can do our part and what we do matters.

Adapted from an article by Tom Shelley, Cornell Environmental Health and Safety
Prepared August, 2004; last revision on Dec. 7, 2005