Laboratory Water & Energy Efficiency Program (LWEEP)
As a building type, the laboratory demands our attention:what the cathedral was to the 14th century, the train station was to the 19th century, and the office building was to the 20th century, the laboratory is to the 21st century. That is, it is the building type that embodies, in both program and technology, the spirit and culture of our age and attracts some of the greatest intellectual and economic resources of our society.
A laboratory is also a prodigious consumer of natural resources. For example, laboratories typically consume 5 to 10 times more energy per square foot than do office buildings. And some specialty laboratories, such as cleanrooms and labs with large process loads, can consume as much as 100 times the energy of a similarly sized institutional or commercial structure. The University of Colorado (CU) has more than 400 laboratories on its Boulder campus.
What is LWEEP?
LWEEP is a collaboration between the CU Facilities Management and the CU Environmental Center. The mission of LWEEP is to promote efficient use of water and energy in laboratories without compromising safety or the integrity of world-class research conducted in CU labs. LWEEP is focused on the largest consumers of resources in laboratories:
-
LARGE PLUG LOADS
- WATER FOR COOLING
LWEEP strives to accomplish its goals by:
- upgrading inefficient equipment and removing unnecessary equipment
- identifying large power consumers in individual labs through laboratory assessments
- working with laboratory members to determine options to reduce consumption by large power consumers
Laboratories are the most resource intensive users of all buildings on campus.
Laboratory Assessments by LWEEP
Often times a few pieces of equipment are responsible for the vast majority of an individual laboratory’s plug load. The purpose of a Laboratory Assessment is to:
- identify the largest consuming pieces of equipment in a laboratory and
- discuss possible options, if any, with PIs and lab members for reducing consumption (ranging from equipment replacement to behavioral changes).
When solutions are identified for equipment found in numerous laboratories on campus, then a program to target that specific equipment type will take place campus-wide.
If you would like to learn where the largest energy consumers are in your lab, invite LWEEP to conduct an assessment of your laboratory. We look forward to hearing from you.
Be an Eco-Leader in your Lab
Biochemistry Eco-Leaders. Back row left to right: Anne Gooding (Cech Lab), Andrew Olson (Kuchta Lab), Colby Stoddard (Batey Lab), Sarah Altschuler (Wuttke Lab), Betsy Litman (Ahn Lab), Janet McCombs (Palmer Lab). Front row left to right: Doug Chapnick (Liu Lab), Cristina Sandoval (Sousa Lab), Theresa Nahreini (Cell Culture Facility)
Lab Eco-Leaders are volunteers who want to address climate change by participating in LWEEP and encouraging the efficient use of energy and water in his or her lab.
More specifically, a Lab Eco-Leader is a technician, graduate student, or post-doctorate who helps with an assessment of resource consumption in their lab, identifies possibilities for using energy and water more efficiently in the laboratory especially among the greatest consumers, implements efficiency measures in the laboratory, educates other lab members on efficient practices, solicits ideas/feedback from other laboratory members, and reports items to the Principal Investigator (PI).
If this sounds like something that interests you, please contact Kathryn Ramirez below. It would be great to have you on board.
Click here for ideas on efficient resource use in laboratories.
Contact Info:
Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar
Efficiency Manager for LWEEP
Kathryn.Ramirez@colorado.edu
303-859-2068
