CU Green Labs Newsletter

University of Colorado Boulder

February 2016

In This Issue

UC-Santa Barbara Shared Instrumentation

Hoenger, Detweiler Freezer Share

Q & A With Theresa Nahreini

National Highlight: UC-Santa Barbara Shared Instrumentation Site

In 2013 at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Amorrette Getty with the LabRATS program and in collaboration with the campus' Office of Research, spearheaded an equipment sharing initiative at UCSB with the paired goals of saving the environment and increasing research efficiency. It was an identified problem that, often times, different laboratories would require the same equipment. Multiple labs would then end up spending precious research dollars purchasing the same instruments, doubling purchase costs as well as maintenance costs and time and effort, sometimes, for instruments that were only used a fraction of the time in each laboratory. The solution UCSB Sustainability proposed to alleviate this issue was the Shared Instrumentation program.

Through the Shared Instrumentation website, which can be found at www.sharedinstrumentation.ucsb.edu, researchers can do a campus-wide search for equipment by equipment type, department, facility, and availability for use. This powerful tool provides researchers, both on and off campus, with the opportunity to discover what resources already exist for them on their own campus, promoting the conservation of research dollars and materials.

Additionally, such equipment sharing programs have the power to attract new talent to the University by displaying what equipment options would be available to potential graduate students, postdocs and faculty. The program also has the power to promote collaboration between the University and industrial and federal labs, potentially bringing in additional funding to the University.

The UCSB Shared Instrumentation program was inspired by The Materials Research Facilities Network. A nation-wide program of similar design built by Getty for the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Materials Research Facilities Network can be found at www.mrfn.org.

For more information on the benefits of equipment sharing, please visit the CU Green Labs website.

Do you know of a lab or individual taking action to promote energy, water or material conservation in the lab? Contact the CU Green Labs Program today to share your story with us!

CU Green Labs Website
greenlabs@colorado.edu
(303)-735-5612

The CU Green Labs Program has been equally funded by CU Boulder Facilities Management and the Environmental Center since 2009.

Lab Action Highlight: Hoenger, Detweiler Freezer Share Promotes Energy Conservation

Following the failure of the Hoenger Lab's ultra low temperature (ULT) freezer in 2012, Principal Investigator (PI), Andreas Hoenger, was in need of ULT freezer space to house his lab's samples. The Green Labs Program was able to connect Hoenger with another lab in the same department that had unused space in its ULT freezer.

Corrie Detweiler, PI of the Detweiler Lab, previously reached out to the Green Labs Program advertising space in an ULT chest freezer. A former PI's samples, that were to be discarded, occupied half of the space in the freezer. In an attempt to conserve energy, Detweiler was willing to offer that newly available space for use by another lab.

Both labs operate within the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology making the proposed freezer share a plausible solution for Hoenger, who was able and willing to consolidate his samples to half a freezer's volume.

According to metering performed by the Green Labs Program, the Hoenger Lab's former freezer was typically using 15 kWh/day. This is roughly equivalent to the electricity used by a small house. By engaging in a freezer share with the Detweiler Lab instead of replacing the defective freezer, the Hoenger Lab was able to eliminate that 15 kWh/day electricity consumption.

Recently it was determined that a different model of ULT freezer would be more appropriate for the space occupied by the freezer and would be more effective for sharing between labs. As a result, the Detweiler Lab will be placing a different model of ULT freezer, already existing within the department, (pictured above) in the current space in the upcoming months. This model is designed to have two isolated compartments which will benefit sharing by enabling each lab to operate independent of the other's samples.

The Green Labs Program is very excited about this action and applauds the Hoenger and Detweiler labs for their continued actions to conserve energy in their labs.

Q & A With Theresa Nahreini From the Cell Culture Facility

Green Labs: How did you become involved with the Green Labs Program?

Theresa Nahreini: I've known [Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, CU Green Labs Program Manager] for many years, since she was working in the lab. Since then we've been taking lots of small steps within the laboratory. You have to be patient and make sure actions won't be detrimental before taking them.

GL: What actions have you implemented within the Cell Culture Facility to promote conservation?

TN: Biosafety cabinets that aren't externally vented are turned off. We use a source of clean ethanol from a lab on campus and recycle polyethylene #2 and #4 plastic film in addition to traditional materials. A lot of items we use are single use, so we like to recycle whatever we can.

GL: What sort of efforts would you like to see the Cell Culture Facility take in the future?

TN: Our next big effort is to update our cryostorage inventory! We are exploring a few options at the moment, but we need to invest time in order to have room for new users. This is an important green lab initiative because we wouldn't have to purchase another unit and would be saving a lot of money in addition to liquid nitrogen costs.

GL: What do you believe would be a good starting point for labs interested in creating a more environmentally friendly lab?

TN: It can seem overwhelming, but it is all about taking little steps where possible. People should try to be aware of what they're throwing into the garbage. Things that are recyclable often get mistakenly thrown [in the garbage], so education and awareness is a good place to start. Kathy at Green Labs understands what actions are practical based on her previous lab experience, so she is a good resource and can help [with financial incentives], too.