Shut the Sash: Behavior Changes Campaigns in Labs at Harvard University

Jaclyn Emig, Harvard Green Campus Initiative

Many universities have installed variable air volume (VAV) fume hoods in recent years with the expectation that these hoods use less energy than traditional constant volume hoods—if researchers shut their sashes when finished working. However, hood users often forget to shut the hoods or in many cases don't know they should keep the sashes closed, resulting in substantial energy waste. To counter this problem, the Harvard Green Campus Initiative (HGCI) has teamed with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Medical School (HMS) to run "Shut the Sash" campaigns in laboratories with a predominance of VAV hoods.

This presentation will review the process by which we developed the campaigns, the challenges we faced when implementing the campaigns, and the lessons learned. We intend for the audience to come away with a better understanding of the value of behavior change campaigns in labs and concrete ideas about how to implement such campaigns in their own institutions, academic or otherwise.

We approached the problem using proven community-based social marketing techniques, such as education, competition, monitoring, and incentives to modify researcher's behavior and get them in the habit of shutting their sashes. We also developed various methods for accurately tracking and monitoring progress depending on the particular building systems, using electronic controls data where available, and visual sash height audits in the buildings where controls data was not available.

Since the first pilot project was started May 2005, we have run "shut the sash" campaigns in eight buildings with 360 hoods, reaching hundreds of principle investigators (PI's), and thousands of lab researchers through these efforts. As a result of the campaigns we have a seen a major shift in hood usage behavior. We estimate savings of about $280,000 and greenhouse gas emissions reduction of three million pounds per year, about $600 to $700 per hood.

Labs21 Connection:

Our approach to energy conservation efforts in Harvard Labs, highlighted in the fume hood "Shut the Sash" campaigns described in this application, is noteworthy because of the unique partnership between the Harvard Green Campus Initiative and the school Administrations and Operations Departments which allows the University to invest in both facility and technical upgrades, as well as educating and involving building occupants in energy conservation and environmental programs.

We developed the fume hood campaigns building upon the behavior change expertise and experience of Green Campus staff, using proven community-based social marketing techniques that are known to be more effective than information campaigns alone. We think this was a major driver in the success of the program, and would be of great value to other institutions who understand the importance of involving lab users in energy and other conservation efforts.

In addition, the fume hood campaigns we would like to present on reflect several of the principles of the Labs21 Approach. The campaign focuses on lab user safety, energy conservation, and demonstrates the kind of inter-department collaboration among operations staff, environmental health and safety, researchers and PI's, and sustainability professionals, that is necessary for successful sustainability efforts.

Lastly, we hope to build upon this success by engaging lab users in other campaigns in the future, and potentially establishing lab "green teams" within departments to foster other environmental behaviors such as recycling, purchasing energy-efficient equipment, and reducing chemical waste. This is not something we have anywhere else, and would like to discuss these opportunities with other Labs21 attendees.

Biography:

Jaclyn Emig joined the Harvard Green Campus Initiative team in January of 2005 as the Program Coordinator for the Longwood Green Campus Initiative. Jaclyn works with the Harvard Medical School, School of Public Health, and School of Dental Medicine to reduce environmental impacts from campus operations and educate students, staff, and faculty in the energy intense lab buildings about ways they can reduce energy use and environmental impacts.

Jaclyn comes from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs where she spent three years as the Project Manager for the State Sustainability Program, a comprehensive "Greening the Government" effort to help reduce the ecological footprint of state agency operations. As Project Manager, Jaclyn worked with state agencies on specific pilot projects, tracking and reporting of environmental impacts, developing guidance and outreach materials, and planning for sustainability. Jaclyn received a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1999.

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