The Labs21 Energy-Efficient Equipment Wiki: Goals, Design, and Use

David Heinzerling and Steve Greenberg, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

While energy efficiency standards for consumer appliances and electronics exist through the U.S. Department of Energy/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (DOE/EPA) ENERGYSTAR program, no such standards exist or are planned for laboratory equipment. Thus, laboratory equipment manufacturers are disinclined to focus on energy efficiency as a design goal, and consumers are at a loss when seeking energy efficient equipment. Additionally, manufacturers rarely publish energy efficiency information on laboratory equipment, and the information that is provided is of questionable validity.

The Labs21 wiki seeks to address these issues by serving as a clearinghouse for specific energy consumption data of laboratory equipment, obtained through both manufacturers and user tests. This efficiency/sustainability data score will act both as a resource for purchasing agents seeking efficiency information on specific product types and as an incentive for manufacturers to publish more energy use data and to design more efficient and sustainable products.

This presentation will detail the goals, design, and use of the Labs21 wiki. We will provide an overview of how the wiki achieves its goals and address questions regarding the design. Additionally, we will share equipment energy use data collected from various research facilities in California, demonstrating the various uses of the wiki.

Biographies:

David Heinzerling holds bachelor's degrees in civil engineering and Plan II from the University of Texas at Austin. He currently teaches algebra, geometry, and AP statistics at The Chinquapin School in Highlands, Texas. He is a participant in DOE's Academies Creating Teacher Scientists program, where he has researched energy use in laboratories and the energy efficiency of laboratory equipment. In addition to his teaching position, he is currently working to build and launch the Labs21 Energy Efficient Laboratory Equipment Wiki, which is an internet site dedicated to expanding energy-use and sustainability information on current laboratory products.

Steve Greenberg holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master's degree in Energy and Resources, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a registered mechanical engineer in California, a LEED® Accredited Professional, and a certified energy manager. Now a senior energy management engineer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), he has researched and applied energy-efficient building and industrial systems for a variety of clients on three continents over the past 27 years. He is currently working with the Laboratory's High Tech Buildings project, performing research on data centers, clean rooms, and laboratories, as well as with the laboratory's Facilities Division on sustainable new building and retrofit projects on LBNL's own buildings.

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