StoreSmart Sample Management Subgroup: Maximizing freezer space efficiency to minimize freezer need

Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder

StoreSmart is a workgroup comprised of members from universities, government agencies, and industry partners focused on the efficient use of laboratory cold storage for the benefit of energy conservation and improving cold sample storage. Because there are numerous opportunities for energy savings related to laboratory cold storage (temperature choice, HVAC considerations, energy efficient unit selection, monitoring, preventative maintenance, etc.), subgroups have been created to divide up efforts for the most progress possible in the least amount of time. This presentation is focused on the work that has been accomplished over the past year or so by the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) Green Labs Program for the StoreSmart Sample Management subgroup. Topics covered will include 1) results from our efforts to find and encourage the use of storage containers & products that maximize space efficiency in laboratory freezers and 2) results from our efforts to engage lab members to clear out & dispose of samples no longer needed, organize & inventory units for efficient use of space, and consolidate & share units to reduce the number of units needed.

Biography:

Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar is the manager of the CU Green Labs Program at the Univ. of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder), a program she has been building & creating since 2009. She has a doctorate in Analytical Chemistry and 15 years of laboratory research experience within the fields of Biochemistry, Analytical Chemistry, & Organic Chemistry. Working as a research scientist, she saw a real need for a program to engage scientists in conservation. With the birth of her twin daughters & her hope for their future, grew her passion to promote change & create a program focused on resource conservation in labs which could serve as a model for other campuses to adopt.

 

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