Alliance Between Facilities Management, Environmental Health and Safety, and the University of Colorado Green Labs Program Enhances Conservation Opportunities In Laboratories at the University of Colorado Boulder

Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar, Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder
Shannon Horn, P.E., LEED AP®, University of Colorado Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) has approximately 400 laboratories on its campus. Since the creation of the CU Green Labs Program at CU Boulder in 2009, there has been ongoing and expanding outreach to campus laboratories and laboratory departments with the purpose of:

  1. Raising awareness about the extensive use of resources in laboratories.
  2. Motivating laboratories to conserve resources.
  3. Delivering the message that CU Green Labs Program in partnership with facilities management (FM) and environmental health and safety (EH&S) is here to work with laboratories to find solutions (and funding) to minimize laboratory resource consumption.

Having EH&S partnership is particularly important for laboratory principal investigators and laboratory departments who want to be assured that EH&S is on board with regards to safety consideration. FM partnership is essential for providing expertise (engineers, electricians, plumbers, etc.), funding, and additional safety considerations to implement projects that CU Green Labs and EH&S cannot do alone.

Conservation proposals can come from any party (laboratories, laboratory departments, FM, EH&S, or the CU Green Labs Program). For example,

  • Through CU Green Labs Program discussions with a laboratory, it was discovered that 11 diffusion pumps could be on timers with the help of FM for large energy and water savings and a six-month payback period on investment.
  • When a project came to FM engineers to retrofit a small space to handle the plug-load and heat rejection of an Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) freezer, CU Green Labs reached out to the researcher per the engineer's request. It was discovered that a -20 degrees Celsius freezer (and the ability to share ULT freezer space in another laboratory) could meet the researcher's need instead.
  • When a laboratory renovation project with an externally vented biosafety cabinet (BSC) was requested, EH&S pointed out that, based upon the laboratory's use of the BSC, an externally vented BSC was not necessary and could be replaced with a air-purifying BSC instead.

This alliance for conservation has resulted in increased connectivity and communication between campus laboratories, FM, and EH&S for the common goal of minimizing resource use. Laboratory members (and laboratory building mangers), who might have had ideas for conservation in the past but lacked the time, incentive, or backing to pursue such ideas, now have an outlet to have their ideas considered for feasibility by FM and EH&S, with the help of the CU Green Labs Program. FM engineers and electricians who wanted to suggest alternatives to laboratories, but might have found it prohibitive to do so because of time limitations and inexperience with laboratory research needs, now have an avenue to propose such ideas to laboratories through CU Green Labs and its network of eco-leaders.

Biographies:

Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar, Ph.D., is the manager of the CU Green Labs Program at CU Boulder, a program she has been building and creating for the past two years. Dr. Ramirez-Aguilar has 15 years of laboratory research experience within the fields of biochemistry, analytical chemistry, and organic chemistry. Dr. Ramirez-Aguilar graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the College of William & Mary, and was the recipient of an American Chemical Society Analytical Division Fellowship for her Ph.D. studies at CU Boulder in analytical chemistry. Dr. Ramirez-Aguilar received a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health for postdoctoral studies in biochemistry at CU Boulder, where she stayed on as a researcher and laboratory manager after her fellowship ended. Working as a research scientist, Dr. Ramirez-Aguilar saw a real need for a program to engage scientists in conservation. Following the birth of her twin daughters and her hope for their future, Dr. Ramirez-Aguilar's passion grew to promote change and create a model program focused on resource conservation in laboratories.

Shannon Horn is a professional engineer and a LEED AP, with a Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University. Ms. Horn is a campus mechanical engineer for CU Boulder, where she holds a diversity of responsibilities from commissioning agent and authority having jurisdiction, to supporting energy conservation projects and initiatives campuswide. Ms. Horn has more than seven years of experience as a consulting engineer for a diversity of clients that are primarily focused on industrial, laboratories, data centers, institutional, high-tech, and educational facilities. Ms. Horn has nine years of experience working as facilities engineer for a semi-conductor/inkjet facility and a higher education learning institute. Regardless of position or job title, Ms. Horn's objective and passion have been oriented towards high-technology environments and how to reduce energy without compromising form, fit, or function.