2011 Symposia

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The Labs21 2011 Annual Conference included several symposia, which were detailed presentations on topics of interest to the Labs21 community with dynamic panel discussions.


EH&S and O&M—Unlike Oil and Water, They Can Mix Together

Tuesday, September 20

Summary

A working group of environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) professionals organized this symposium with I2SL to promote the synergy between laboratory safety, efficiency, sustainability, and operations. This symposium provided a key first step toward eliminating common myths and misperceptions among operators, energy managers, and EH&S staff. During the symposium, EH&S professionals provided case studies and lessons learned about the processes they used to integrate EH&S into their institutions' operations and maintenance protocols. This session also served as a foundation for collaboration and further discussion on continuous monitoring of sustainable performance in laboratories, which took place during a Morning Roundtable Session on Wednesday, September 21.

1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Part 1 of 2, Session A5

Moderator: Chuck Frost, University of California, Berkeley

3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Part 2 of 2, Session B5

Moderator: Phil Wirdzek, I2SL

 

Overcome Being Overwhelmed by Sub-metering

Tuesday, September 20

Summary

Sub-metering, which can produce an overwhelming amount of data, may seem daunting. Attendees didn't let that stop them from learning how it can optimize daily laboratory and high-tech building operations, energy management, and user behaviors, resulting in safe work environments and cost savings for their facilities. Coordinated by I2SL's Laboratory Sub-metering and Benchmarking Working Group, this symposium offered several new case studies highlighting the advantages of energy sub-metering and how data gathered through sub-metering can be utilized to achieve your facility goals. Symposium participants also benefited from a tutorial on the Labs21 Energy Benchmarking Tool and had the opportunity to comment on a draft sub-metering charette process which guides owners and users through the development of their sub-metering specifications which, when implemented, meet the needs of operators, users, and owners.

1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Part 1 of 2, Session A6

Moderator: Michael Dymarski, University of Toronto

3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Part 2 of 2, Session B6

Moderator: Jim Coogan, Siemens Building Technologies

 

Beyond Energy Conservation—The Climate Neutral Research Campus Symposium

Wednesday, September 21

Summary

Campuses are leading the way in climate action. The Climate Neutral Research Campus Symposium explored what tools are necessary to transform a campus into an example of energy efficiency. This is done through a straightforward approach to conservation: Reduce energy use as much as possible and then incorporate the cleanest energy sources available. This symposium educated attendees on research campuses' buildings and energy systems that are models of efficiency and climate action with a focus on completed projects, lessons learned, and measured results. These campuses' efforts range from finding ways to finance energy projects, to specific improvements like those to a central chilled water plant, to creating a holistic environment where people can live, work, play, and educate while still remaining carbon neutral. By implementing best practices, these campuses are seeing the dream of climate neutrality becoming a reality.

9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Part 1 of 3, Session C5

Moderator: Otto Van Geet, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  • Welcome and Introductions
    David Boomsma, Federal Energy Management Program, U.S. Department of Energy

1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Part 2 of 3, Session D5

Moderator: Randy Lacey, Cornell University

3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Part 3 of 3, Session E5

Moderator: Julie Higginbotham, Laboratory Design Newsletter

 

DataCenters21 Symposium

Wednesday, September 21

Summary

The DataCenters21 Symposium, now in its fourth year at the Labs21 Annual Conference, continued the discussion on reducing data center energy consumption through new and innovative methods. Throughout the past three years, the symposium has showcased professionals' knowledge of and experience in creating and maintaining sustainable, energy-efficient data centers, particularly those interrelated with laboratories. Data center significance has continued to grow as concepts like cloud computing and adaptability have become more prevalent. These facilities are an asset for computational scientific research, health care, and testing, and they involve many of the same air and energy management engineering challenges as laboratories. The DataCenters21 Symposium provided attendees with insights into topics such as North America's most efficient data center, how distributed liquid cooling is advancing data center health and safety, and additional relevant information based on data center professionals' hands-on experience with space limitations, retrofits, and air-and water-side economizing. 

1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Part 1 of 2, Session D6

Moderator: William Lintner, U.S. Department of Energy

3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Part 2 of 2, Session E6

Moderator: Dale Sartor, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

 

Sustainable Strategies Ensure Healthy Hospitals

Thursday, September 22

Summary

Hospitals represent a class of high-energy-use facilities that can benefit from many of the same energy-saving techniques and products developed for the laboratory environment. This symposium presented various approaches to sustainability efforts in hospital settings, including their challenges and successes. Various aspects of energy and water use in hospitals were discussed, including a recent energy and water consumption and cost benchmarking survey of more than 100 hospitals. Energy optimization case studies were also examined for lessons learned, as will case studies on the energy economics of sizing air handlers at a lower face velocity in hospitals. The balance between patient safety and energy efficiency was addressed, along with the challenge of balancing the variety of environments with differing control requirements that generally compose a hospital facility. Finally, best practices for hospital HVAC design to minimize airborne diseases and combined heat and power hospital applications were discussed.

9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Part 1 of 2, Session F2

Moderator: Kenneth Crooks, Phoenix Controls

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Part 2 of 2, Session G2

Moderator: Jim Plourde, Schneider Electric

 

Finding Ways to Support Today's High-Tech O&M Professional

Thursday, September 22

Summary

The demand for skilled building operators and engineers is evident in the Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act of 2010—requiring all federal building personnel to be trained in energy-efficient operations—and the demand for training in the marketplace due to the associated energy savings and positive impact on an organization's bottom line trained personnel can bring. Although there is growing evidence that a skilled workforce and high-performance building processes are fundamental to a profitable corporate energy management strategy, current training frameworks lack performance specifications that identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities operations and maintenance (O&M) staff need to implement energy management goals.

This symposium used various case studies and discussions to examine the current organizational cultures that influence the ability of a building operator to operate and maintain their facilities' sustainably. Participants also explored the skill sets that have successfully allowed building operators to effectively and sustainably operate their high-tech facilities.

BOC logo

In addition to the continuing education credits opportunities offered through I2SL (AIA, P.E., and LEED AP), this session was approved for 4.0 continuing education hours toward maintenance of Building Operator Certification (BOC)®.

9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., Session F5
Exploring Current Practices
Part 1 of 2

Moderator: Michael Bobker, City University of New York

  • Facilitated panel session with Operations and Maintenance (O&M) technicians and facility management on current O&M practices

Panelists:

Tim Angerame, UtiliVisor
Rob Fisher, Bridgewater State University
Chuck Frost, University of California, Berkeley

Lawrence Hicks, Brown University

Phil Lichtenwalner, EMD Millipore

Dennis McDavitt, Brown University

Paul Musco, Cranston Public Schools


11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Session G5
Laboratory O&M Training Needs and Opportunities
Part 2 of 2

Moderator: Peter Crabtree, Laney College

 

Connecting Laboratory Operations Staff with Researchers and Engaging Scientists: Collaborations in Conservation

Thursday, September 22

Summary

This half-day symposium, coordinated by the University of California (UC), Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, focused on an often underestimated—and thus often ignored—source of sustainability in laboratories and high-tech facilities: the occupants. Laboratory users, who spend their time and energy intensely focused on their research, frequently overlook the impact that their equipment and research has on the environment. In addition, laboratory users are typically not included in campus sustainability efforts because of the complexity of their work and equipment, and the commonly-held impression that such sustainability efforts will interfere with their research. This symposium shared recent work performed by UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, CU Boulder, and other entities to reduce resource consumption in laboratories by educating users and involving those users in the sustainability process. The speakers highlighted the positive and significant effect that smart user behaviors and collaborative approaches between scientists and operations have had on resource conservation, plug loads, HVAC, lighting, and solid waste reduction. The speakers provided attendees with tips, links, and lessons learned that they could take back to their own facilities and researchers.

9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., Session F6
Part 1 of 2

Moderator: Heidi Travis, University of Pennsylvania

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Session G6
Part 2 of 2

Moderator: Ralph Stuart, Cornell University

 

Agenda Home | Pre-Conference Events | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Morning Roundtables | Technology Demonstrations | Symposia | Posters
Tool-Torials | Working Group Meetings | Conference Overview (31 KB, 1 pp)