The Benefits of Having a Sustainable Lab
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Labs are facing increasing pressure to be more efficient, more cost-effective and get drugs to market faster. Combine this with a desire by consumers to align themselves with ‘green’ and eco-friendly suppliers, and it’s no surprise many pharmaceutical companies and university labs are choosing to make their labs sustainable.
Here’s why…
- Labs consume 3-4 times more energy than offices per square meter.
- A typical research university lab consumes 40-60% of all energy on campus – 1⁄4 of that is from lab equipment alone.
- Whether life science or chemistry lab – the amount of energy used by ‘the basics’ is significant. 70% of energy saved when replacing old equipment with energy efficient ones.
- On average, a single fume hood consumes the same amount of energy as three family homes every day. 40% of energy can be saved just by lowering the sash on a fume hood.
Freezers are a major pain point
- An average ULT freezer consumes as much as a single house-hold (about 20kWh/day)
- Defrosting can contribute to approximately 10% in energy savings
- Changing from -80°C to -70°C can save approx. 40% in energy savings
PUTTING SUSTAINABILITY INTO PRACTICE YIELDS RESULTS
Over 200 LABS participated in the in 2017 across North America:
- University of California, San Diego – 41 labs collectively saved 500,000 kWh/year from participating in the Freezer Challenge – this comes to $50,000 savings annually.
- CDC’s combined labs saved an estimated 367,400 kWh/year in 2018 from the Freezer Challenge.
- The energy savings due to this Challenge are equivalent to reducing carbon emissions by ~ 1,200 metric tons.
- Together, they saved approx. 2.7 million kWh/ year and discarded more than 200,000 samples.
You can read our full article about the benefits of a sustainable lab here.
Or if you’d like to know more about how our software can help you to achieve additional cost savings and make your lab a smarter one then get in touch with our experts today: contact@idbs.com
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