Developing a Green Labs Program

Alicia Murchie

Environmental Health & Safety

Michael Ochs

What is a Green Lab Program

Program Development

Collaboration and Partnerships

Challenges

Marketing & Promoting

Outline

Why Green Labs?

Labs for the 21st century

• At Harvard, labs account for less than 25% of square footage and over half of energy use.

• Laboratories in the U.S. are energy-intensive facilities that use anywhere from 30 to 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and 75,000 to 800,000 Btu of natural gas per square foot annually.

Two aspects: Infrastructure and Occupant Engagement A Green Labs Program promotes integration of sustainability

practices and resource conservation within lab activities. Stand alone lab program or part of a larger sustainability

commitment?

What is a Green Labs Program?

Sustainability Principles• Reducing the

environmental footprint of campus operations

Green Building Standards• Healthier Labs,

Offices and Classrooms

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goal• 30% Below 2006

Baseline By 2016, Including Growth

Harvard’s Sustainability Commitments

Staff & Time BudgetDevelopment of existing

programs? Part time employee to several Full-TimePrimary or alternate assignmentsPosition creation

Possible Solutions:

Time Management and DelegationRecruiting HelpStudent WorkersVolunteersSelf Assessments

How much money do I need?Beginning with minimal budgetsStaff, Office supplies, Marketing materials, Website

Possible Solutions:

Student Volunteers, Organizations, Staff volunteersPartnerships with internal depts. and outside vendors

• Reduction in resources typically = reduction in costs

• Use existing case studies and resources for your specific project.

• Rely on hard data, but don’t forget the less measurable impacts: productivity, happiness…

• Start small, what can you do with your current resources?

• Measure results before, during and after

• Get feedback and maintain an open dialogue

Making a Business Case

Who has a program?

Understanding your audience…• Research, Research,

Research!

• Time Crunch

• Lack of resources/infrastructure

• Varied Backgrounds

• High turn-over

• Limited and variable training

• Data-driven

• Oft- misunderstood

Establish credibility and foster trust

• Create rapport by demonstrating understanding and respect for researchers’ constraints and concerns.

• Use data to your advantage- do your homework!• Collect feedback beforehand, listen carefully & address

concerns. • Track changes and continuously monitor results

Understanding your audience, part II..

Make it easy to do the right thing

• Clearly define policies and expectations, integrate into trainings

• Provide ample support and infrastructure that requires little input from researchers.

• Allow flexibility; consider specific needs of different labs.• Keep it simple, start with success

Understanding your audience, part II..

Group Activity

1. If you were developing a green labs program on your campus what are the top three activities that you think would get the most participation from your lab personnel?

2. If you already have a program, what are the top three activities your campus does well regarding sustainability in labs?

Program DevelopmentI want to develop a program…now what?

• Scope of program

• Webinar

• Reach out to your peers (other universities)

• Survey the participants• Examples of questions

Areas of most interest

Convenient locations for recycling and programs in

the labs.

Printing on double sided paper.

Areas of least interest

Occupancy sensors on room lighting.

Replace mercury filled thermometers with alternatives.

You may find amusing results…

Do you use water for cooling, vacuum aspirators, or any continuous flow process?

Do you think there are opportunities for conserving water in your lab?

Make it easy for people to participate!

What is probably the most important item to get people to participate in your program?

Who will develop and manage the program?

Sustainability Office or another dept.

What will the lab staff need to do?

Certification criteria

Use your survey results

Self-assessment vs. Green Program Assessors

Checklist and Application

I want to develop a program…now what?

Can your Safety Department help?

Who is the Safety Dept.?

How does lab safety (i.e. chemical, biosafety, fire) contribute to the program?

Design conservation efforts and maintain employee safety.

Lab Registration

Lab Safety Registration

InternalExternal Collective Impacts

Collaboration

Office for Sustainability

“A Catalyst for Change”

Schools Faculty

Students

Student Clubs/Orgs

HUIT

Human Resources

Campus ServicesHPAC

Finance

Allston

Capital Planning &

Project Mgmt

President, Provost &

EVP

Staff

Students

• Over 6,000 Undergraduates

• Over 13,000 Graduate Students

Staff• Over 14,000 Harvard

Employees

Faculty• Over 2,400 Faculty

Members at 12 Schools

Internally: Build Relationships!

Your biggest asset!Useful for interacting with labsNetwork of employees

◦Know what’s going on, who is where and doing what

Safety TrainingsInspections

Safety Dept. Collaboration

• Universities with programs• Other Organizations (Green labs group on

Google)• Government (Labs21, DOE) • Utilities (energy rebates)• Vendors• Leveraging our collective resources

Lab equipment wiki & energy data Unified voice for big-picture goals

External

• Hazardous materials & processes• Long, sometimes erratic operating hours• Equipment is too specialized• Researchers difficult to approach• Labs don’t care about anything but research• Lack of time• Lack of awareness of consumption• Labs not responsible for energy, trash,

water

Common Barriers (lab specific)

1. Identify barriers you’ve encountered or expect to in your lab program • What has prevented you from working with labs

up until this point?• What barriers have you encountered or do you

anticipate encountering?

2. Take a few minutes to write down your individual top 3, then we’ll get into groups.

Group Exercise: ID Barriers

Get attention on your campus with lab staff?• Orientations, Symposiums, Lab Meetings• Training• Post Doc Students (add to CV),• Performance Metrics• Food, shirts, lab coats

Groups willing to help…Green Team, Committees, Internal Sustainablity Network, Compliance Officers, Student Clubs

Marketing and Promotion

Branding

Branding

Materials• Videos• Website – simplified web url• Newsletters and Events• Business cards

Marketing and Promotion

green-labs-planning@googlegroups.com◦ 110 members

University websites◦ Harvard◦ Arizona State University◦ UC Davis◦ UC Santa Barbara◦ Michigan◦ Duke

Labs21 website and conferenceS-Labs (UK)

AASHE (Assoc. Advancement of Sustainablity in Higher Ed.)ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning

Engineers)

Resources