The Safe and Sustainable Labs (S2L) program is a joint initiative between Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS), Department of Facilities (DOF), Office of Sustainability (MITOS) in alignment with MIT’s Climate Action Plan. We utilize the Environment, Health, and Safety Management System (EHS-MS) to strengthen and introduce sustainable initiatives to campus, communicate updates on sustainable projects and opportunities, as well as identify new areas of improvement, to help reach the Institute’s goals in MIT’s Climate Action Plan.
How to make your lab more sustainable?
There are some simple actions that you can take to make your lab more sustainable, environmentally friendly and efficient.
Managing a lab’s inventory is critical to mitigating unnecessary purchases and waste generation. Review the lab’s current inventory and inventories that are shared between other labs prior to purchasing. When purchasing new reagents, purchase the minimum quantities of reagents that are necessary for the work.
Consider using eco-friendly lab equipment and lab consumables.
MIT’s preferred lab supply vendors (vendors on B2P) have labels indicating what products are green and you can use filters in the catalog to search. To learn more, check out this guide on how to find sustainable products in B2P.
Check out the resources for greener products and environmental impact of laboratory products in Accountability, Consistency, and Transparency (ACT Label Database).
Purchase from on campus VWR Stockroom whenever possible.
Recycle Styrofoam shipping materials through Facilities.
Chemical fume hoods are exhausted enclosures in research laboratories that when properly used minimize exposure to hazardous gases, vapors, and dust that may be encountered in laboratory processes. Because they move conditioned air out of the lab continuously, fume hoods are highly energy-intensive. An older fume hood in a MIT lab can use more than 3 times as much energy annually as a single-family home. The energy to filter, move, cool and/or heat air is typically the largest energy demand in most lab facilities.
Closing fume hood sashes is one of the most impactful things to do to save energy in the laboratory. Lowering the sash on variable-air-volume fume hoods can reduce the exhaust rate of the fume hood to its minimum.
Install a MIT-designed Motion and Sash Height Alarm (MASH) device to alert the laboratory users when chemical fume hoods have been left open and unattended.
The Safe and Sustainable Labs Service Team was recently involved in a project to help hibernate fume hoods in the Chemistry undergraduate teaching lab. Fifty-eight fume hoods can now be hibernated with the push of a few buttons. To learn more, check out this article published by the Chemistry Department!
Plug load makes up about 20% of energy consumption in a lab. For U.S. labs, reducing plug load by just 10% is the equivalent of taking around 650,000 cars off the road.
High energy consumers in the lab:
Equipment that has big fan components (e.g., biosafety cabinets)
Equipment that has heating or cooling elements (e.g., drying ovens, incubators, water baths, chilled centrifuges, ovens, and heating blocks). Maintaining a set temperature, whether hot or cold, requires a lot of energy. Turning off these types of equipment when they are not in use can save a significant amount of energy, up to 10 kWh/day.
Equipment that pulls a vacuum (e.g., vacuum pumps)
Turn off the equipment when not in use. Simply unplug it, invest in power strips to make it easy to turn multiple small pieces of equipment off all at once or use outlet timers to schedule auto-turns on/off.
Design or modify experiment to make it more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Consider waste and hazard prevention during design, rather than disposing, treating and handling waste after a processor material has been developed.
Consider substituting chemicals with greener alternatives. Learn more about Green Chemistry tools and resources.
Keep an updated chemical inventory. With a well-maintained chemical inventory, less over-purchasing will lead to less chemical waste.
Share chemical inventories among labs leading to reduction or complete elimination of unnecessary purchases and minimizing waste.
Participate in chemical exchanges coordinated by EHS. Offer unwanted chemicals to other users that could potentially use them. Chemical exchange between users saves time and money on both ends: remove and retrieve chemicals at lab’s convenience and no disposal nor purchasing costs.
Consider using a solvent recycler if your lab uses lots of solvents and generates solvent wastes.
One ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer can consume as much energy as a single-family home every day (25 kWh/day). Good management practices on cold storage can significantly reduce energy consumption. Learn more about cold storage tips.
Buy or replace the existing freezers with any Energy Star certified lab refrigerators and freezers. Take advantage of an incentive programs provided by Eversource.
Set the ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers to -70°C instead of -80°C can use up to 40% less energy.
Participate in International Freezer Challenge, a friendly competition aims to promote efficient and effective sample storage for laboratories around the world.
Consider energy and water-efficiency when purchasing autoclaves. Choose the right-size of autoclave. If you don’t need a large autoclave, use a smaller one instead.
Consolidate loads. Only run autoclaves when they are full. Don’t run an autoclave to sterilize a single box of pipette tips.
Autoclaves consume 84 kWh per day. Specifically, large, steam-jacketed or medical grade autoclaves are massive energy consumers. Putting autoclaves into an energy conserving or stand-by mode when not in use.
Don’t let water sources run when they don’t need to be running. Only run equipment that uses water like glassware washers and autoclaves, when they’re full.
Instead of running water continuously to cool a reaction, use a closed-loop water system or recirculating water bath.
In order to make purified water, it takes about 3 liters of water to make 1 liter of deionized water. Only use purified water when needed.
Offer surplus of equipment, supplies and chemicals that are in good conditions to other potential users instead of disposing it.
Participate in and donate to equipment and supplies through Rheaply.
EHS offers pipette tip boxes and plastic conical tube racks recycling services. Check here for more details.
Attend “Safe & Sustainable Labs Lunch and Learn” workshops
Certification Program
If your lab is taking actions as mentioned above, you are working towards a sustainable lab. Earn recognition by certifying your lab and receive lab-specific recommendations to improve your operations.
The Safe and Sustainable Labs (S2L) program is a joint initiative between Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS), Department of Facilities (DOF), Office of Sustainability (MITOS) in alignment with MIT’s Climate Action Plan. We utilize the Environment, Health, and Safety Management System (EHS-MS) to strengthen and introduce sustainable initiatives to campus, communicate updates on sustainable projects and opportunities, as well as identify new areas of improvement, to help reach the Institute’s goals in MIT’s Climate Action Plan.
How to make your lab more sustainable?
There are some simple actions that you can take to make your lab more sustainable, environmentally friendly and efficient.
Managing a lab’s inventory is critical to mitigating unnecessary purchases and waste generation. Review the lab’s current inventory and inventories that are shared between other labs prior to purchasing. When purchasing new reagents, purchase the minimum quantities of reagents that are necessary for the work.
Consider using eco-friendly lab equipment and lab consumables.
MIT’s preferred lab supply vendors (vendors on B2P) have labels indicating what products are green and you can use filters in the catalog to search. To learn more, check out this guide on how to find sustainable products in B2P.
Check out the resources for greener products and environmental impact of laboratory products in Accountability, Consistency, and Transparency (ACT Label Database).
Purchase from on campus VWR Stockroom whenever possible.
Recycle Styrofoam shipping materials through Facilities.
Chemical fume hoods are exhausted enclosures in research laboratories that when properly used minimize exposure to hazardous gases, vapors, and dust that may be encountered in laboratory processes. Because they move conditioned air out of the lab continuously, fume hoods are highly energy-intensive. An older fume hood in a MIT lab can use more than 3 times as much energy annually as a single-family home. The energy to filter, move, cool and/or heat air is typically the largest energy demand in most lab facilities.
Closing fume hood sashes is one of the most impactful things to do to save energy in the laboratory. Lowering the sash on variable-air-volume fume hoods can reduce the exhaust rate of the fume hood to its minimum.
Install a MIT-designed Motion and Sash Height Alarm (MASH) device to alert the laboratory users when chemical fume hoods have been left open and unattended.
The Safe and Sustainable Labs Service Team was recently involved in a project to help hibernate fume hoods in the Chemistry undergraduate teaching lab. Fifty-eight fume hoods can now be hibernated with the push of a few buttons. To learn more, check out this article published by the Chemistry Department!
Plug load makes up about 20% of energy consumption in a lab. For U.S. labs, reducing plug load by just 10% is the equivalent of taking around 650,000 cars off the road.
High energy consumers in the lab:
Equipment that has big fan components (e.g., biosafety cabinets)
Equipment that has heating or cooling elements (e.g., drying ovens, incubators, water baths, chilled centrifuges, ovens, and heating blocks). Maintaining a set temperature, whether hot or cold, requires a lot of energy. Turning off these types of equipment when they are not in use can save a significant amount of energy, up to 10 kWh/day.
Equipment that pulls a vacuum (e.g., vacuum pumps)
Turn off the equipment when not in use. Simply unplug it, invest in power strips to make it easy to turn multiple small pieces of equipment off all at once or use outlet timers to schedule auto-turns on/off.
Design or modify experiment to make it more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Consider waste and hazard prevention during design, rather than disposing, treating and handling waste after a processor material has been developed.
Consider substituting chemicals with greener alternatives. Learn more about Green Chemistry tools and resources.
Keep an updated chemical inventory. With a well-maintained chemical inventory, less over-purchasing will lead to less chemical waste.
Share chemical inventories among labs leading to reduction or complete elimination of unnecessary purchases and minimizing waste.
Participate in chemical exchanges coordinated by EHS. Offer unwanted chemicals to other users that could potentially use them. Chemical exchange between users saves time and money on both ends: remove and retrieve chemicals at lab’s convenience and no disposal nor purchasing costs.
Consider using a solvent recycler if your lab uses lots of solvents and generates solvent wastes.
One ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer can consume as much energy as a single-family home every day (25 kWh/day). Good management practices on cold storage can significantly reduce energy consumption. Learn more about cold storage tips.
Buy or replace the existing freezers with any Energy Star certified lab refrigerators and freezers. Take advantage of an incentive programs provided by Eversource.
Set the ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers to -70°C instead of -80°C can use up to 40% less energy.
Participate in International Freezer Challenge, a friendly competition aims to promote efficient and effective sample storage for laboratories around the world.
Consider energy and water-efficiency when purchasing autoclaves. Choose the right-size of autoclave. If you don’t need a large autoclave, use a smaller one instead.
Consolidate loads. Only run autoclaves when they are full. Don’t run an autoclave to sterilize a single box of pipette tips.
Autoclaves consume 84 kWh per day. Specifically, large, steam-jacketed or medical grade autoclaves are massive energy consumers. Putting autoclaves into an energy conserving or stand-by mode when not in use.
Don’t let water sources run when they don’t need to be running. Only run equipment that uses water like glassware washers and autoclaves, when they’re full.
Instead of running water continuously to cool a reaction, use a closed-loop water system or recirculating water bath.
In order to make purified water, it takes about 3 liters of water to make 1 liter of deionized water. Only use purified water when needed.
Offer surplus of equipment, supplies and chemicals that are in good conditions to other potential users instead of disposing it.
Participate in and donate to equipment and supplies through Rheaply.
EHS offers pipette tip boxes and plastic conical tube racks recycling services. Check here for more details.
Attend “Safe & Sustainable Labs Lunch and Learn” workshops
Certification Program
If your lab is taking actions as mentioned above, you are working towards a sustainable lab. Earn recognition by certifying your lab and receive lab-specific recommendations to improve your operations.
