Category: Green Labs

WashU Receives Green Labs Award at International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Conference   

WashU was commended for the success of its Green Labs Program at the 2024 International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) conference, held this year in St. Louis. The conference convened architects, engineers and sustainability professionals to discuss energy efficiency and waste reduction in research laboratories.   The “honorable mention” award recognized the program’s rapid growth over […]

New Informational Materials to Support Labs

Written by Office of Sustainability student associate, Sophie Keyser, Class of 2026 This past summer, Environmental Analysis student Sophie Keyser interned for WashU’s Environmental Health and Safety Department, working to develop educational material and targeted strategies aimed at chemical waste reduction across our Danforth and Medical Campuses. The educational materials are intended for distribution amongst […]

Celebrating Sustainability Champions at the Green Carpet Awards 

The annual Green Carpet Awards were hosted on November 7, 2023 at the Knight Center on the Danforth Campus. Sustainability champions from across the university gathered to celebrate significant projects and programs that are enhancing sustainability efforts and impact. The program hosted the following speakers, who recognized numerous sustainable achievements between 2022 to 2023.  Phil […]

Green Labs Pilot Certification a Success

Written by Alicia Hubert and Heather Craig, WUSM Sustainability Team  Over the past few months, labs across both the Medical Campus and the Danforth Campus have been testing out the new certification checklist for the Green Labs Program. Labs have been able to commit to the program since early 2020, but this is the first […]

Green Labs Program: The 2022 International Freezer Challenge

Written by Alicia Hubert, WUSM Sustainability Lead and Green Labs Program Coordinator  Research labs rely on a wide range of appliances and electronics to complete their research and function on a daily basis. Chances are, your lab has at least one -20 freezer, -80 freezer, or even a -150C freezer, if not several of each. These […]

Shutting the Sash: The Easiest Green Labs Habit

By Jarea Fang  Labs account for over 1.6 million square feet of space across WashU’s campuses, and in some cases, they can use 5 to 10 times the amount of energy an office space does. Lab energy use comes from built-in equipment and systems, such as specialty HVAC units, humidification systems, and more; these systems, for the most part, […]

Green Labs Spotlight: The Kaufman Lab

The lab of Dr. Charles Kaufman at the Washington University School of Medicine is a tight-knit group of researchers studying the mechanisms that control the onset of melanoma cancer and identifying cancerous cells as early as possible. They are also deeply committed to sustainability on campus and in their personal lives. As regular participants in […]

Green Labs Spotlight: The Ley Lab

Since the launch of the Green Labs program in January of 2020, dozens of laboratories across WashU campuses have taken action to reduce their environmental impact. The Green Labs Spotlight series aims to recognize labs that adopt exemplary sustainability practices, celebrate them for their efforts, and inspire other labs to take action. The first featured […]

St. Louis: the New Hub for Sustainable Laboratories

In late 2019, a group of 10 individuals from a variety of organizations and companies in the St. Louis region came together to form the board of the new St. Louis Chapter of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL). St. Louis is a hub for scientific research and has some of the world’s best […]

The Green Labs Program Gains Momentum

With over 200 people in attendance, the Green Labs Program was officially kicked-off with a party earlier this month.  Most of our lab supply vendors, local lab sustainability groups, and departments presented their options for greening our lab spaces. Some vendors displayed high-efficiency lab equipment, others had samples of products made with recycled content, and […]

Green Labs Program Launches at WashU

Accounting for over 1.6 million square feet of campus space and using between 2.5 and 5 times the amount of energy as office spaces, labs represent an important opportunity to reduce the university’s carbon emissions and expand our multi-faceted effort to address climate change. Building upon the success of the Green Office Program, WashU is […]

WashU Phasing in High Efficiency Ultra Low Temperature Freezers

Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers (ULTs) are a critical piece of equipment in many research labs and are designed to protect valuable samples. Capable of reaching temperatures as low as -85 degrees Celsius (or -121 degrees Fahrenheit), ULTs require a significant amount of electricity to operate — more than a typical American home — and are thereby […]