University of California, Merced
IN-19: Green Laboratory Program

In cooperation with faculty, the Office of Sustainability and EH&S, the Green Labs program is currently the most sustainable approach for greening laboratories and their operations. The program works directly with Principal Investigators to maintain a “green lab” via a Green lab assessment. The assessment is an online tool that a lab can take. Once they have taken the assessment, student interns will review the assessment, score it, and put together a list of actions items that can improve their scores. The interns will then work with principal investigators, EH&S, Facilities Management and the Office of Sustainability on their action items from the assessment to implement sustainable practices.

1. Energy conservation and efficiency, e.g. fume hood ("shut the sash") and freezer maintenance programs: The assessment evaluates plug loads and appliances in the lab that can be upgraded to more efficient equipment including refrigerators and freezers.

2. Water conservation and efficiency: Program evaluates water consumption and usage in labs, equipment, signage, and leak reports.

3. Chemical use and disposal: Program evaluates chemical fume-hood uses, hazardous chemicals.

4. Materials management, e.g. green purchasing guidelines and recycling and reuse programs: The program evaluates recycling of equipment, plastics, metals.

5. Training for lab users on sustainable practices: The training and consultation are provided to lab users, along with specific actions recommendations provided through assessment and walk-through.

Provided is the green lab assessment form used by the campus and created by my GreenLab.