University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
IN-19: Green Laboratory Program

The Green Labs Committee meets quarterly to advance sustainable practices. A capstone project led by the co-chairs of the committee resulted in the publication of Green Labs at Carolina: A Best Practices Guide. The guide includes a checklist and recommendations related to energy and water conservation, waste reduction, and purchasing. Posters on lab recycling and energy management now hang in university labs. Environment Health and Safety includes green labs training in their safety trainings. The campus energy manager hosted a student intern to assess plug load energy use in laboratories and make recommendations for improvements. UNC's Energy Management Department has reprogrammed the software in many campus autoclaves so that they shut down when not in use. This saves both water and energy. UNC's Design Guidelines specify vacuum pumps to generate vacuums in labs rather than water based aspirator systems. Lab-specific recycling infrastructure has been expanded. Many labs have recently added boxes for both glove and plastic film recycling. Equipment was purchased to crush 5 gallon cans from campus labs to make them easier to recycle. The number of air changes per hour in many campus labs has been reduced down to six. Lab personnel are encouraged to buy the smallest possible quantities of chemicals, to clearly label all chemical containers, to share chemicals with other labs, and to notify EHS when chemicals require disposal or labs are closed out. 70 labs across campus participated in the the International Freezer Challenge in spring 2019 and received an honorable mention from My Green Lab and I2SL.