Webinar: Does Your Lab Building Measure Up? A New Pilot Labs2Zero Energy Score and Other Tools to Decarbonize Labs

2023 set records as the hottest year in modern history, and devastating events such as the unparalleled wildfires in Canada underscored the urgent need for action. In response to the considerable emissions generated by laboratories, the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) launched the Labs2Zero initiative in 2022. This initiative aims to accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s laboratory facilities.

Our presentation will introduce the comprehensive Labs2Zero program, whose components will include the Energy and Emissions Performance Scorecard and an automated report generator designed to propose strategies for reducing energy usage and carbon emissions in both new and existing lab buildings. The program will also offer score certification as well as training and accreditation.

With the support of over 30 sponsors and the collaboration of more than 100 Technical Advisory Council volunteers, I2SL has begun to roll out these program features. A pilot energy score was released last fall, and several new tools will be released this spring. These include a location-based operational emissions score and a first-of-its-kind tool for benchmarking embodied carbon in laboratory buildings. We will describe these new features in detail, and then look ahead to the future of the program.

Speaker

Gordon Sharp, President, I2SL Gordon Sharp is the President of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), a non-profit organization dedicated to decarbonizing and making laboratories more sustainable across the world. Gordon is also the inventor of many important, widely applied technologies that have had a significant impact on lab sustainability and energy efficiency such as sash sensing VAV fume hood and laboratory airflow controls, the electronic venturi airflow valve, and demand based control of lab ventilation. He is also the founder of two major companies in the lab sustainability field: Phoenix Controls, a well-respected laboratory airflow controls company, and Aircuity, a leader in healthy and energy-efficient ventilation for laboratory and commercial buildings. The many technologies invented by Gordon at Phoenix Controls and Aircuity are today saving well over $2.5 billion annually in energy use and cutting over 7.5 million metric tons annually in carbon emissions from thousands of commercial and laboratory facilities around the world. ​

Gordon has over 35 years of experience and over 35 patents covering energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, laboratory controls, and even airflow-based kinetic artwork. Along with his efforts to decarbonize lab buildings, Gordon also founded and is the President of Airflow Kinetics, which creates large, airflow-based kinetic sculptures that are mesmerizing, educational, and designed to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of airflow and building ventilation.

Gordon is an MIT graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering. He is an ASHRAE Fellow and has been an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, and has served as a voting member of the ASHRAE Standard 170 on Healthcare Ventilation, the ANSI Standard Z9.5 on Laboratory Ventilation, the ASHRAE TC9.10 committee on Laboratories and the TC9.11 committee on Clean Spaces. He has also testified before the U.S. Congress on the topics of climate change and energy efficiency.

Alison Farmer, Secretary, I2SL Alison is a former research astrophysicist who is dedicated to saving our home planet by bringing energy efficiency to lab buildings. Alison has worked in both consulting and lab owner’s roles and serves as Secretary of the I2SL Board of Directors. She was a 2018 recipient of the I2SL Go Beyond Award. ​

Alison earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from the University of Cambridge in England and a PhD in astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).