1. The document outlines strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from University of Vermont buildings and laboratories by 2020 as part of the university's climate action plan. 2. Laboratories are major energy consumers due to fume hood ventilation requirements, with each fume hood using as much energy as 3.5 households annually. 3. The university is taking steps to increase energy efficiency through investments, educate occupants, source more renewable energy, and help develop community renewable infrastructure to achieve net zero emissions from buildings by 2020.

1. CLIMATE ACTION PLANNING for UVM LABS
A Project of UVM Office of Sustainability1, UVM Environmental Safety2,
UVM Capital Planning and Management3, UVM Office of the Vice President for Research
Background University of Vermont Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Saving Energy in UVM Lab Buildings
3
University of Vermont GHG
•Posner, S. , Stuart, R. , Thompson, G. , Smith, M.
a b a c
Emissions by Sector, 2009
Solid Waste
What you can do today
<1%
Line Losses -
Composting
-- Scope 1
1. Promptly report any building or facilities issues, such as ventilation problems, overheating,
Faculty/Staff
Commuters
4% -- Scope 2 or overcooling, to UVM Physical Plant Department. Call 656-2560 and press #1.
7%
• President Daniel Mark Fogel signed the Climate Commitment in 2007,
--Scope 3
Student Commuters
making The University of Vermont a charter signatory. There are now
2%
2. Use your equipment with energy in mind
more than 660 signatories nationwide • Whenever possible, close your lab’s fume hood sash
Heating
45% • Turn off lab equipment, such as biosafety cabinets, and
• Institutions commit to tracking and eliminating climate-changing Purchased
lights when they are not in use
Electricity
greenhouse gas emissions from specified campus operations. This 38%
Fleet • Use sleep mode on computers
2%
primarily means managing energy use by buildings.
Biogenic Emissions
• Commitment also means managing academic aspects of the university,
<1% Agriculture
2% 3. Consider energy when you buy new equipment
to “promote the research and educational efforts of higher education to • Review energy requirements of new equipment and inquire whether more efficient,
equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate” The Office of Sustainability used a standard protocol for measuring GHG accounts for all six major gases, higher performance equipment is available. Email questions to energy@uvm.edu
and categorizes emissions by “scope as shown above: • Choose EPA Energy Star equipment when possible
2009-2010 UVM Energy Education Project
• Scope 1 emissions are primarily from Heating, with a small amount from the fleet and cows. Facility greening strategies underway at UVM
As of 2010 these emissions are beginning to be regulated: entities like UVM that emit more than 25,000 UVM enforces a policy that all new capital projects and major renovations must achieve the
•In support of carbon neutrality, the Office of the Vice President for tons of equivalents must report to the EPA. Silver certification level of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy
Research, Environmental Health & Safety, and Office of Sustainability 7
and Environmental Design) , and must be formally commissioned (thorough check to be sure
are collaborating to focus on excellence and sustainability in research. • Scope 2 emissions result from our use of purchased Electricity from the Northeast electric grid, with systems operate as designed).
•Makes use of the longstanding Labs-21 program of the U.S. EPA and relatively low-carbon sources of electricity such as natural gas versus the coal used in much of the U.S.
the Department of Energy to improve the environmental performance.1 High performance lab buildings at UVM:
• Scope 3 emissions come from indirect sources including faculty, staff, and student Commuting; methane • Joseph E. Carrigan Wing: LEED Certified 2006
•Made possible through an anonymous gift received through Rocky
from landfilling our Solid Waste; and Line Losses from electricity being purchased from far away. • Marsh Life Science renovations improved HVAC
Mountain Institute . Supports a Graduate Research Assistant.
performance 2006
• Bertha M. Terrill Hall: LEED Silver 2008
• James M. Jeffords Hall: Targeting LEED Gold 2010, designed
to use 29% less energy than a conventional laboratory building
Heat Enthalpy Wheel for
University of Vermont Climate Action Plan What Does This Have to Do With Labs? • Given Building HVAC efficiency upgrades: upcoming heat recovery
Challenge: How can UVM reduce to net zero emissions Ongoing energy projects coordinated by the UVM Energy Management Office:
from buildings by 2020? • Heat recovery units in many highly ventilated buildings
5
100000 • Steam pipe upgrades and increased distribution of central chilled water
90000 Past Emissions Projected Emissions
80000 •Fume hoods are major energy consumers
UVM Emissions (CO2e)
70000
Other
•One average fume hood uses as much
60000
50000
Commuting
energy annually as 3.5 households Have a Bright Idea? Let us know.
•UVM has more than 400 fume hoods
40000 Electricity
30000
Let us know about your sustainable lab practices, and give us your ideas for new
20000 Agriculture
1 Fume Hood = 3.5 Households ways to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
10000 Heating Take our online survey-quiz to enter a drawing for another bright idea:
0 LED lightbulbs , the latest lighting technology
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
Take a tear-off card and email your ideas to sustainability@uvm.edu
Outside air
UVM is now drafting its first Climate Action Plan, and 2020 is under Lab building 6
Exhaust fan
discussion as a target date for climate neutrality.
Inside air
Major strategies identified to date:
Air inside lab is exhausted
1. Reduce energy use and increase efficiency through investment and through fume hood
Laboratories use 100% fresh air from
education, such as energy efficiency bonds and Eco-Reps. Outside air outdoors to control fire hazards and References
2. Increase percentage of energy from renewable sources. Students odors. This means that air in labs, which
1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy. 2010. Labs for the 21st century. Accessed January 11, 2010 at: www.labs21century.gov
created a Clean Energy Fund to begin this process. is treated to control temperature and 2 Thompson, G. and Mika, A. Forthcoming. University of Vermont Climate Action Plan. Available online at www.uvm.edu/sustainability
humidity, is quickly carried back 3 World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). 2004. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A corporate
3. Help build related community energy infrastructure and energy Intake fan accounting and reporting standard, revised edition. Washington, DC: WRI/WBCSD.
outside: the energy equivalent of 4 Fransen, T., Bhatia, P., Hsu, A. 2007. Measuring to Manage: A guide to designing GHG accounting and reporting programs. Washington, DC: WRI/WBCSD.
services, for community-wide benefit Heat or cool 5 Borchardt, J. K. 2009. Achieving Laboratory Energy Efficiency. Los Angeles: UCLA Institute of the Environment. Accessed December 9, 2009 at:
leaving your window open year round. www.ioe.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=3910
This graph shows a scenario of buying 100% renewable electricity in 6 Image based on “Sustainability at MIT: Fume Hoods.” Accessed December 7, 2009 at: http://sustainability.mit.edu/node/34
7 U.S. Green Building Council. 2010. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. Accessed January 11, 2010 at:
2015, renewable heating fuels in 2020, and offsets for other major
Posner, S. , Stuart, R. , Thompson, G. , Smith, M.
a b a c
www.usgbc.org/LEED
sources by 2025.
Presented by: Posner, S.1, Stuart, R.2, Thompson, G. 1, Smith, M. 3