Labs for the 21st Century, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories.
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Labs21 UK has been established by the Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement (HEEPI) project to support more sustainable design and operation of laboratories in Britain. It draws, with permission, on the experience and materials of the Labs21 initiative in the USA.

HEEPI is currently working on a 3-year programme, S-Lab (Safe, Successful and Sustainable Laboratories) which aims to create more sustainable laboratories. It has 3 streams of work:
Laboratory design (working in partnership with owners and suppliers, and in collaboration with the US Labs 21 initiative);
Laboratory operation (working closely with lab managers and technicians, and in collaboration with the UK HEATED project and its members who are focused on the professional development of that community); and
Laboratory users (working closely with staff and students, and the relevant UK Higher Education Academy Subject Centres).

We also have additional projects on greening scientific computing and videoconferencing - see the SusteIT section of our main web site for further details.

    

 


Sustainable Labs Events

Please visit our main web site for the presentations (where available) from previous events, case studies and other materials, and details of future activities.

Safe, Successful and Sustainable Laboratories - The Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, 29/11/09, Queen's University Belfast. Click here for presentations.

Cutting Energy Use with Variable Air Volume (VAV) in Labs, Hospitals and Other Heavily Serviced Spaces - New examples and research in the UK and USA , 14/5/09, U
niversity of Cambridge. Click here for presentations.

The Sustainable Laboratory - How academics, lab managers and technicians can make an environmental difference in their workplace, 01/05/09 University of Edinburgh. Click here for presentations.

Greening STEM - Sustainability in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Curriculum, 28/04/09 University of Bradford. Click here for presentations.

The Sustainable Laboratory - How academics, lab managers and technicians can make an environmental difference, 27/04/09 Royal Society of Chemistry, London. Click here for presentations.

Click here for the cover article for Science magazine featuring Allen Doyle, University of California, speaker at the 3 events above.

Designing Laboratories for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability, University of Manchester, 2 March 2009. Click here for presentations.
Energy Efficient AND Safe HVAC for Labs
- US Experience and Lessons, School of Pharmacy, 3 March 2009. Click here for Presentations.

Making Laboratories and Data Centres More Sustainable, Best Practice in Europe and North America, University of Luxembourg, 5 March 2009. Click here for details.


UK Publications

Labs21 UK has produced a Position Paper which summarises the main lessons for UK labs based on US Labs21 experience. This is based on three events which took place in September 2006:

Conference on High Performance Buildings, University of Glasgow, featuring the Cardiovascular and Biomedical Research Centre and other Award-winning laboratories.
Designing Sustainable Laboratories, a one day, 'hands on', specialist training course at the University of Leeds.
Creating Sustainable Laboratories, a workshop in Central London.

Labs 21 US Conference

The Labs21 2010 conference will take place in Albequerque, New Mexico. Click here for more details or visit the conference website.

The Labs21 2009 Annual Conference took place September 2009 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

See a 2007 Nature article on Labs21.

 
 

 


Our Partners
Labs21 UK is based on an American initiative led by the Environment Protection Agency and Department of Energy, and with a number of American partners and supporters. Labs21 US is co-sponsored by the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories.

Materials on this Site
Get detailed design assistance in the Design Guide.

Join the US Labs21 Network
Join a vibrant e-mail network of nearly 4,000 laboratory professionals, including many outside the US.