One of the reasons laboratories are so energy demanding is
because they house a great deal of heat-generating equipment.
Laboratory equipment energy use constitutes between 10 to as
much as 50 percent of the total energy use in a laboratory (not
including associated cooling energy use). However, there has
been little attention paid to this as an area for efficiency
improvements, partly because of the real and perceived lack
of energy-efficient choices in lab equipment, and the lack of
data on energy use characteristics of lab equipment.
Energy intensive equipment typically found in laboratories includes:
· Fridges and freezers, including ultra-low temperature
freezers
· Electron Microscopes
· Nuclear Magnetic Resonance equipment
· Mass Spectrometers
· Scanners
· Plant Growth Cabinets
· Fume cupboards
· Autoclaves
· Glass washes
· Computers
From a US Labs21 discussion forum, it was decided that of the
plug-in equipment, refrigerators and freezers were among the
heavier energy users. Click here for more on fridges/freezers.
Equipment is not only important in terms of its direct energy
use. Wrong assumptions about power rating, their siting within
a laboratory and how and when equipment is used all affect the
design and sizing of HVAC and other building services. Click
here for more on rightsizing
and grouping of equipment.
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