Burnaby Campus: Green Labs

About Green Labs

Science buildings are the greatest users of energy on campus. The South Science Building and Shrum Chemistry Centre are some of the single highest energy consumers.

To support the work on building retrofits done through the BC Hydro Continuous Optimization program which aims to reduce energy use in buildings, a pilot green labs program was launched in in the South Sciences Building in 2010. In 2011, Shrum Chemistry was brought on board after its newly completed LEED Gold certified renovations.

The program works with an overall goal of ‘helping to achieve the Sustainability Advisory Committee’s 5-year goal of reducing total energy use by 2% per year’. The total value of energy savings for both buildings is expected to reach $25,000 per year.

The key purpose of the Green Labs Program is to raise awareness among building occupants in order to help achieve the goal of 2% reduction in energy consumption. Some objectives of the Green Labs program are:

Creating Energy Committees for each building comprised of students, faculty, and staff from the building, as well as representatives from Facilities Services and SFU Sustainability.
Creating a single mail list for the building's permanent occupants for easy communication on sustainability initiatives.
Ensuring energy conservation is part of the orientation process for new science students, instructors, and lab technicians.
Where appropriate, review and revise employee job descriptions and standard operating procedures to include energy management (e.g., cleaning staff, security staff, purchasing RFPs, etc.).
Developing communication materials for energy conservation training and communication.
Identifying leaders in each building and providing them with tools to assist them in spreading energy saving efforts throughout the building.

To see how much energy is being consumed at this very moment, check out SFU's Energy Dashboard

Energy Reduction Challenge

Join us in taking the Energy Reduction Challenge from November 12 - 23. Occupants of the South Sciences Building and Shrum Chemistry Centre are encouraged to take efforts to keep their energy use to a minimum through keeping their fume hood sashes shut, turning off lights when not needed, shutting down computers and other electronics when not in use, and more.

Prizes will be given to occupants in labs that follow the behaviour change suggestions, and both research and teaching labs (teaching technicians and staff) are eligible. Prizes include:

a meal on us at Club Ilia for the top labs in both SSB and Shrum C (max 15 per lab), courtesy of SFU Sustainability Office
gift cards to the award winning Vij's Restaurant in Vancouver, courtesy of BC Hydro
gift cards to the SFU Bookstore your favorite spots on campus, courtesy of SFU Ancillary Services

Facilities and Sustainability Office staff will be monitoring fume hood and lighting usage in labs when the labs are occupied and unoccupied. We will be stopping by the labs periodically throughout the challenge weeks at different times of day, so make sure fume hood sashes are raised and lights are on only when they need to be!

You can follow along on the Energy Dashboard to track energy reduction in your building!

Curious how your lab can win this challenge? Easy.

Below are the three easy components that your lab can do to win! See our Point Criteria sheet for a further breakdown.

Simple Lab Registration (10 points)

Lab fills out small form registering their lab in the challenge, and returns it to MBB Department front desk (SSB8000 level) if in South Science Building or the Chemistry Department front desk (SSC9000 level) if in the Shrum Chemistry Centre. You should have received on of these slips today. If not, please reply to soprojects@sfu.ca.

Lab Innovation (10 points)

Have your lab members committed to something innovative that saves energy, water, or diverts waste? We want to know! Email soprojects@sfu.ca with your innovation and receive the points!

Energy Spot Checks (4 x 20 points)

There will be four "spot checks" happening during the challenge; two each week, and most likely outside of business hours. During each of these checks, we will be checking to see if the lab is occupied, if the lights are on or off, and if your fume hood sashes are shut and/or on standby mode. Don't worry! We can do this all remotely through our Digital Data Control (DDC) system, so we will not be entering your labs.

Get Involved

We need your help!

We’re always looking for people to join the SSB and ShrumC Energy Committees or help create Energy Committees in other buildings! The committees act as communications liaisons with Facilities Services. Meetings are held every two months, with time requirements for participants being quite low and manageable. Free lunch is provided at Green Labs Energy Committee Meetings! Please volunteer to represent your lab or office by emailing sustainability@sfu.ca.

Green Labs Guide

For tips on sustainable practices and ways that you can help save energy in science labs at SFU, see our full-length Green Labs Guide