This summer, two buildings: Earth & Physical Sciences (EPS) and Sciences Laboratory, worked with FM: Energy & Engineering to pilot a Smart Labs program.  Smart Labs is a utility incentive program through Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which provides funding for implementing energy-saving solutions in laboratory buildings within the PG&E service area. Completion of this program will result in safer labs, fewer carbon emissions from reduced energy use, and lower utility bills. In addition, Smart Labs offers free services from technical consultants and a utility incentive of $0.10/kWh and $0.50/therm. ECO completed behind-the-scenes work this year; additional changes to building systems will be completed by Fall 2021.  

Together with building stakeholders such as Department Safety Coordinators, lab managers, and Principal Investigators, Energy & Engineering is working toward making our lab buildings safer, more efficient and setting a new paradigm for lab buildings across our campus.  Two consulting groups, 3 Flow and kW Engineering and the BMS Mechanical shops, assist in identifying and implementing energy-saving measures.  

A significant amount of energy is expended to condition and ventilate Laboratory buildings to make them comfortable and suitable for safe research. Ventilation rates, or the amount of air supplied to each space, are often standardized across all campus labs without regard to actual space needs. The Smart Labs program recognizes this as an opportunity for energy savings. In utilizing the Smart Labs process, the team will evaluate every single lab space within a building, determine a customized ventilation recommendation, and provide tools to track space use over time so the team can make changes to adapt to lab needs. Bringing 100% outside air into the laboratory ensures a much safer environment and has the added benefit of generating a large amount of energy savings.  

A top project goal is to ensure safe ventilation rates within lab spaces while maximizing energy savings. Building staff should also see benefits from the program, including improved comfort levels within areas and fewer chronic odor issues. Another positive outcome is that this change will extend the lifetime of equipment such as fans and pumps because they will not have to work as hard to ventilate and condition spaces.  

According to Sam Cole, Energy Project Engineer, one significant challenge was taking a new approach to manage ventilation rates. “We have to come up with new ways to streamline the ventilation assessment process and methods for tracking changes to labs over time. Although not completely solved, we are making good progress towards our goal of having something easy that incorporates with existing tools and workflow processes.”  

We look forward to seeing the results of this pilot project in EPS and Science Lab!