Energy

To avoid unnecessary consumption of electricity, SV Sustainability provides free clocks and timers. These devices can automatically turn equipment off and on at defined times (clocks), or after a defined period (timers). They are particularly useful for laboratory water baths and some microscope bulbs, and outside the laboratory for research findings display set ups, or printers.

✉️ Contact us if you are interested!

• Keep them and use them to fill up empty space in fridges and freezers. It helps maintain thermal inertia and therefore reduces temperature fluctuation.

Depending on the types of samples handled in your lab, there might be room to turning up the setpoint long-term storage temperature without harming your sample’s integrity and significantly decreasing your energy consumption.

Some points to consider:

• The amount of energy saved by implementing any temperature adjustment will depend on the freezer model, brand, year of manufacturing, and door opening frequency.
• The more frequently you open your freezers, the higher their average temperature.   
• ⚠️ Increasing the temperature of your ULT* can result in a shorter intervention time in case of an electricity outage. The decision can be made by the unit head, who must inform the SV Workshop of the change.

Some studies have suggested turning up the ultra-low temperature freezer from -80 to -70 °C, find below some references: 

• ‘Efficient ULT freezer storage’ – Edinburgh University
•  ‘Minus 70 is the new 80’– Radboud University
• ‘Long-term protein storage’ – BMC

*ULT = Ultra-low temperature

• Lower the sash of fume hoods all the way down between each use: “Shut the sash: fume hood ventilation in laboratories” – UC Berkeley & UCLA
• Turn off culture cell hoods between each use. 

Even if SV EPFL infrastructures have a centralized ventilation system, is it good practice to lower the sash of fume hoods in case you go working in other institutions.

In the case of ULT freezers, their location has a large impact on their electricity consumption.

• Avoid placing them near a heat source
• Place them in a well-ventilated area

Electricity consumption according to ULT and room temperature:

Reference model: PCB MDF-DU702VH-PE VIP ECO (EPFL B072642), with a setpoint temperature of -80°C