Director of laboratory sustainability consultancy Green Light Laboratories, Andy Evans, will present new insights into lab sustainability at the UK’s largest annual trade show for the laboratory industry, Lab Innovations.
Through the trade show’s Sustainable Laboratory, Evans will shed light on how labs can, and should, make their operations greener.
Lab Innovations’ Sustainable Laboratory will showcase cutting-edge equipment and processes used to reduce the laboratory industry’s environmental impact. The equipment exhibited has been accurately tested in partnership with renowned research institutes Imperial College London, the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford.
By testing products within a lab environment, the Sustainable Laboratory aims to demonstrate the impact that people can make on lab sustainability in three key ways — using new, innovative technology, selecting the best model for a lab’s specific requirements and considering how changing human behaviour in labs can positively impact running costs.
The Sustainable Laboratory will give lab operators insight into fume hood usage and configuration, cold storage practice, autoclave usage and changes in workflows, and advise on how labs can minimise their energy use, running costs and carbon emissions.
Evans is the director of laboratory sustainability consultancy Green Light Laboratories, an independent consultancy with over 12 years’ experience in the delivery of sustainable lab practices. Its core vision is to offer lab operators clear solutions to make all their practices sustainable without negatively affecting the science or the scientists.
In addition to the Sustainable Laboratory, Evans’ will also present the latest data on lab sustainability in a presentation in the show’s Insights and Innovation Theatre. Evans’ presentation is focussed on the theme of being disruptive to be sustainable. It will present new, unseen data on lab equipment and practices in order to generate new perspectives on the sustainability of commonly used lab products, as well as insights into how procurement practices can be made more sustainable.
Some of the key themes that Evans will discuss include improvements to fume hood technology, advice on selecting the most sustainable products for specific laboratory applications and an exploration of the new standards for lab product energy usage and performance.
Evans explained: “The sheer volume of equipment that generates heat, containment and exhaust devices and essential uninterrupted power supplies to protect irreplaceable experiments in a lab means that a facility typically consumes five times more energy and water per square foot than a standard office building.
“Laboratories are essential to fostering innovation, but looking to the long term, we must make operations more sustainable. Technology is constantly advancing, which can be confusing, but by presenting the audience at Lab Innovations with the most recent data on lab equipment sustainability, I hope to encourage lab operators to disrupt their current setup of products and processes to be more sustainable.”
