March 4, 2013

Lab Renovations Yield Big Energy Savings

Energy Makeovers for Labs Create Breathing Room in the Bottom Line 1

Nick Merrick, U. of California

Gross Hall at the U. of California at Irvine houses energy-efficient labs.

Enlarge Image
close Energy Makeovers for Labs Create Breathing Room in the Bottom Line 1

Nick Merrick, U. of California

Gross Hall at the U. of California at Irvine houses energy-efficient labs.

By Allie Bidwell

At research universities across the country, laboratories are often the largest source of energy costs and are where many institutions turn to reduce their carbon footprints. But tight budgets and the high cost of construction often cause colleges to look to remodeling their labs rather than building new ones to meet certain sustainability standards.

Several colleges have focused their recent energy-saving efforts on looking at the way labs "breathe"—how a building is