How to make your lab work more sustainable using the ECOMAPPING(TM) method

Networking & Seminars Green Lab
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**Organised by: ** @NIUB
**Date/Time: ** 2022-03-22T15:00:00Z→2022-03-22T16:00:00Z

**Location: ** Online
**Description: ** Laboratory work is resource and cost intensive: a laboratory building consumes three to five times as much energy as a normal office building, a -80°C freezer requires as much energy as a single family home or even more per year and research laboratories generated an estimated 5.5 million tons of plastic waste worldwide in 2015.

There are a lot of tips and checklists how to make your lab work more sustainable. BUT: every lab is different. A tip might be useful for one group but not for another. Focusing on a good freezer management is helpful for a molecular biology group but not necessarily for an analytical chemistry group.

That’s where EcomappingTM steps in*. With this method, you take a close look at your own environmental impact in the lab, identify potential for improvement on site, and create your individual action plan .
**Link: **

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Really fantastic Webinar today. Thank you @NIUB for such an informative session.

Here are some resources Kerstin sent out. I hope it’s ok with her that I post them here for everyone’s benefit.

Read about the ecomapping method:

Links from the presentation:

Plastic waste study: https://doi.org/10.1038/528479c

Waste by RT-PCR-tests: Plastic residues produced with confirmatory testing for COVID-19: Classification, quantification, fate, and impacts on human health - ScienceDirect

Carbon Footprint through bioinformatics: The carbon footprint of bioinformatics

Study by the university of Harvard about energy consumption at their university: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12053-016-9503-2

Study from California about “Market Assessment of Energy Efficiency Opportunities in Laboratories”:

Study about a microbiology lab at the university of Edinburgh: A case report: insights into reducing plastic waste in a microbiology laboratory

Information about ACT: https://act.mygreenlab.org/act-database.html

Information about EGNATON CERT can be found in this brochure (p 6): https://www.chemanager-online.com/restricted-files/173845

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Thanks @Fanny for your feedback and of course you can post all the information! It is open to everyone :grinning:
If there are any questions regarding the ECOMAPPING method or to another topic, please feel free to come back to me. Best, Kerstin
PS: I will surely repeat this webinar - so if you’re interested, just drop me an email and I’ll inform you (and if it is okay, I’ll post it again here)

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