Walk-Through
Background
PI
Name
Phone
Email
Main Point of Contact for Assessment
Name
Phone
Email
Main Point of Contact from LabRATS
Name
Phone
Email
Department
Laboratory
Name
Building
Room #
Date Assessment
Started
Completed
Lab Occupancy Hours and Users
Description of Lab and Research
Conducted Within
What Safety Concerns should we be
aware of in this laboratory?
What experiments are running?
What are your lab occupancy hours?
Plug Load and Equipment:
CONDUCT EQUIPMENT TOUR OF THE LAB with EQUIPMENT INVENTORY SPREADSHEET
General Equipment Notes
Is most of the lab powered down
when not in use? What isn’t, and why
does it stay on?
Are lab users/managers willing to
assess their usage practices and make
changes?
Yes
No
Could your lab use signage to explain
under which conditions equipment
must be left on or whether
something is in use?
Yes
No
Has the lab checked for energy saving
modes on any of the equipment?
Yes
No
Would the lab like stickers to signify
which equipment can be placed in an
energy saving mode?
Yes
No
Do all of the computers enter sleep or
hibernation after a period of nonuse?
Does anyone leave monitors on?
Yes
No
Which pieces of equipment do you
believe are the large energy users in
your lab? Are there any that are off
right now but usually on that we
should look at?
What equipment CANNOT be
unplugged?
Does anyone in your lab ever use
incubators as freezers?
Does your lab have any fridges or
Cold Sample Storage
Yes
Yes
No
No
freezers for sample storage?
If no, skip to the next section
Yes
Can we look into your freezers to see
if there is any accumulated frost, how
the supplies are organized, and what
percentage of the space is used?
Do freezers in your lab have AutoDefrost?
Yes
No
Yes
No
How often are the freezers defrosted? When was the last defrost?
Does your lab have freezers or
refrigerators with exterior coils?
Yes
No
Do you know how to clean the coils? How often are they cleaned?
Is there a specific person who cleans the coils?
Does your lab have a lot of excess
freezer or refrigerator space?
Do you see excessive freezer
or fridge space?
What temperature are your freezers
and refrigerators set to?
What type of regular maintenance
does your lab perform on freezers
and refrigerators?
Does your lab share freezer space
with another research group?
Does your lab have an inventory of
samples in freezer from the last year?
Does your lab have a system to keep
the inventory of freezer contents upto-date?
Does your lab have a particular
person who is responsible for regular
maintenance of freezers and
refrigerators?
Has your lab ever considered a cold
storage alternative? Have you ever
run a trial?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Model/Description
Sample Types
Yes
Temperature
No
Who is this person?
Lighting: The next thing we want to look at is the lighting in this space.
How do you feel about the
lighting in your lab? Does it meet
your needs? Is there too much?
Record comments on
lighting
Do you see any occupancy
sensors?
Do you see task lights?
How many? Do people
use them effectively?
Do lab members know what
each light switch does?
Would your lab like labels to identify what each light does?
Do occupants turn off the lights
when they leave the lab?
Are there windows in the
lab? Are the shades drawn
or open?
Are there more than one
light switch per panel?
Are switches marked to
indicate their function?
Does your lab have a shutdown
procedure for when the last
person leaves?
Daily Startup and Shutdown Procedures
Yes
No
Yes
Is there a checklist with a
shutdown procedure posted by
the door?
Yes
No
Does your lab have a startup
procedure for the first person
in?
Yes
No
HVAC and Fume Hoods: Ventilation can use 80% of a lab building’s power, so we try to look at how a space is
ventilated and how users are interacting with the HVAC system and fumehoods.
Are there any ventilation noises
in the lab?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Do occupants often hear a lot of
ventilation noise? Do any of doors
stick or swing open?
Does your lab keep the doors
closed to ensure proper
functioning of the HVAC?
Does the lab stay at a suitable
temperature most of the time?
Would your lab consider widening the
temperature band by a few degrees?
Do occupants in the lab think
the thermostat works
correctly? Do they use is? Is it
in a good location?
Are there any operating fume
hoods used solely as storage?
Fume Hoods
How many hoods does the lab have?
Do they use them all regularly?
What is the lab policy on fume hood
sash closure? Do people keep the sash
shut when they walk away from it?
Are the fume hoods variable
air volume? Does this room’s
ventilation seem fumehood driven?
How often are Fume Hoods used? Are
any Fume Hoods not used for an
extended period (i.e. 6 Months)? Are
any Fume Hoods used solely for
Yes
No
storage?
Is there any equipment or tubes
preventing the Fume Hoods sash from
closing properly?
Are the alarm systems for each Fume
Hood operating properly?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Would your lab consider decreasing
the number of air changes?
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Water
What types of water does your lab
use? DI, RO, Still, ETC.
Do the faucets in your lab work well?
Yes
No
Do faucets in your lab have aerators
or water misers?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Do you use any vacuum aspirators in
the lab?
Yes
No
Do you see any vacuum
aspirators?
Yes
No
Do you see any aerators or
water misers?
If Yes
How often are vacuum aspirators
used?
Would it be possible to switch to a
small pump? Please explain
Yes
No
Does your lab wash supplies?
Yes
No
Does your lab have a protocol for
washing lab supplies?
Yes
Do you have any equipment in your
lab which uses water?
Yes
Which equipment is water cooled?
No
What is the protocol?
No
Does any of the lab equipment have
water leaks?
Does any of your lab equipment use
one pass water flow?
Yes
Yes
Why does this equipment use one pass waterflow?
No
No
Waste
How many trash bins are in your lab
space?
How many trash bins do you
see?
How many recycle bins are in your
lab?
How many recycle bins do you
see?
Does your lab have bins for
technological waste?
Yes
No
Does your lab have bins for compost
waste?
Yes
No
Do you see any bins for
compost waste?
Yes
No
Do you see any technological
waste bins? Do you see signage
indicating closest techno-trash
bins?
How does your lab deal with sharps,
glass, and/or autoclave waste?
Does your lab have enough keys for
the trash, recycle, and lab waste bins?
Yes
No
Does your lab have any questions,
comments, or concerns with the
Laboratory Waste program?
Yes
No
Is any of your equipment used by
people outside your lab?
Yes
No
Is there any equipment you need or
wish you had?
Yes
Do you want to get rid of any
equipment?
Yes
Are the cabinets, chairs, and table’s
adequate quality for your work?
Yes
No
Is any of your furniture used?
Yes
No
Has anyone used an ergonomic
Yes
No
Procurement
Please describe the equipment
No
Please describe the equipment
No
Please describe the equipment
specialist from EH&S to help with desk
posture and repetitive motion issues?
Do you make it a priority to purchase
the following:
Energy Star rated computers/printers
Paper w/50% or higher post-consumer
recycled content
Supplies other than paper w/high
recycled content
Did you take careful time to consider
the size needs of your lab prior to
purchasing a specific piece of
equipment? If so, which piece was it?
Can you report any specific
instruments with water-saving,
energy- saving, or material saving
features?
Have you ever deferred the purchase
of an instrument by finding another
lab on campus whose instrument you
can share?
Green Chemistry (If chemistry related practices are applicable to the lab)
How often do you complete
inventories of the chemicals stored in
your lab?
Do you use the UCSB surplus chemical
program? Do you know about it?
Yes
No
What do you think your 3-5 most
hazardous chemicals are that your lab
uses?
Yes
No
Have you comleted an inventory of all
Yes
No
chemicals stored in your lab within
the past year?
Are you willing to donate all chemcials
that are not needed for current
experiments running in your
laboratory to the surplus chemical
program?
Yes
No
Do you have a first-in, first-out
program for all of your chemicals?
Yes
No
Does your lab request chemcials from
the UCSB Surplus Chemical program?
Does your lab use micro-chemistry
techniques to reduce the use of
chemicals?
Do you use Green Seal certified
cleaning chemicals when possible?
(There are some free all-purpose
surface cleaners available from
custodial staff)
Field Work (if applicable)
Does your research do any field work
requiring staking and flagging?
If so, do you use reusable or recyclable materials?
Do you account for and recover all staking/flagging materials?
During field work, do you use sample
containers?
Yes
If yes, do you use reusable or recyclable containers?
No
Do you only use sterile sample
containers when necessary?
Yes
No
Do you see it feasible to switch from
paper to electronic data collection?
Yes
No
Can you name an incident where you
reduced your travel footprint by
eliminating uncessary travel? For
example, making a phone meeting or
carpooling.
Yes
No
CARBON OFFSETS
Yes
No
Are you willing to write up a case
study of a sustainable practice your
lab uses and share it with us?
Yes
No
Is your lab willing to support your lab
manager, defacto lab manager, or
soon to be lab manager in attending
trainings related to lab management?
Yes
No
Are you willing to post a checklist by
the door of practices that should be
implemented if you are the last
person to leave the lab?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Networking
Does your lab attend at least one
LabRATS event a year? Are you willing
to?
Next Steps
Thank you for taking the time to complete this initial interview and walk
through. Now that we have all this data, we can go back to our office and find
solutions which will increase the sustainability of your lab. We would like to
schedule a meeting with your lab representative __ weeks from now to review our
findings and speak upon our sustainability solutions.