Green Science – Page 2

The “Green Labs” initiative at the Simon Fraser University, British Columbia (Canada)

May 9May 9Posted in Green Science, Sustainable GuideTagged computer, consumables, cost, energy, green, initiative, labratories, labs, money, save, SFU, Simon Fraser University, turn off, waterLeave a comment

GreenLabs

Today I would like to introduce you to an initiative of the Simon Fraser University in Canada, which promotes the idea of running a green laboratory. It’s a nice example, which shows actually what is a green lab and what exactly can you personally do?

So, what is a green lab? When you google this, as I did searching for information on this topic, you find quite a few laboratories that are interested in researching plants. True, plants are green (at least most of them), but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Any lab can be a green lab, even if none of its members are even remotely interested in plants, if it is run in a way that you are aware of how you are using your resources – energy, consumables, water – and do so in a more sustainable way. Or in other words, you go easy on your resources and don’t waste them like there is no tomorrow.

Now, why would you want to run a green lab? Well, you might hope that it is done because of a higher motive – you want to save the earth and protect the environment. But I fear it always boils down to this ugly truth: it’s about money. Nowadays more than ever. Budgets are getting smaller and smaller and everyone is forced to do more with less money. And guess what? As the SFU points out, “a green lab saves money”. A lab needs energy, water and consumables – all things that cost money. It might be disappointing to discover that this is one or even the main motivation behind it. But hey, in the end reducing the energy and water consumption does the environment some good. After all, “A green lab reduces our carbon footprint.”

And what can you do in a lab? It’s actually not that different from a normal household. If you have a look at the SFU’s Green Lab Guide, one of the main tips is the good old “Turn it off!” If you’re not in a room anymore – turn off the lights. You’re experiment is done and neither you nor any colleague is going to need that instrument anytime soon – turn it off. You’re done with your internet research and going back to the bench now – turn off the PC or at least put it to sleep. Simple as that.

These are just a few spotlights on the tips provided on the SFU’s Green Lab website. Have a closer look at it for more tips and read their Green Labs Guide. And very important – share these ideas with you colleagues and get them on board too. Remember, they might not be an environmentalist like you are, but they won’t sneeze at the idea of saving a few bucks!

Oh, and even more important: before you’re now running off to your lab to put these tips into practice, turn off this computer! 😉

Source:
Green Labs by @SFU

Green qPCR – using less plastic consumables and less reagents

May 2May 2Posted in Green Science, Plastic, Sustainable GuideTagged carbon, energy, footprint, green, instruments, labortories, labs, manufacturing, material, plastic, process, qpcr, recycle, reduce, reuse, scienceLeave a comment

GreenLabs

The first time I heard about green qPCR* was when these cute little Real-time PCR System were introduced. Actually, it wasn’t just this type of instrument that was introduced to me, but the whole concept of “you can do something ecofriendly in your laboratory”.

But before talking about this, let me explain why this hadn’t crossed my mind before:

Protecting the environment, for me that meant to recycle stuff. Which in turn means you simply re-cycle paper, plastic and metal. Now the thing is that products made from such recycled materials aren’t as clean as they used to be, e.g. recycled paper looks more gray-ish, doesn’t it? While this isn’t really a big issue in daily live (okay, it’s a problem if you’re picky about the way it looks), it’s definitely a problem in the lab. Here, you’re using methods and instruments allowing you to detect minute contaminations – one in a million of molecules, the proverbial needle in the haystack. Now, if you would use e.g. recycled plastic in the lab, you would very likely always get a some false signal because you would be detecting the traces from its previous use. And reagents … well, once they have reacted with each other, they are used up and gone. And also contaminated with each other, to say the least. Therefore, it’s usually Use-it-once-and-throw-it-away in the lab.

So, if you can’t re-use or recycle material in the lab, what’s left?

Well, if you can’t reuse and/or recycle, at least you can go easy on your resources and reduce the amount of material you use. And that’s where manufacturers of more compact qPCR instruments makes their claim that these instrument help you to run a greener lab:

The concept is: “Using less energy and material is greener.” And this actually makes sense because if an instrument is designed to use 60% less energy than common qPCR instruments. And because it’s all done in a smaller plate, it means you are using less plastic – e.g. 75% less, i.e. only around 4.5 kg/year compared to 18 kg/year. Also, smaller plates means smaller wells, which in turn means smaller reaction volumes are possible, so that you are using less reagents per reaction; long story short, you are producing less liquid waste.

Of course, there are other factors, which have an impact on the environment, such us the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process. Since there’s no data here, I’m afraid I can’t say much about it. But leaving this aside, I think this instrument is really a way to do more with less material. And that’s a good thing for the environment, isn’t it?

Besides this, there are actually exceptions, i.e. applications, where you can get away with reused material. I’ll have a look at those the next time.

What do you think? Looking forward to your feedback and comments! 🙂

*P.S.: in case you’re wondering: “qPCR?!? Real-Time-what?!? What is he talking about?!?” Here a nice little introduction to it: Continue reading “Green qPCR – using less plastic consumables and less reagents” →

Green Labs – an introduction

April 11April 11Posted in Green Science, Man & Nature, Sustainable GuideTagged consumables, environment, equipment, green, green products, laboratories, labs, research, scienceLeave a comment

When you think about the environment and how you could protect it, do you also think about how to do this in a research laboratory?

Probably not. Not even if you are working in a lab. After all, most people assume that scientists are more thinking about how to achieve world domination – directly or as the minion of an evil overlord, aren’t they?

Continue reading “Green Labs – an introduction” →