Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Scientists are front and center in quantifying and solving environmental problems. Yet, as a spate of recent news articles in scientific journals point out, much can be done to enhance sustainability within the scientific enterprise itself, particularly by trimming the energy use associated with research facilities and the equipment therein (i,ii,iii, iv). Sponsors of research unwittingly spend on the order of $10 billion each year on energy in the U.S. alone, and the underlying inefficiencies drain funds from the research enterprise while causing 80 MT CO2-equivalent greenhouse-gas emissions (see Box). These are significant sums considering the opportunity costs in terms of the amount of additional research that could be funded and emissions that could be reduced if the underlying energy was used more efficiently. By following commercially proven best practices in facility design and operation, scientists--and the sponsors of science--can cost-effectively halve these costs, while doing their part to put society on a low-carbon diet.