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Sustainable Labs

Lab sustainability aims to foster health safety, resource efficiency and waste reduction strategies to minimize the environmental footprint while promoting scientific advancement. Labs account for nearly 44% of energy use at Harvard but take up only around 20% of the space. The Office for Sustainability works with researchers, staff, faculty, and building managers to implement sustainable practices and technologies in lab buildings.

Shut the Sash

  • The “Shut the Sash” chemical fume hood competition started in 2005 within Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
  • The “Shut the Sash” competition promotes keeping fume hoods closed when not in use to reduce high energy consumption.
  • The initiative expanded to include 19 labs and over 350 researchers, resulting in substantial energy savings and improved lab safety. This makes the “Shut the Sash” competition Harvard’s most impactful behavioral change program for energy conservation.
Labs in the the Shut the Sash Competition are provided feedback in real-time on their fume hood energy use via digital displays reporting cubic-feet-of-air-per-minute (CFM) flow, with signage indicating how that number connects with the lab group's customized goal.

White Papers

These white papers provide detailed insights into how Harvard leads the charge toward healthier, more sustainable labs.

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External Partnerships & Collaborations

Quentin Gilly, Assistant Director, FAS Energy and Sustainability with the Office for Sustainability, and President of the I2SL New England Chapter, (right), leads a tour of I2SL members through the Science and Engineering Complex in the fall of 2022.
Quentin Gilly, Assistant Director, FAS Energy and Sustainability with the Office for Sustainability, and President of the I2SL New England Chapter, (right), leads a tour of I2SL members through the Science and Engineering Complex in the fall of 2022.

Partnerships and collaborations on lab sustainability topics are important both internally and externally.

  • The Office for Sustainability partnered with the City of Cambridge on a multi-year city-wide laboratory benchmarking exercise, which was the largest and most consistent benchmarking dataset of its type ever to be collected from a local area. OFS has also partnered with the City of Cambridge Compact and the Boston Green Ribbon Commission.
  • We partner with the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) on the sharing of best practices and through planning events and lab tours with the New England Chapter.
  • We collaborate with non-profits such as Seeding Labs, My Green Lab, and The Lab Project to lead in making lab sustainability a reality, and with vendors such as Eversource Energy and Green Labs Recycling to pilot innovative technologies aimed at decarbonizing the built environment and reducing waste on campus.

Upcoming Events

Sustainability Events at Harvard

February

08

Saturday
12:00 pm-4:00 pm GMT+0000

Open to Harvard Community

Arnold Arboretum Ecological Exploration

Arnold Arboretum

Join us for an engaging half-day exploration at Arnold Arboretum! This event features a workshop on ecology, an interactive scavenger hunt, and a reflective discussion on the connection between humans and nature. Learn about biodiversity, conservation, and how to foster a deeper relationship with the natural world. Lunch and round-trip transportation will be provided. RSVP is required!

March

05

Wednesday
1:00 pm-2:00 pm GMT+0000

Environments for Health and Happiness: A Seminar with Dr. Lindsey Burghardt

On Wednesday, March 5th, from 1-1:50 PM in FXB G12 or online, please join us for the fourth installment of our Environments for Health and Happiness Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, Chief Science Officer at the Harvard Center on the Developing Child.

February

11

Tuesday
4:00 pm-5:00 pm GMT+0000

New Orleans, Katrina, and Bounce: A Conversation with Big Freedia

This program is the second in a pair of webinars to explore the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the musical traditions of New Orleans. In the 20th anniversary year of the storm’s devastating landfall in southeast Louisiana, leading performers, artists, and scholars will share their perspectives on art, music, and justice in the context of climate change. How have the performers’ music, practice, and community changed over the last two decades? Can future climate crises be occasions for artistic growth, reimagined community, spurs to social action, and new forms of solidarity? What lessons can New Orleans and its ever-evolving music teach the world about resilience and renewal?

Big Freedia will be joined in conversation with Lauron J. Kehrer (Western Michigan University), a scholar of race, gender, and sexuality in American popular music and Loren Kajikawa (The George Washington University), a scholar of rap and hip-hop, as well as race, gender, and politics.

February

07

Friday
9:45 am-5:30 pm GMT+0000

Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program Conference

The Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, invites you to join us in Cambridge or online for the 2025 Conference, Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment, February 7-8, 2025. The panels at this year’s conference highlight these essential topics related to Ukraine’s changing environment. Panels will address the current geopolitical landscape and the war’s impact on global issues such as food security; how Ukrainians have been at the forefront of establishing ecocide and environmental war crimes as part of Russia’s repertoire of genocidal tactics in Ukraine and how they might be prosecuted through legal mechanisms; the widespread notion of Building Back Better and the potential to incorporate sustainability standards in Ukraine’s current and future development; and the quickly-changing landscapes of data and technology and their roles in these reconstruction processes. The keynote lecturer is Jojo Mehta (Stop Ecocide International).

February

06

Thursday
4:00 pm-5:00 pm GMT+0000

Hurricane Katrina and the Musical Community of NOLA: A Conversation with Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr.

Join Big Chief Gerard (Bo) Dollis, Jr. for a conversation about music, community, and strength in the face of climate change, with a particular focus on Mardi Gras Indian traditions and performance. He will be joined in conversation by Emmett G. Price III, dean of Africana studies at Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.