With over 1,200 labs from 27 countries and over 12,000 cold storage units participating, the 2022 Freezer Challenge has saved a total of 6,732 metric tons of carbon dioxide! This is the equivalent of the energy consumption of over 1,300 homes for one year. Since it's launch in 2017, the International Laboratory Freezer Challenge from My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) has saved a total of 24 million kWh of energy, reducing emissions by 16,796 metric tons, the equivalent of saving energy consumed by 3,268 homes for one year.
My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) are proud to announce that the 2022 Freezer Challenge has saved a total of 6,732 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of 1,310 homes for one year, more than doubling the carbon reduction from last year’s competition!
To honor their commitment to sustainability, My Green Lab is proud to award CatSci with a Platinum Green Lab Certification for their Chemistry Lab as well as a Silver Green Lab Certification for their Cardiff-based Analytical Lab.
As researchers, we set out to improve human health. However, laboratory research in the US emits over 21 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.(1,2) The relationship between carbon emissions and harm to humanity is difficult to quantify, however, researchers at Columbia University reported in Nature Communications that every million metric tons of CO2 emissions causes ~226 climate change-related deaths.(3) This leaves laboratory research responsible for ~5,000 deaths annually. So, what can we do to avoid devastating the future of life on Earth while trying to improve overall human health and lifespan?
