Labs use more energy and water per square foot than standard commercial buildings, due to the nature of their operations. At Pitt, you can see this demonstrated in our Water Usage Dashboard, which displays Water Use Intensity, or gallons used per square foot, in each building on Pitt’s campus, with lab spaces such as the Biomedical Science Towers using the most water per square foot.
Pitt’s laboratories are critical spaces to find and enable water efficiency in order to meet our water-related sustainability goals. Consider the best practices and tips below to save water in your lab operations.
- Water aspirators consume nearly 15 liters per minute. Consider eliminating all vacuum aspirators and replacing them with vacuum pumps, and your lab could save 900 liters/hour.
- Use the appropriate type of water for each application. It takes 3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of deionized water!
- Consider replacing distillers with reverse osmosis and electrodeionization, which can reduce water needs by up to 40%. The Environmental Science Center in Fort Meade, Maryland, saves 1.5 million gallons of water and $5k+ by opting for this solution, and controlling their operation from 24 to 12 hours per days.
- Install low flow aerator on your faucets, which can save significant water and reduce splashing.
- Retrofit older steam sterilizers, which use a continuous flow of water similar to single-pass cooling, with tempering control kits, or replace with newer models. The Pacific Ecology Systems Division Lab in Oregon saved 1.5 million gallons and $6-9k annually through installing such control valves.