The Labs2Zero Energy Score: A New Tool for Sustainable Lab Design and Operations

Alison Farmer

By: Alison Farmer, PhD Secretary of the Board, International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, and Quentin Gilly, Interim Assistant Director, FAS Sustainability and Energy Management, Harvard University Office for Sustainability

The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), a nonprofit group for lab industry and institutional professionals, recently released an Energy Score tool as part of its Labs2Zero program that designers, managers, and owners can use to improve the performance and sustainability of laboratory buildings. In this article, we describe how the score was developed, how it can be used in lab design and operations, and how Harvard University, a longtime I2SL partner, is using the Energy Score as a tool to help achieve its climate and sustainability goals to be fossil fuel-neutral by 2026, and fossil fuel-free by 2050. 

Quentin Gilly

The Labs2Zero Program

With their outsized impact on an organization’s energy and emissions footprint, laboratory facilities pose a significant opportunity for the decarbonization of our building stock. I2SL’s Labs2Zero program is a voluntary initiative designed to support and accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s laboratory buildings. The program was launched in late 2022, and over the next few years, I2SL is developing a suite of Labs2Zero tools: a rating system to assess building energy and emissions performance, a certification system to validate those ratings, an accreditation program to train professionals to assess and support building improvements; a report recommending measures to reduce energy and emissions from labs; and a tool for designers to set targets for lab building sustainability performance. The Labs2Zero program covers both in-design and existing facilities and is intended to be used by lab owners, energy managers, sustainability professionals, architects, engineers, and consultants working on high-performance design and decarbonization of laboratories.

The Labs2Zero rating system will include scores for building energy performance and both operational and embodied carbon emissions. Users will receive an at-a-glance picture of the energy and emissions performance of a lab building, allowing for prioritization within a portfolio of buildings, input into the design process, or tracking of performance over time. 

I2SL released a pilot of its Labs2Zero Energy Score at its Annual Conference in October 2023 and is currently gathering input to refine the rating system. Pilot versions of the operational and embodied carbon scores are in development and are planned for release in 2024. 

As of the date of this publication, Harvard has obtained Energy Scores for nearly all of the University’s laboratory buildings. Harvard is a decentralized research university with an undergraduate program and 12 professional schools with lab space spread out over two cities—Cambridge and

Boston. Labs at the University account for approximately 50% of Harvard’s energy and emissions, even though labs only cover about 23% of the total built environment by square foot. Harvard has leveraged the Labs2Zero program to assure consistency in the quality of building and energy data for its energy scoring. 

The Labs2Zero Energy Score

The Labs2Zero Energy Score is unique in recognizing that lab buildings are not a monolithic or homogeneous group. Functional requirements vary significantly from one lab building to another – physics teaching labs do not have the same intensity of requirements as chemistry research facilities – so their building energy performance needs to be rated based on lab-specific properties. To develop the score, I2SL collaborated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to analyze a dataset of approximately 1,000 lab buildings and develop adjustment factors for lab-specific functional requirements, such as the amount and type of lab space within a facility. The scoring method also accounts for weather variations. Lab buildings are scored on a 1-100 scale, where a score of 80 means that that lab’s energy performance is better than 80% of other lab buildings in the database. The details of the score development and methodology were published in a white paper developed by LBNL (linked at https://lbt.i2sl.org). 

How to View Energy Scores

To get a free Energy Score for an existing lab building, simply enter the building’s properties and annual energy usage into I2SL’s free-to-use Laboratory Benchmarking Tool (LBT) at https://lbt.i2sl.org. If you already have buildings entered in the LBT, your scores have already been calculated – just log in and go to the Energy Score tab. Once a lab building’s data is entered, the LBT automatically generates a score for each year of data provided. Note that your buildings are not identifiable to other users of the LBT. If you are just getting started, the process is easy once you gather the necessary data; check out the LBT Quick Start Guide to see what’s required. The Energy Score is currently in a pilot phase, and all user feedback is welcome.

Using the Energy Score to rate lab building energy performance makes comparisons easier between lab types and across international boundaries. For buildings in design, I2SL plans to add a feature that allows a target Energy Score to be set so that energy use goals can be established during the design process. I2SL also hopes that municipalities and others running building performance programs will encourage the use of the Labs2Zero Energy and Emissions Scores in their programs. Harvard has been pivotal in modeling sustainable practices that are helping to transform the laboratory and research industry. For example, the University participates in public-private partnerships like the Boston Green Ribbon Commission and the Cambridge Compact for a Sustainable Future. Through these partnerships, Harvard has led two major laboratory benchmarking studies in an effort to support better understanding of how, as communities, we can work together to address the complexities of labs in achieving our shared climate and sustainability goals. Over time, much of the data from these two major studies was uploaded into I2SL’s LBT, enhancing both the data quality and the statistical significance of the scores it produces today. 

Identifying Next Steps

The Labs2Zero program aims to not only rate lab buildings’ energy and emissions performance but also to guide owners towards the next steps on their decarbonization journeys. I2SL is currently developing an Actionable Insights and Measures (AIM) Report, which will generate projected energy and emissions reductions along with cost estimates for a wide range of building improvement measures. This report, generated by building data entered into the LBT, will also include relevant case studies and recommendations for implementation of projects. A first version of the AIM Report tool, which will be focused on existing buildings, is planned for release in late 2024, and a Design2Zero tool for new construction projects will be developed in the future.

I2SL’s Community of Experts

One of I2SL’s strengths is in bringing together industry experts to share their knowledge. Our community is an integral part of the development of the Labs2Zero program. Over 100 volunteers, including those from Harvard’s Office for Sustainability and Harvard Medical School, serve on Labs2Zero Technical Advisory Councils that are helping to develop various aspects of the program. I2SL is also fortunate to have the support of 30 Founding Sponsors from the lab owner, design, consulting, and vendor community that have demonstrated their commitment to decarbonization by supporting I2SL’s efforts to create the Labs2Zero program. It is thanks to the contributions of those volunteers and sponsors that the Energy Score is available at no cost to users.

Stay tuned for updates as more program components are released in the coming year. For more information about the Labs2Zero program, please contact I2SL at info@i2sl.org.