Freezer Challenge 2023 Award for UCD Veterinary Anatomy Laboratory
The UCD Veterinary Anatomy Dissection Lab has been awarded the ‘Top Biorepository Award - Academic Award’ in the My Green Labs Freezer Challenge 2023. Congratulations to Catherine McCarney (Senior Technical Officer), Jane Brennan (Senior Laboratory Attendant) and Soudeh Ziapour (Senior Laboratory Attendant) on this achievement!
The Freezer Challenge is organised by My Green Labs, a not-for-profit organisation based in the US with the goal of promoting environmental sustainability in laboratories ((opens in a new window)www.mygreenlab.org). The challenge encourages participants to learn how to be more energy efficient with their lab’s cold storage, improve sample accessibility, reduce risk, and save costs for their institutions. Second only to fume hoods, a lab's cold storage (refrigerators, freezers, cold rooms) is likely the next biggest category of energy consumers.
Sustainability in the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine
As we are living in a time of unprecedented global climate change, members of the UCD Veterinary Community recognise the importance of bringing improved sustainability measures to their work. University-level research is vital to the development of beneficial new knowledge, but it can also be a resource intensive endeavour. For example, laboratory spaces use 10x as much water and 4x as much energy as office spaces. To close the gap between current research practices and more sustainable options, several groups are engaging with programmes designed to improve lab research sustainability.
The School’s Microbiology and Parasitology research lab (Pathobiology section) was accredited with My Green Lab certification at gold level in March 2023. Accreditation requires that members of the lab complete a questionnaire to establish a baseline score for environmental awareness and good practice in 14 different areas, including waste management, water use and electrical use. The questionnaire is evaluated by MGL, who respond with advice on how to improve sustainability in the laboratory. The questionnaire is retaken after a period of about 6-8 months and the certification is based on improvement in the baseline score.