Financial Incentives for CU Boulder Labs

Our incentive program is for the purchase of energy or water-efficient equipment. If a lab plans to purchase or replace equipment, the lab can contact us and apply for a financial incentive toward the new equipment. This conversation needs to happen before the new purchase takes place. The value of the financial incentive is equivalent to up to five years of energy or water savings that CU Boulder will gain from purchasing more efficient equipment. The incentive applies at the time of the equipment purchase. Incentives can take time and research to process. Please give us as much lead time as possible before your purchase.

Water Savings
  • Purchasing water efficient equipment
  • Replacing the use of a faucet aspirators with a vacuum pump
  • Replacing water-cooled condensers with waterless condensers
  • Free low flow aerators for lab faucets
Energy Savings
  • Purchasing energy efficient lab equipment
  • Covering disposal costs for lab equipment being retired without replacement

Examples of incentives given to CU Boulder labs

The following are examples of incentives provided by CU Green Labs through funding provided by Facilities Management to laboratories at CU Boulder. Incentives may be available for the purchase of more energy or water efficient equipment or for the implementation of practices that allow for greater energy or water conservation. If you are interested in whether a financial incentive might be available to your lab, please reach out togreenlabs@colorado.edu. Incentives can take time and research to process. Please give us as much lead time as possible prior to your purchase.

WATER SAVING EXAMPLES:

ճVaida Labin the𳾾ٰwas able to get an oil-free membrane vacuum pump to replace their water aspirator for a savings of about 66,000 gallons of water per year.

A free Findenser was provided to theWeber LabJILAto be used instead of a water condenser. For a faucet flowing at a rate of .66 gallons per minute, a normal water condenser would use 158 gallons of water over four hours. A Findenser uses no water to cool chemical reactions for significant water savings.

ENERGY SAVING EXAMPLES:

A $3,670 incentive was provided to theFleshner LabIntegrative Physiologytowards a Stirling Ultra Low freezer to replace an inefficient ULT freezer. Another Stirling ULT freezer set at –70 ⁰Cwas metered as using 6.3 kWh of electricity per day whereas the old unit used 25.4 kWh per day.

A $400 incentive was provided to theFierer Labin theEcology and Evolutionary Biology Departmentto replace their Fisher Scientific Isotemp Lab Refrigerator that used 5.9 kWh per day with an Energy Star unit that uses ~2 kWh per day.

A $1,075 incentive was provided for theNeu LabMechanical Engineeringto purchase an energy efficient Biosafety Cabinet as their lab was being established. The Thermo Class II A2 BSC purchased by the Neu Lab has several energy efficient features. The Neu Lab is committed to turn off the unit at night and on the weekends and keeping the sash lowered between uses.

A $3,252 incentive was provided to theMcKnight LabINSTAARtowards a cold temperature environmental chamber that cost $7,419. The Lunaire unit the lab had in place metered at 33.2 kWh per day whereas the replacement Powers Scientific DS52SD uses ~11.2 kWh per day for significant energy savings.

A free –20 ⁰CEnergy Star Freezer was provided to theJohnson Labat theInstitute for Behavioral Geneticsto replace an ULT freezer. Traditional ULT freezers use ~15-23 kWh of electricity per day whereas a -20 ⁰CEnergy Star freezer uses ~2 kWh per day.

CU Green Labs provided $266 towards a $799 Heidolph Brinkmann B-169 recirculating aspirator for theWuttke Lab in Biochemistry. A savant chiller consumes 5.5 kWh/day when left on all the time and a vacuum pump consumes 4-5 kWh/day for a total consumption of 10 kWh/day for those pieces of equipment combined. The recirculating aspirator is much easier to turn off when not in use, but would consume 5.5 kWh/day if left on all the time. The savings of using a recirculating aspirator is much more than 4.5 kWh/day since it can be turned off and on more easily. 5 years of 10 kWh/day (with Savant & vacuum pump) is 18250 kWh and 5 years of use of Heidolph Brinkmann B-169 recirculating aspirator for 1 hour per day, 5 days per week is 299 kWh. This is a difference of 17591 kWh over 5 years or $1,454 in electricity savings.

CU Green Labs supported sustainable research in theJimenez Labin the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistryby providing a $1000 incentive to purchase a Thermo Scientific Heratherm drying oven. The new oven uses 5.04 kWh/day whereas other drying ovens metered on campus for energy consumption consume an average of8.75 kWh/day. Not only is this drying oven more energy efficient than other models on the market,the Jimenez group is further committed to energy conservation by turning off the oven overnight and during weekends. The oven comes with a timer that does this automatically.