Allen Doyle, UC Davis’s new sustainability manager, is charged with guiding the campus to ‘greener’ and more energy-efficient ways. At a recent conference in London, England Doyle discussed some of his experience in how simple changes in the lab can save thousands of dollars in energy costs.

New and refurbished labs use more energy than old labs because of new analytical equipment that requires expensive cooling, the conference heard. But changes in fume hoods can have the biggest impact. Simply closing the sash of a chemical fume hood when it is not in use dramatically cuts energy use, Doyle found. Closing the sash means the fan does not have to work as hard, and also the hood is not sucking heated or cooled air out of the room.