When a utility company manufactures power using coal, oil, nuclear power, or another source, only about 30% of that fuel actually becomes electricity. The remaining 70% floats down the river or out the smokestack.

While the distance precludes us from tapping into a power company’s excess fuel, lab designers can use the waste heat produced by a generator that may be sitting in a building. This is known as cogeneration, or concurrent production of heat and electricity from the same source.

Critical labs like vivariums, for example, need an engine generator for backup power. In some cases, it could make sense to run that generator to make electricity and air conditioning in the summer, or to produce electricity and heat in the winter. Making use of this excess power could increase the efficiency of the energy use from 30% to as much as 80%.