The Handbook is an annual supplement to R&D magazine and the Laboratory Design Newsletter, featuring a wide range of how-to and trends articles by experts in the field.

Mendler emphasizes how much of the expense of owning and operating lab buildings is due to wasteful and outdated practices that can be avoided through smart design. She notes that many standard design practices — from fixed lab bench configurations to the use of simultaneous heating and cooling schemes — create waste and inefficiency that drive up costs.

The good news is that a new generation of completed buildings demonstrates the potential to achieve significant savings while also improving health, safety, and quality of life through sustainable design.

Sustainable design strategies that were part of HOK projects for Sigma-Aldrich, the Pacific Regional Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, Emory University, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are featured. An HOK matrix also compares the energy statistics of 16 high-performance lab buildings.

Mendler recommends that planners consider using the Labs21 Environmental Performance Criteria (EPC), a rating system specifically designed for lab facilities to identify a broad range of sustainable design opportunities. The EPC standard buildings on the LEED green building rating system, and is the basis for the new LEED Application Guide for Labs now under development.

Source: "Improving Performance, Eliminating Waste," The Lab Design Handbook, November 2006, by Sandra Mendler, AIA.