(SBL) - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Lab’s Ongoing Commissioning (OCx) team completed its 100th monthly sprint in March 2026, a major milestone in its SCRUM-inspired approach to building efficiency. Since 2016, this collaboration between the Facilities staff and Sustainable Berkeley Lab has resolved hundreds of building issues and improved occupant comfort. And, as a result, the Lab is saving over $1 million and nearly 15 million kWh annually.
Each year, Berkeley Lab reports on its sustainability performance toward federal, state, and University of California Sustainability Targets. The Lab also has two sustainability policies for construction and operations, which includes energy and water management.
How can you help? Put organic matter (such as food waste and food-soiled paper products) in the green compost bin! See Your Role for more ways you can support the Lab’s progress toward sustainability goals.
Performance Highlights from FY 2025 –
Key sustainability strategies include –
Learn more:
Demand for data centers continues to increase, driven in part by the growth of AI. Berkeley Lab researchers continue to play a key role in their optimization. Instead of refrigerant systems, the Lab’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) keeps its supercomputers cool with an efficient combination of ambient air and liquid cooling.
A two-year efficiency effort at NERSC, in collaboration with other Berkeley Lab researchers and Sustainable Berkeley Lab, reduced non-IT power consumption (power that supports computing) by 42%, resulting in annual savings of —
Read the full article: How Researchers Are Driving Advances for Data Centers
The Biological and Environmental Program Integration Center (BioEPIC), the Lab’s newest building, has earned LEED Gold certification and is the Lab’s eighth LEED building. Achieved through a six-year collaboration by Facilities, PIMD, Sustainable Berkeley Lab, consultants, and contractors, the recognition underscores BioEPIC’s sustainable design features, including:
The building has also received an Award of Merit for Excellence in Sustainability from Engineering News-Record.
Learn More:
Sustainability is everyone’s job!
Check out:
Performance highlights include:
Learn More:
Check out the Lab’s Earth Day website to find local in-person, volunteer, and virtual events, plus tips for sustainable lifestyle changes.
Planning your backyard or container garden? Consider California natives! They’re climate-suitable, drought-tolerant, and pollinator-supporting. Learn more at this year’s Bringing Back the Natives virtual and in-person garden tours.
Berkeley Lab recently updated its policy on Sustainability in Operations, which:
The Lab also released its annual summary of sustainability performance and progress towards net-zero carbon emissions. Of note, as of the end of fiscal year 2023:
Learn More:
Berkeley Lab has been re-certified to ISO 50001, an international standard the Lab follows for managing its energy and water, and a key factor in the Lab’s strong sustainability performance.
Learn more about the Lab’s ISO 50001 Program
Learn more about the Lab’s Sustainability Performance
Berkeley Lab has a wide range of Federal, State, and University of California sustainability targets, and the Lab’s commitment to energy and water efficiency is formalized in a sustainability policy. Highlights of the Lab’s sustainability progress include (as of the end of FY 2022):
Learn More:
* at NERSC, ALS, B88, and the B50A/50B computing centers
Earth Day is every day, but it’s commemorated on April 22nd. Check out the website earthday.lbl.gov for a compilation of interesting things to learn and do in April and beyond.
Some highlights:
While rain comes and goes, California’s climate trends steadily toward drought
What to do?
What is the Lab doing?
Help advance the Lab’s climate goals by joining the Net-Zero Lab Visioning Team!
All are welcome! As part of the team, you will —
APPLY by Friday, 3/11/22. Members will be selected to maximize diversity of viewpoints and skills.
Learn More in this brief video
Federal Sustainability Executive Order 14057 (December 2021) set a firm path for decarbonizing federal sites by 2045, with many significant interim milestones. Highlights include:
Learn more in this Summary
Berkeley Lab received a 2021 Energy Management Insight Award from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a high-level global forum that promotes policies and programs to advance clean energy.
The award recognizes the Lab’s Energy and Water Management System (EWMS), which is certified to the global ISO 50001 standard, and is described in a case study that highlights insights, benefits, and accomplishments of the Lab’s program.
Since the Lab’s EWMS program began 5.5 years ago, the Lab has improved the energy efficiency of its operations by 26%, saved $2.17M in utility costs, and avoided 4,400 metric tons of GHG.
View the Award-Winning Case Study (pdf)
Learn more about the Lab’s EWMS / ISO 50001 Program
The Lab reports annually on sustainability performance to the Department of Energy (DOE) and University of California (UC). Highlights below.
Learn More:
Even with this fall’s heavy rainfall, most of California remains in Extreme or Exceptional Drought. California reservoirs are at about half of historic levels for this time of year due to severe drought conditions that have become commonplace in California:
You can access data from the Lab weather station, US Drought Monitor, as well as California rainfall, reservoir, and snow-pack data, on the SBL Water Page under Resources.
What can you do?
During the last major drought, the Lab saw a significant decrease in water use that was attributable to individual conservation. Here are some ways you can Waste Less Water, at home and at work:
What is the Lab doing?
In August 2021 (virtually, again), the Lab was presented two sustainability awards by the Department of Energy (DOE):
The Lab’s ongoing building commissioning (OCx) team received a Strategic Partnerships Award for its collaboration between Sustainability Berkeley Lab and Facilities to save energy and water in buildings. The OCx program:
The Lab’s ISO 50001 (Energy & Water Management) Team received an Innovative Approach to Sustainability Award for its “best in class” program for managing energy and water across all of the Lab’s facilities and activities.
Both programs work in harmony to deliver substantial energy, water, and cost savings for the Lab (see graphs).
See all of the Lab’ Sustainability Awards.
Earth Month reminds us to conserve water and energy, recycle, and take care of our home planet and all of its inhabitants.
Find out ways you can celebrate and participate on the Earth Day Website.
Berkeley Lab’s energy and water management program was recently highlighted in several Department of Energy publications. A cross-functional team oversees the program, helping to ensure the Lab’s energy and water management activities are strategic, effective, and persistent.
View the articles:
Despite recent heavy precipitation in California, the majority of the state is still in drought. We’re still on track for one of driest years on record. Check out our water page for some interesting links, including:
Learn water conservation and other sustainability tips.
The UC Sustainability Report for FY20 is now available, in a new online format. Check out some key components of the report:
Sustainability reports for UC and Berkeley Lab are available on the reports page.
The FY 2020 report on the Lab’s sustainability performance is available in this Summary. See highlights below.
Current and planned sustainability activities at the Lab are covered in a new draft Plan for a Sustainable Berkeley Lab. Feedback on the Plan is welcome via this form.
Highlights for FY 2020 include four Sustainability Awards, and improvements over FY19 in nearly every category.
The Integrative Genomics Building (IGB) has achieved LEED Gold, and is the Lab’s seventh building to earn LEED certification for sustainable building design. Key sustainability highlights of IGB include:
California is a drought-prone state with sparse rainfall from mid-spring to mid-fall. Compounding last winter’s below-average precipitation in Northern California, NOAA has forecast a La Niña event and continued drought conditions.
Lab Efforts to Date
How You Can Help
Individual actions add up. B90 water use is down 44%, partly through conservation.
Water Conservation at home
The Lab became officially certified to ISO 50001 in September, 2020, after a multi-year effort to strengthen its energy and water management practices.
Food scraps can either be landfilled and contribute to climate change, or be composted into valuable soil for your home garden. Learn how to put them to good use with these resources:
Berkeley Lab’s Integrative Genomics Building (IGB) received the UC’s highest recognition for sustainability in new construction, a Best Practice Award for Overall Sustainable Design.
Everyone plays a role in helping the Lab meet its sustainability goals for Energy / Climate, Waste, and Water, which are set by Federal, State, and UC policy, and reinforced in the Lab’s policy on Sustainable Operations.
What is Your Role?
How is the Lab Doing?
Sheltering in place has encouraged many of us to spend more time at home with our nourishing yards, gardens, and plants, and composting is a great tool to help us do that!
Anyone can home compost, even in a small apartment. Learn the basics and benefits, and why it’s so important for everyone to compost food waste.
Learn more with these Compost & Gardening Resources
The June 8th webinar will cover —
2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day!
And Earth Month is going Virtual this year!
Big advancements in efficient computing are happening as a result of cross-Lab collaboration including SBL, the National Energy Scientific Research Computing Center (NERSC), and the Energy Technologies Area (ETA) and its decades of research and expertise.
The Lab established a new Policy for Sustainable Operations. Topics include Individual and Lab responsibilities relative to —
The Lab has completed its Annual Sustainability Report for FY 2019. For more details, see —
Key highlights —
On behalf of the Better Buildings Smart Lab Accelerator, the Department of Energy selected Berkeley Lab to receive an “Accelerating Smart Labs” Project Award. The award recognizes the Lab’s innovative approach to improving its building operations through an ongoing commissioning (OCx) process.
A partnership between SBL and Facilities, the Lab’s high-performing OCx team has refined a highly efficient and rigorous process for identifying and correcting energy and water waste in buildings, and ensuring those corrections stick.
The award was presented at the annual International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) Conference in October.
See the Lab’s efficiency savings since 2015.
The draft Sustainable Standards for Operations policy, to be published in the Lab’s Requirements & Policies Manual (RPM), was shared with a wide Lab audience through emails, stakeholder meetings, Elements, and the SBL website. See the resulting changes in the following documents —
We appreciate the time everyone took to participate in the process and provide thoughtful feedback, which helped strengthen and improve the policy. See prior post for more about the Policy
The Lab was chosen for two 2019 Department of Energy Sustainability Awards
1) Pat Thorson, who retired from the Lab earlier this year, received a Lifetime Achievement Award as a Sustainable Champion. Pat’s hard work, commitment, and dedication to sustainability spanned his 28-year Lab career. He led the Lab’s Environmental Management System and meteorological monitoring, initiated the Lab’s waste diversion program, and was instrumental in a wide range of sustainability initiatives including air quality, wastewater treatment, electronics recycling, and commute surveys. He led by example in many ways, including being one of the Lab’s first e-bike commuters.
2) The Lab’s Policy on Sustainability Standards for New Construction was selected for the Outstanding Sustainability Project category. Learn more
The awards were presented at the DOE Energy Exchange Conference in August.
SBL invites Lab Community feedback on the Draft Sustainability Standards for Operations, targeting publication in October, 2019. Topics are listed below. Submit your comments by Friday, 9/13/19.
Energy and Water
Zero Waste and Waste Reduction
Green Cleaning & Pest Control
The Lab has updated its Sustainability Standards for New Construction (SSNC). The SSNC were first published in the Lab’s online Requirements & Procedures Manual (RPM) in 2013. The standards have guided the sustainable design of the Lab’s new Integrative Genomics Building (IGB) and current early design efforts for future construction.
Key elements of the SSNC include:
Check out what you might have missed from the Lab’s April Earth Month celebration…
Sustainability @ Home Brown Bag
Experts from the Energy Technologies Area and Sustainable Berkeley Lab shared their knowledge about responsible consumption, a culture of repair, very local food, and reducing energy and water footprint.
Presentation | Recording (Quicktime)
Green Transportation Brown Bag
A presentation on what the Lab has done to improve transportation, and a discussion of thoughts, ideas, and concerns about transportation solutions.
Presentation
Safety Sustainability, and Security Fair
A huge number of people visited the SBL booth at the Fair, and learned about helping the Lab meet its Zero Waste Goals by knowing how to sort. Learn more at WasteGuide.lbl.gov.
eBike Meetup
A gathering of folks who commute via eBike, and those interested. Learn more about eBikes
This April, the Earth Month Theme is Sustainable Lifestyles. You have many ways to participate!
The Lab has completed its Annual Sustainability Report for FY 2018, and plans for FY 2019. One significant achievement is maintained, annualized energy savings totaling 6.7 million kWh since 2015. See graph.
Additional highlights —
For more details, see —
Check out videos, slides, and other resources from the Lab’s April Earth Month celebration! More >
April is Earth Month – What’s Happening?
Download the Earth Month Flyer (pdf), subscribe to the Sustainable Berkeley Lab calendar, or click on an event title below to learn more.
Participate in the DOE Earth Month Photo Contest by 4/6 More >
Check out the Lab’s Site Sustainability Plan (SSP), which details the Lab’s sustainability performance in FY17, as well as plans for FY18.
Highlights:
Check out the Lab’s Sustainability Update to UC on this year’s accomplishments in Climate, Waste, and Water including:
Check out what you might have missed from the Lab’s April Earth Month celebration, including
Explore food sustainability through a traveling art show. Learn about the Lab’s energy use through new online data systems. Learn about special moments in the natural history of the Lab. Stop by the Safety, Security, & Sustainability Fair. Participate in Earth Month! Subscribe to the Sustainable Berkeley Lab calendar or see details below!
Shyh Wang Hall (B59) is the Lab’s sixth building to earn LEED certification, and has achieved LEED Gold. The Lab has one LEED Platinum and five LEED Gold certifications. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a prominent green building certification that rates a building’s sustainability aspects, including indoor environmental quality and the efficient use of water, energy, and materials.
Recent restroom retrofits at the Lab are saving over half a million gallons of water annually. Sustainable Berkeley Lab partnered with Facilities to replace urinals and install dual-flush toilet handles in the highest used restrooms across the hill campus.
In addition, all of the old fixtures were diverted from landfill — with 2098 lbs of porcelain converted into road aggregate, and 258 lbs of metal recycled through the Lab’s normal salvage process.
This effort was made possible by support from DOE’s Sustainability Performance Office, and aligns with the Lab’s goal to reduce water use intensity 36% by 2025.
Check out the Lab’s Site Sustainability Plan (SSP) for fiscal year 2017, detailing sustainability performance in FY16, and plans for FY17. The plan covers more than 30 sustainability goals.
For more details, see:
Highlights:
Chu Hall has earned LEED Gold certification, joining four other LEED-certified buildings at the Lab. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a prominent green building certification that rates a building’s sustainability aspects, including indoor environmental quality and the efficient use of water, energy, and materials. See a detailed overview of Chu Hall’s LEED Profile.
The Lab now has five LEED certifications:
Check out photos, videos, and other resources from the Lab’s April Earth Month celebration:
Join an environmental walk around the Lab, learn about California’s water and energy resources, and learn what to do with your most challenging waste items. Each week of April features a themed Earth Day event (waste, water, energy, safety). Check out the Earth Month calendar below, and participate!
The statewide drought continues, but rain or shine, conserving water is always the right choice in California’s dry climate. This season’s precipitation is falling short of expectations given the El Niño conditions, and after five years of below normal rainfall, California’s reservoirs remain low. It will take several years of above-average rainfall to end the drought.
The Lab has embraced the challenge to reduce baseline water use, and implemented the following actions: 1) discontinued all automated landscape irrigation, 2) installed aerators in restroom faucets across the main site, 3) placed “leak reporting” stickers in main-site bathrooms, 4) established water-use monitoring for cooling towers, 5) launched a restroom fixture retrofit program at the main site, and 6) developed a website to monitor forecasts and precipitation.
Learn what you can do at work and at home to help save this precious resource.
Sustainable Berkeley Lab submitted our annual Site Sustainability Plan and Consolidated Energy Data Report to the Department of Energy. These reports summarize Berkeley Lab’s performance compared to 30 federal sustainability goals and describe plans for the next fiscal year.
The DOE Sustainability Performance Office awarded Berkeley Lab with funding for two projects that have tangible influence to meet our federal sustainability goals and are difficult to fund through Berkeley Lab funding. The first project received $100,000 to retrofit two buildings to comply with High Performance Sustainable Building Guiding Principles. The second project received $65,000 to retrofit bathroom fixtures to water-efficient models across the main site. We’re very excited to get DOE support and move forward with these projects!
California is in an exceptional drought and the Governor has ordered a statewide 25% reduction in urban water use. Please think seriously about ways that you can contribute to a third year of reducing the Lab’s water use by at least 15 percent. Resources and more information are available here.
The Berkeley Lab Plumbing Shop continues to help us conserve water. They have replaced bathroom faucet aerators to low-flow, 0.35 gpm aerators in Buildings 2, 6, 7, 31, 46, 47, 50, 50A, 50B ,62, 64, 65, 66, 70, 70A, 80, 88, and 90. This is the first, low-cost action to reduce our water use in response to the severe drought we are currently experiencing. By replacing bathroom faucet aerators, we estimate that we will save about 1.5 million gallons of water per year.
As part of the Berkeley Lab Water Action Plan, the Plumbing Shop is replacing bathroom faucet aerators with .35 gallon per minute aerators. They have completed replacements in the 50 complex and Buildings 70, 70A, and 90. The next replacements will occur in Buildings 62, 64, 66, and 74. Thank you for helping us conserve water, Plumbing Shop!
In honor of Earth Day 2014 and according to Berkeley Lab’s Water Action Plan, the Bathroom Brigade, made up of 15 volunteer employees, visited the 200 bathrooms on the main site to take inventory of the bathroom fixtures and post “See a Leak?” stickers. The inventory will help the Lab understand water usage in bathrooms and plan fixture upgrades. Remember to report leaks to the Work Request Center (x 6274).
As part of the Berkeley Lab Water Action Plan, the Lab has confirmed an irrigation water policy: “The Lab does not do ongoing, automated irrigation watering. The Lab may do automated irrigation watering for a period up to 18 months to establish new landscaping, or may do occasional watering by hand to prevent loss of landscaping.” Facilities is working to ensure that current practice aligns with this policy.
The Lab is taking several steps to reduce water use in response to the extreme drought and to meet long-term water conservation goals. See the Berkeley Lab Water Action Plan and contact Sustainable Berkeley Lab (sbl@lbl.gov) with any comments or questions.
While the nearly eight inches of rain earlier this month at Berkeley Lab more than quadrupled the season total, cumulative precipitation levels following these storms have only now just inched above the driest years on record in California. Read more here.
Berkeley Lab has adopted a new policy that sets sustainability standards for new building construction. The policy was developed by a committee convened last fall by Lab Director Paul Alivisatos, with input from a larger working group. The policy is intended to drive higher performance in buildings by setting clear sustainability targets that can be easily communicated with design teams and carried through into operations. The policy is available here in the Berkeley Lab Requirements and Policies Manual. For more information contact Sustainable Berkeley Lab at sbl@lbl.gov.
It’s a new fiscal year, so it’s time to reflect on our achievements from FY 2013. Here is a list of our big achievements.
Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division is known for its leadership in the search for new energy resources, cleaning up the environment, and the study of climate change. Now, it has another feather in its cap: LEED Platinum status for the division’s newly renovated headquarters. It’s the highest possible rating for environmentally friendly design. A plaque conferring Platinum status from the U.S. Green Building Council, which operates the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program, arrived this week at the Lab’s Facilities Division, which planned and managed the ambitious overhaul of Building 74 in the East Canyon section of Berkeley Lab’s hillside campus. Read the full article here.
The Lab’s Chief Sustainability Officer, John Elliott, gave an overview of priorities and initiatives for a sustainable Berkeley Lab at an i4Energy seminar on the UC Berkeley campus. A video of the talk (45 minutes) is available at: http://youtu.be/NByRfy7dmE4