2022 NIH Freezer Challenge

2022 NIH Freezer Challenge

Eighteen labs and one IC, shown in the table below, participated in the 2022 NIH Freezer Challenge to improve freezer management, increase freezer reliability, and reduce energy consumption.

The challenge was held from January 1 to May 15 of 2022. Challenge initiatives ranged from maintenance options, such as defrosting freezers, to laboratory best-management practices, such as changing the temperature setting of Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) freezers from -80°C to -70°C. Changing the temperature setting of an ULT freezer from -80°C to -70°C reduces the amount of work that the compressor does, which increases freezer reliability and reduces energy consumption by about 30%.

In total, the 2022 NIH Freezer Challenge resulted in annual savings of 288,258 kWh/year, $28,662/year and 211.84 MTCO2e greenhouse gas emissions/year. These savings are from only from nineteen participants. These results show the power each lab has to increase freezer reliability while also protecting the environment. Imagine what we could do if the entire NIH joined in! Participate in this year's Freezer Challenge to help out!

My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) hosts an annual International Freezer Challenge where thousands of labs from private companies, universities and government organizations compete to see who can reduce the most energy consumed by the freezers in their labs. The NIH Freezer Challenge Results were submitted to the International Freezer Challenge.

The table below shows the 2022 NIH freezer challenge participants.

A summary of the energy savings, costs savings, and greenhouse gas reductions are shown in the table below. Visit the freezer challenge Power BI report for additional freezer challenge data.

https://nems.nih.gov/sustain/Pages/Freezer-Challenge-Power-BI.aspx

Image

A summary of the initiatives completed as part of the 2022 NIH Freezer Challenge are shown in the table below.