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Investment Confidence

Volume 4 Issue 3 | April 2009

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Cover Story

Investment Confidence

By Steve Ernst

Highlights of our 2009 Investment Confidence Survey provide a glimpse into the investment decisions being made by laboratory management in staffing, outsourcing, facility improvement and new technologies–taking the pulse of confidence in economic security in these uncertain times.

Sections

Business Management

Achieving Laboratory Energy Efficiency

Instituting economical ways to save electricity could save about three quarters of the electricity consumed in the U.S. at an average cost of about one cent per kilowatt-hour, according to Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute.

Leadership and Staffing

The 'Scientist' Stereotype

The reality is that most scientists are pretty normal people, at least outside the laboratory setting. There are some unique characteristics that may be more prevalent in the scientific community, and most of those characteristics can contribute positively to the organization.

Laboratory Technology

Greening Cold Storage

With the aim of increasing sample integrity, designers have looked at cold storage energy sinks, associated components and subsystems to increase system efficiency. As a result, a new breed of cold storage provides greater sample protection while being kinder to the environment.

Lab Design and Furnishings

Energy-Saving Exhaust Systems

An energy savings of 15 percent or more is available through the use of VAV laboratory exhaust ventilation systems. When properly designed, a VAV system can provide these savings without adversely impacting the air quality at downwind air intake locations or sensitive locations.

Laboratory Technology

Research-Specific Labs

A Bigger Role for the Food Lab of the Future

A series of food safety crises, including melamine contamination in pet foods; E coli-tainted spinach, peppers and green onions; and a Salmonella typhimurium outbreak in peanut products have transformed food analysts from vigilant sentries into veritable centurions stridently safeguarding the quality, regulatory compliance and safety of our food.

Business Management

Integrating Laboratory Automation

Regardless of what stage your lab is in, planning is essential to the successful application of automation and information technologies.

Lab Health and Safety

Managing Chemical Life Cycles

Virtually all labs have established procedures for managing their chemical inventories, but they may be outdated or the staff may be uninformed or poorly trained. 

How it Works

How it Works

How Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Sources Work in Mass Spectrometry

Design for atmospheric pressure ionization sources came of age in the late 1980s to provide a powerful analytical tool—the mass spectrometer —the ability to characterize analytes amenable to liquid chromatography as gas-phase ions removed from the liquid. The motivating force behind such invention has always been the need to answer questions better and faster with tools that provide greater utility.

Laboratory Technology