Laboratory renovations are among the most complex projects a lab manager will ever lead. Between safety requirements, uptime pressures, regulatory compliance, and limited budgets, sustainability can feel like one more competing priority.
Lab managers have far more influence over a renovation's carbon footprint than many realize. The key is understanding where those decisions matter most, how to communicate intent early and credibly, and who to partner with to translate ambition into outcomes.
“I believe that lab managers don't realize how big an impact they really do have. And their greatest influence, really, is on energy uses within the lab,” says Tad Costerison, associate/senior project architect at Taylor Design. When it comes to ventilation, air flow, and HVAC use within these labs, Costerison notes, lab managers “don't realize they have a lot of influence on the decision on how those operate day-to-day—and those are typically based on assumptions. What we want to do is avoid those default assumptions.”
Low-carbon goals are real, not a checkbox
Design teams can usually tell early whether sustainability is a genuine priority or an afterthought for lab stakeholders. The difference often comes down to how lab managers frame their goals at the very beginning of a project.
“When lab managers start to talk about sustainability right alongside their operational needs or their operational program, then we know it’s real,” Costerison says. “When they don’t just say, ‘Hey, I want a plaque on the wall,’ or they don’t just want to check a box at the end of a project because the institution is requiring it, that’s when it’s really clear that it’s part of those program requirements and they’re truly integrated.”
Another strong signal is internal alignment. “When leadership, lab managers, and end users come together as an integrated team, and they’re all saying the same thing,” says Costerison, “that integrated team signals to us that they are serious about sustainability.”
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One of the biggest green flags? “When they’re asking questions about the space or equipment that they can reuse, that turns on the light bulb for me that they’re ready to start talking about sustainability seriously,” he says. “The way that we can reduce the most carbon is to not have to demo and rebuild things—we reuse and adapt what’s already there.”
By contrast, red flags include vague commitments or deferring decisions. Costerison recalls one lab manager who said, “Show me how this reduces demand,” versus another who said, “We’ll optimize it later.” Only one of those approaches leads to meaningful carbon reduction, he warns.
Sustainability vs. safety is a false choice
One of the biggest barriers lab managers face during lab renovation planning is concern from users or leadership that sustainability compromises safety or performance. However, the opposite is often true.
“We try to frame sustainability and safety as mutually reinforcing instead of conflicting,” Costerison says. “Well-designed labs and equipment are often improving safety at the same time that they’re reducing energy consumption.”
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Zoning is one example. Separating high-intensity lab spaces from lower-demand areas allows teams to avoid over-designing systems where they aren’t needed, improving both safety control and efficiency.
Data is another powerful tool. “Data is such an important way to remove emotion from some of these trade-off discussions that we have with safety and sustainability," he explains. Submetering, audits, and benchmarking allow teams to see how safety, air quality, and energy performance align, without relying on opinions.
Early decisions shape long-term impact
Setting clear, day-one requirements and getting stakeholder buy-in right away is crucial, Costerison notes.
“All of the major drivers like the sizing of the systems, the layouts of the labs themselves, infrastructure decisions—those are largely locked in early in schematic to design development phases,” Costerison explains. “If you start to add sustainability later, the impact is greatly reduced.”
That doesn’t mean late changes are impossible, but Costerison advises making operational changes rather than structural changes. Workflow adjustments, digitization, and equipment consolidation can still yield savings, but they work best when anticipated early.
Selecting designers, engineers, and vendors who truly align with low-carbon goals is important, but not always straightforward. One warning sign is non-committal language. “Be aware of vague claims like ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘sustainable’ that lack quantification,” Costerison advises.
“Third-party certifications are really critical to us,” he adds, noting that resources like My Green Lab help validate claims with real data. “A lot of these aligned partners tend to share their data right alongside safety and cost and operational risks that may be part of their product.”
Procurement criteria also play a role. Increasingly, teams are requiring vendors to propose low-carbon options alongside cost and safety information. “That helps tie that to contractual criteria,” Costerison notes.
Metrics matter (but use caution)
Not all sustainability metrics are equally useful to lab managers. One of the most practical is energy use intensity (EUI). “That measures the amount of energy used per square foot per year,” Costerison explains. “That can tell the lab manager right away the amount of energy that their lab is using. That really ties into ventilation and exhaust rates as well. So, if they start to dial those back, they’re going to start seeing a direct correlation to a lower EUI or lower energy use within that space.”
“It's really important that all this equipment and the space itself is commissioned and has that information on day one to benchmark it against the way that that lab operates day-to-day, and in year one, year two, year three,” Costerison adds. “Those are really, really critical because we're starting to see labs being benchmarked against the EUI, but also other standards like ASHRAE.”
What to be cautious about? “Metrics based on annual offsets or paid sustainability offsets,” he says. “They do not give lab managers a good understanding of how well that lab is operating.”
How to communicate low-carbon goals to staff
Effective communication depends on the audience. “Understand who you’re communicating to and with. Leadership responds to risk, resilience, and return on investment,” Costerison says. Lab managers should frame sustainability as a way to reduce risk, increase resilience, and deliver long-term value.
End users, meanwhile, value reassurance. From fume hood signage to freezer challenges, small, visible actions (paired with data) can build shared ownership and reinforce results. “End users are responding to visibility—what's visible within the lab and what's relevant to them in their daily uses of these labs,” he says. “They want reassurance that safety and functionality remain non-negotiable.”
Low-carbon lab renovations are not about perfection or sacrificing safety for sustainability. They are about clarity, timing, and partnership. Lab managers who articulate intent early, ask the right questions, and choose aligned teams can meaningfully reduce carbon while improving how labs function every day.
“Leadership and lab managers really do care about the scientists that are there in their labs,” says Costerison, noting that it’s crucial to build trust among teams through effective communication about shared goals. “The return on investment is that they stay in that institution longer, they're happier, and it's also a sustainable and safe place to work.”
