DELTA – Display Energy for Laboratory Tracking and Action

The DELTA project is being run by the Estates Department of the University of Bradford, in conjunction with the University's Ecoversity programme and HEEPI (both our S-Lab and SusteIT initiatives). It is concerned with applying ICT technologies to address the issues of energy consumption in laboratories, and especially those associated with fume cupboard ventilation systems. This is a major issue for Estates departments as a single fume cupboard can consume £1500-3000 of energy a year.

The core of the proposal is a pilot implementation of a laboratory energy information system, involving display of ventilation-related energy consumption data at fume cupboard and laboratory level, and automatic reporting of performance to key users.

This will be build on previous experience of this in non-laboratory buildings during the Ecoversity project. The impact of the scheme on user behaviour and fume cupboard energy use will be monitored in detail. The project will enable other institutions to take similar action by providing guidance documents, software code and other materials, and creating a network of interested institutions/individuals to provide peer support during and after the project.

It will also develop a ‘road map’ of future ‘smart laboratory spaces’ which use ICT to improve energy efficiency and utilisation as a resource for funding bodies, institutions and others when designing or refurbishing laboratory space. This, and the information gained from the pilot will be used to develop the capacity of Estates departments to deal with laboratory ventilation issues through training materials and a training workshop.

The project is funded by the Green IT programme of JISC, which supports UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies and provides the JANET network (see www.jisc.ac.uk).