“A fume hood running on maximum consumes as much energy as a single-family home—that was news to me,” says Jens-Henning Krause, sharing one of the eureka moments that the LEAF program has given him so far. Krause is a technical assistant in the Institute for Innate Immunity at the University Hospital Bonn, whose laboratory is home to some 80 researchers. The high-powered hoods of which he speaks are installed above workstations where staff handle volatile substances and are essential for their safety. They require a particularly large amount of energy when the sliding doors are open, i.e. when someone is currently conducting experiments at this station. Once work is completed, the doors are closed and the hood powers down into sleep mode.
Guzzling as much energy as a single-family home
In the hectic daily life of a lab, however, it is all too easy for the doors to not be fully closed, meaning that the hood keeps on going at full pelt—thus consuming valuable energy unnecessarily. The lab has hit upon a simple yet highly effective trick to stop this happening, namely sticking a smiley face on the two sliding doors (see photo) that you can only see when they are completely closed. “This really encourages colleagues to close the doors once they’ve finished,” Krause explains. Similar stickers have also been stuck on all other equipment that is able to be switched off after use. This is just one of many examples of how a greater awareness of sustainability has changed the work done in the pilot laboratories at the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn that have taken part in the first round of the LEAF program.
LEAF standards for Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework. Developed by University College London, the program is designed to help laboratories curb both their negative impact on the environment and their operating costs. It is now used by 85 research institutions worldwide and combines practical measures with scientifically sound standards and a three-level certification system (Bronze, Silver, Gold). It instructs laboratories in the art of saving energy, water, chemicals and plastics, putting sustainable procurement processes in place, and using carbon and cost calculators to record their progress Five pilot laboratories at the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn have successfully completed the first round of the LEAF program and the associated assessment, receiving a Bronze certificate.
Combining excellent research with environmental responsibility
“Our job is to guarantee excellence in research while also taking responsibility for our environment and resources,” says Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability, explaining why the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn are getting involved. “With LEAF, we’re creating a structured framework for enabling sustainability in the day-to-day life of a lab to be measured and making it an integral part of what goes on there. I’m especially delighted that the impetus for going down this particular road came from the staff themselves.”
One of the many lab staff who is fully behind LEAF is Saskia Seland. She is a technical assistant in the Bonn Institute for Organismic Biology, which studies the genetic and evolutionary origin of the morphological and behavioral diversity evident in various species of fruit fly. The samples that staff use for their research have to be cooled. As part of the LEAF pilot, the lab has increased the temperature inside the freezers from minus 80 to minus 70 degrees Celsius. “This reduces the annual energy consumption of these appliances by a third without damaging the samples,” Seland explains. Refrigerator temperatures have also been adjusted accordingly.
Separating waste: a key factor
As far as both Seland and Krause are concerned, however, the biggest change relates to waste separation, which has been improved considerably in the laboratories thanks to LEAF. It is a key factor in light of the huge amounts of waste that labs generate. “You’d be surprised by all the kinds of plastic that a lab accumulates,” Seland says. For instance, many consumables such as pipettes, syringes and Petri dishes are often made of plastic and come packaged in plastic too, in some cases individually. Both labs now collect up their plastic, paper and general waste completely separately and send it for recycling—provided that the material has not been contaminated by any experiments. This is because, of course, the number-one rule in the labs is still “safety first.” This ensures that no hazardous substances get into the environment, thus upholding the principle of sustainability. Waste is also being separated even more systematically now in the offices belonging to the various institutes.
Besides recycling, however, preventing waste in the first place is another important part of LEAF. “You can often achieve a significant reduction in waste by making small tweaks to how you work,” Krause says. “For example, I can do the same experiment but only use one instead of ten pipette tips by not inserting it as far into my sample tube so it doesn’t get contaminated.” With 80 people working in the lab, this is making a considerable difference to the amount of material being used.
Strengthening team spirit
All in all, Krause and Seland agree that LEAF has brought about a significant increase in their colleagues’ awareness of sustainability and what they are doing to support it. And, aside from reducing resource consumption and thus cutting costs, the program is having another positive effect: “LEAF has strengthened our team spirit and led us to talk more with other labs,” Krause points out. The team has set itself an ambitious goal, namely achieving a Silver certificate in the next round of the LEAF program, which kicked off in February 2026.
