At a glance
Ultra-low-temperature (ULT) freezers are some of the most energy-intensive equipment in UW research buildings. This pilot… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2025-2026
- Large
- Awarded
- $13,500
- Funding partners
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- Services and Activities Fee (SAF)
- Website & social links
Ultra-low-temperature (ULT) freezers are some of the most energy-intensive equipment in UW research buildings. This pilot project will test three temperature-monitoring approaches on a small number of on-campus freezers to identify the most effective method for reducing energy use and carbon emissions without affecting performance. Led by UW students through the Industrial Training and Assessment Center (ITAC), the project combines hands-on sustainability work research with education, outreach, and skill-building. Findings will inform UW Facilities, Green Labs, and researchers on best practices for freezer maintenance and energy savings, and provide labs with actionable guidance and educational materials to encourage sustainable behavior. Funds will be used for student worker stipends.
Ultra-low-temperature (ULT) freezers are among the most energy-intensive pieces of equipment in research buildings, operating continuously and often without routine preventive maintenance or performance monitoring. Small-scale improvements in operations and maintenance, including cleaning condenser coils, repairing door seals, performing defrosting, or adjusting set points if appropriate, can independently reduce the energy use of ULT freezers by 10-20% without affecting their temperature performance. At the University of Washington, however, there is a lack of university-specific, fact-based decision-making information for analyzing operating strategies, maintenance spending, or policy decisions related to the use of the large amount of electricity generated by the ultra-low-temperature freezers. This project proposes a carefully defined decision-focused pilot. In this case, rather than embarking on campus-wide implementation, this project proposes to instrument a small number of representative ULT freezers employing three different methods of temperature monitoring: a commercial enterprise system (TRAXX), a commercial lab-scale system (iMonnit), and a student-initiated in-house low-cost system. In this way, this project aims not only to gauge energy consumption but also to assess its impact on carbon emissions. The project’s primary purpose is to help UW Facilities, the Sustainability Office, and Green Labs identify the monitoring approach that is most effective at supporting energy savings, energy reliability, laboratory usability, and scalability across the whole university. Energy savings in kilowatt hours and reduced CO₂ emissions will be the primary measures of success, while dollar-value savings will be the secondary measure. Since this project is piloted, it is meant to reduce uncertainties rather than invest in operations. The project will be undertaken by a student team from the UW Industrial Training and Assessment Center (ITAC), under the supervision of faculty members. Students will be assigned designated roles within the project framework, including project management, technical implementation, data analysis, and outreach. Student compensation is a substantial component of the project budget and aligns with the Campus Sustainability Fund's aim of advancing student learning through applied sustainability projects. Education and outreach activities play a pivotal role in this project. The results of this project will be communicated to the research labs, decision-makers of UW Facilities, and the Refrigeration Shop regarding the impact of maintenance activities on the energy performance and reliability of freezers. They will also design educational materials for students and lab personnel on the technical results, turning them into effective materials that can lead to behavioral change. Campus‑specific, comparative data on the monitoring and maintenance of ULT freezers will give the University of Washington a clear, data‑driven strategy to reduce energy usage from one of the most energy‑intensive types of lab equipment. It will also provide students with hands‑on experience implementing real‑world sustainability projects.
Max
Project lead
- mjs02@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 5 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- UW Industrial Assessment Center
Thomas Tusty
Team member
- ttusty@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 2 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- UW Industrial Assessment Center
Nelly Romo Tijerina
Team member
- romonely@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 2 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- UW Industrial Assessment Center
Erin Edlund
Team member
- eedlund@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 2 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- UW Industrial Assessment Center
Alexander Mamishev
Team member
- mamishev@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Faculty
- Affiliated groups
- UW Industrial Assessment Center
Aleesha Wiest
Team member
- aleesha8@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Staff
- Affiliated groups
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
Introduction:
UW has a large number of ultra-low-temperature (ULT) freezers operating on campus. The current inventory lists 168 units, but when comparing to universities of similar size, it might be closer to 700 , with over 75% being housed within the School of Medicine. ULT freezers are among the most energy-intensive types of equipment on campus, and thus their maintenance affects their energy usage, cost savings and operations. If all participating ULT freezers are able to operate using 10% less electricity, the campus will potentially save tens of thousands of kilowatt-hours and thousands of dollars annually. Existing labs delay their maintenance due to the fact that many maintenance procedures require the ULT freezer to be turned off and completely empty before service, and because the maintenance itself is costly. Campus partners are currently exploring remote temperature monitoring of the ULT freezers to document both their reliability and potential energy savings. Through conducting research and gathering data, we will demonstrate how simple operational changes, such as coil cleaning, gasket repair, defrosting, adjusting safe ULT set points from -80C to -70C, and routine preventive maintenance will affect the energy consumption and temperature stability of the ULT freezers. Following our research, we will then develop a concise business case for either eliminating the cost of preventive maintenance or providing partial financial assistance for laboratory personnel to obtain preventive maintenance services at UW.
A student team in the UW Industrial Training & Assessment Center (ITAC), mentored by Professor Alex Mamishev, will lead the work from start to finish. The UW ITAC program is funded by the Department of Energy for student teams to conduct 20 energy assessments each year to small and medium sized manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest. Students are trained in data collection, technical writing and energy analyst to train the next generation of energy-savvy engineers. The UW ITAC team will instrument 20-30 ULT freezers with temperature loggers and add 3-5 noninvasive circuit energy meters. Sensors will record at 1-minute intervals across a baseline period, a maintenance period, and an after-change period. We will coordinate with UW Sustainability Green Labs and the Refrigeration Shop so that data fields, timing, and targets align with their planned efforts. Licensed electricians will perform any panel or receptacle work. Environmental Health and Safety will be consulted to ensure safe and lab appropriate installations. Each participating lab will receive brief plain language updates that summarize what was changed and why it matters.
Alignment with CSF Goals:
Campus Sustainability Fund support enables the student field work and analysis that turn ideas about preventive maintenance into policy. The project complements ongoing Green Labs plans to pair maintenance with remote temperature monitoring, and together these efforts will document savings and reliability while producing a clear recommendation for campus wide adoption. The project is a onetime transformational investment that is designed to shift how ULT freezer maintenance is handled long term rather than fund ongoing operations. This approach follows emerging best practice across research institutions that now require regular freezer maintenance to improve energy performance and reliability.
Student Involvement, Outreach, and Objectives:
Students will be responsible for the entire process including project planning, installation, data quality assurance, analysis, contacting labs and presenting findings. There will be 4 student roles including project Manager, technical lead, data analyst and outreach coordinator. The budget will allow for the largest portion of funding to go towards the payment for the students time for this effort.
Educating and outreach are also included in our overall strategy. We will brief all labs participating prior to the installation and after the results are provided with an explanation of what is being done and how it relates to their specific laboratory. Also, we will prepare and distribute 1-page handouts regarding how to keep ULT freezers efficient and concise examples of case studies that can be used by other UW units and peer institutions as they look at implementing similar practices. In addition, we will sponsor student-led workshops and present our findings to both UW Facilities and the Sustainability Office.
The project will produce linked temperature and energy data sets for a diverse set of freezers, verified savings for each maintenance action reported in energy savings, cost savings, and avoided carbon dioxide emissions. Each lab will receive a short memo that explains results. We will prepare a campus level scenario that shows potential savings using the current list of 168 units and a working estimate near 700 units. We will deliver a concise implementation memo that recommends free or subsidized maintenance and a simple rollout plan. Students will be trained in field data collection, analysis, and stakeholder communication. The final deliverable is a documented case that the savings justify the initial investment and that supports an enduring shift in freezer maintenance practice across campus. The resulting evidence will enable UW Facilities and campus leaders to establish an ongoing preventive maintenance program that continues after the grant period.
Feasibility Development Plan:
Upon receiving an invitation to submit a Full Proposal, we plan to initiate the setup of the project and secure laboratories participating with written agreements across multiple departments. We also plan to establish contact with the refrigeration shop to correlate our findings with their work orders and schedule required maintenance time frames, and coordinate with Green Labs to determine our targets and reporting format requirements. Additionally, we will reach out to Environmental Health and Safety to ensure compliance with laboratory access policies and regulations as well as electrical safety and any lock-out/tag-out requirements. Next, we will request estimates from licensed electricians which detail hours, materials, and rate assumptions, and finalize the sensor list and associated cost per vendor, develop a student hours schedule for each phase, and outline responsibilities for the Project Manager, Technical Lead, Data Analyst, and Outreach Coordinator. Furthermore, we will recruit and train students using both the Industrial Assessment Center and campus-based sustainability networks, and provide students with training in electrical safety, data management, lab entry protocols, and field checklist completion.
Alexander Mamishev
Advisor
- avmseal@uw.edu
- Affiliation and department
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor
- Stakeholder approval form
Request amount and budget
We have an estimated budget of $50,000. This amount is divided into 5 categories and all are well-justified, and all support our two main goals of increasing the efficiency of campus ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers, and providing opportunities for students to be involved in the process.
- Sensor Technology – $5,000: Essential monitoring equipment to measure the performance and the energy use of freezers on campus. This includes approximately 20-30 temperature sensors (for ULT freezers on campus) and 3-5 energy monitoring devices, with an approximate cost of $150-$250 per device including any needed data logging hardware. The equipment purchased in this category will serve as the data base from which we can identify inefficient energy usage, and measure how improved maintenance will decrease the power usage of ULT freezers on campus.
- Electrician Services – $8,000: To assure safe and reliable measurement of data from the freezers, we need to hire licensed UW electricians to install the energy sensing hardware. We estimate 40 hours of electrician services (inclusive of materials and permitting costs), and we expect to obtain reliable and accurate energy data to measure energy savings and validate our goal of improving freezer energy efficiency.
- Student Compensation – $35,000: Funding for a student led group to implement the project and to promote campus wide awareness of the project. This includes approximately 1400 hours of work done by undergraduate and graduate students (four students x 350 hours/student). The students will manage the projects, deploy the sensors, analyze the data, conduct outreach in the labs, and present their findings to the campus community. Student compensation accounts for approximately 70% of the total budget, which we believe is a significant investment in the professional growth of our students as they take on responsibilities consistent with the CSF's mission. We believe that having students run the project will result in greater educational value for them as they develop professionally and contribute to campus-wide sustainability initiatives.
- Materials & Supplies – $1,000: Miscellaneous materials to assist the student team with deploying the sensors and conducting outreach related to the project. The materials include one-time purchases of the hardware used to mount the sensors (cables, mounting brackets, etc.), data storage solutions (external hard drives, cloud storage fees, etc.), and educational outreach materials (posters, handouts, etc.).
- Contingency – $1,000: A buffer fund to account for any unknown needs to ensure successful completion of the project. Approximately 2% of the total budget will be reserved to cover any unexpected costs such as additional sensors, replacement parts, or other technical problems that may arise. The contingency fund provides protection against unanticipated expenses and allows us to maintain the integrity of our energy saving and student engagement goals.
Quotes and documentation:
• We will attach electrician quotes, a finalized sensor list with vendor pricing, and a student staffing plan if invited to submit the Full Proposal.
How the project will react to funding reductions
When we can secure funding for $15,000, we will perform a targeted pilot at the same scale as the original scope for the project; therefore, we will collect the same type of data during the three time periods identified in the original plan: baseline, maintenance (and/or repair) time frame, and post-maintenance time frame. The only difference between our pilot and the full-scale version of the project will be the number of sites we monitor and the way we coordinate on-campus installations with our partners. At the $15,000 funding level, we will have the ability to implement the pilot at one committed partner laboratory (Eichler Laboratory's Bank of 21 ULT Freezers – Foege N028A & B); this allows us to maximize efficiency and minimize the time and effort involved in coordinating activities among multiple laboratories and departments on campus. However, since we will need to install electrical monitors under the direction of licensed electricians and use safety protocols approved by Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) to ensure all monitoring is performed safely and legally, our costs will increase beyond the price of the equipment. The principal product of the pilot at this funding level will be a brief, fact-based memorandum that summarizes the effect of the maintenance on the energy consumption of the freezers monitored and provides a business case for supporting preventive maintenance based upon the entire campus inventory discussed in the original proposal.
If we can fund the project at $13,500 (a 10% decrease from the original budget), it will essentially be the same as previously described. The main differences will be reduced "nice-to-have" redundancy in the number of spare sensors purchased and in the materials and outreach development processes. However, the frequency of sampling and the pre-intervention-to-post-intervention analysis will continue to occur at 1-minute intervals. In addition, although we may need to reduce the number of students working on the project by limiting individual interactions with the laboratories being monitored, we will continue to provide each participating laboratory with a short, plain-language document explaining what changed and why it matters.
The third level of budgetary reduction ($12,000, a 20% decrease from the original budget) will require us to scale back the project. This means that instead of monitoring the entire group of freezers at the committed pilot site, we will limit the number of freezers we monitor and the number of different interventions we measure (e.g., we will focus on those maintenance actions that will have the most significant impact on the decision-making process and eliminate testing many maintenance actions simultaneously).
Although we will no longer be able to monitor every circuit of freezers that require electricity, installed by licensed electricians, as part of the monitoring process, the same pre-intervention-to-post-intervention framework will be maintained to compare results, ensuring the study's results remain valid for making policy or programmatic decisions.
The fourth level of budgetary reduction ($7,500; a 50% decrease from the original budget) will result in a minimal viable, high-confidence feasibility study. While we will retain the same committed pilot site and the same baseline-to-intervention-to-post-intervention monitoring sequence, we will dramatically restrict both the breadth of metered freezers and the student hours devoted to the project, i.e., we will monitor only a limited number of representative freezer circuits and a shorter list of maintenance events.
At this level of funding, we will still produce a confirmed dataset, a summary of the effect of maintenance on a portion of the measured freezers, and an implementation memorandum that explains what we directly measured and what we estimate will occur in other parts of the campus for planning purposes.
Plans for financial longevity
Unlike a regular program, this project was designed as a decision-making-focused, time-limited pilot. Funds provided by the Campus Sustainability Fund will be used to generate high-quality, campus-specific data to determine whether to continue ULT freezer monitoring and maintenance at the University of Washington. All project activities, including sensor placement, data analysis, and education during the grant period, will be carried out by the student team under the direction of faculty and in collaboration with facilities, Green Labs, and participating lab stations. As part of the CSF grant, the costs associated with conducting the pilot will be covered, including student stipends, sensors, and electrical assistance. After the completion of the project, no additional funds will be required from the CSF for long-term project management.
A key outcome of the project will be an evidence-based decision pathway for the campus facilities and sustainability offices. However, if the data shows substantial energy and carbon savings with no adverse effect on the freezers' reliability, long-term project management would then become an integral component of the buildings' operations on campus. The UW facilities and sustainability partners would then decide whether preventive maintenance is funded as part of their budget or is a standard operating procedure to ensure that the ULT freezers on campus are adequately maintained. If an efficient and cost-effective way to monitor using a specific type of equipment (i.e., enterprise-level or lab-level systems) is developed as a result of this project, then the acquisition and subsequent maintenance of the monitoring equipment would occur using the same processes as all other acquisitions and maintenance activities of the university. This approach will help minimize long-term monitoring costs. The educational materials produced as part of this project, i.e., lab summaries, educational materials on optimizing ULT freezers, and educational materials for students, do not require any long-term financial commitment. Ideally, the materials generated will be reusable across various aspects of Green Labs, Facilities, and Academic Departments' sustainability efforts. Notably, the project has additional support from the institution beyond the CSF funding. Specifically, there is a cash contribution of $5,000 from the campus gift fund and an in-kind contribution of staff time for coordinating laboratories, both of which are noted. The addition of these resources further expands the diversity of reliance upon the CSF. In summary, the CSF funding will serve as a one-time, high-impact pilot that provides clarity and answers questions related to institutional decision-making. Long-term interpretation, administration, and potential funding will be conducted by the respective units on campus based on the project's outcomes.
Duration: 12 months from project start
Project completion date: 02/15/2027
- Month 1: Project Kick-off - The student team launches the project with a kickoff meeting, inviting UW Facilities, UW Sustainability Office, and participating research lab representatives to establish project objectives and roles. The student project manager initiates the plan for installing sensors, collecting data, and selecting target ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers. The student project manager ensures that all recruited students are trained on electrical lab safety.
- Month 2: Planning Complete - Once the stakeholders are on board, the student team completes the identification of 20 to 30 ULT freezers representing various laboratories across the university to ensure a representative sample for comparison purposes. The students purchase temperature and energy sensors, create plans for the installation of the sensors, and prepare the data collection protocols under the supervision of Alexander Mamishev.
- Month 3: First Round of Sensor Installations - The student technical lead arranges for the installation of temperature sensors in the designated ULT freezers while coordinating with the laboratory personnel to minimize disruptions to their ongoing research. At the same time, the team arranges for licensed electricians to install energy monitoring equipment on the power circuitry of the freezers. Once the energy monitoring equipment is installed, the team begins the collection of baseline performance data from the freezers and conducts quality assurance tests to verify that all sensors are functioning properly and transmitting accurate data.
- Month 4: Collection of Baseline Performance Data - By early Month 4, all the sensors (energy and temperature) are installed and functional on the designated ULT freezers. The student team performs quality control tests to verify that the sensors are operational and transmitting accurate data. The team collects baseline performance data from the freezers during the normal operating conditions (prior to any scheduled maintenance). Throughout Month 4, the student team provides regular updates to the laboratory users regarding the status of the project and encourages open communication and collaboration.
- Month 5: Continuous Monitoring & Preliminary Findings - The project enters the phase of continuous monitoring of the ULT freezers' performance once the equipment has been installed. The student data analyst continuously monitors the collection of temperature and energy usage data from the freezers, verifying the accuracy and consistency of the data at least once per week. The student team examines the preliminary trends and patterns identified during the baseline period to inform any necessary adjustments (e.g., sensor calibration, data logging configuration adjustments) to the data collection processes to enhance data accuracy. The student team actively monitors the data streams to identify and address any anomalies as they occur.
- Month 6: Project Progress Check & Preventive Maintenance - Approximately midway through the project, the student team convenes a meeting with the participating laboratory representatives and UW Facilities personnel to discuss the preliminary findings and maintain open communication. In conjunction with UW Facilities, the student team organizes preventive maintenance on a portion of the monitored freezers (e.g., cleaning condenser coils or inspecting door seals) to assess the effects on efficiency. The student team logs the maintenance activities and captures pre- and post-maintenance data, with the student technicians closely tracking any variations in energy consumption or temperature stability post-maintenance to ensure that any improvements or anomalies are captured and resolved in a timely manner.
- Month 7: Post-Maintenance Monitoring & Issue Resolution - Following the completion of the maintenance activities, the student team continues to monitor the freezers intensively to collect post-maintenance performance data and compare it to the previous baseline metrics. The student data analyst begins organizing the accumulating dataset and performs ongoing, informal analysis to identify any emerging trends, particularly any differences between maintained and non-maintained freezers. As any sensor or equipment problems arise (e.g., sensor failure or data gap), the student team resolves the issue(s) using available backup sensors or technical assistance, proactively mitigating the risk of disrupting data collection. As the project progresses, the student team communicates with the laboratory personnel regarding the project's status and any significant observations related to their freezers.
- Month 8: Data Review & Comparative Analysis - After collecting data for approximately six months, both prior to and following the maintenance activities, the student team reviews the dataset comprehensively. Under the mentorship of Alexander Mamishev, the students conduct preliminary comparative analysis by evaluating the energy consumption and temperature stability of the freezers that were subject to maintenance versus those that were not. This initial analysis quantifies any energy savings or performance enhancements due to the preventive maintenance. The students document their findings and modify the analysis methodology as needed to ensure accuracy and clarity. The students continue to engage the stakeholders (lab and facilities personnel) on an ongoing basis to provide them with interesting insights and to foster continued enthusiasm for the project's outcomes.
- Month 9: Final Data Collection & Analysis Preparation - The active monitoring phase of the project concludes in Month 9, after approximately six months of data collection encompassing multiple seasons. The sensors remain in place until the end of Month 9 to capture any late-emergent anomalies and to ensure a comprehensive dataset. During Month 9, the student team focuses on completing the final aspects of data collection: downloading and safeguarding all the data, backing it up, and conducting final validation checks. By Month 9, the student team compiles a comprehensive, validated dataset and commences preparations for in-depth analysis (e.g., organizing the data by freezer and by intervention, outlining the methodologies to be applied).
- Month 10: In-Depth Data Analysis - The student team dedicates Month 10 to conducting an in-depth analysis of the cumulative dataset. Using statistical tools and guidance from Alexander Mamishev, the students correlate the temperature profiles and energy consumption trends of the freezers with the maintenance events for each freezer. The team quantifies the effectiveness of the preventive maintenance by comparing the energy consumption (kWh) and estimated cost savings ($) for the serviced freezers relative to those without maintenance. The students also initiate drafting the framework of a business case for wider implementation of ULT freezer maintenance programs based upon the data-driven findings.
- Month 11: Synthesizing Results & Developing Recommendations - Based upon the detailed analysis, the team synthesizes the findings into actionable insights and recommendations. The students, in their leadership capacities, create a strong and compelling business case for implementing free or low-cost preventive maintenance for ULT freezers across the entire campus, supported by the quantifiable energy and cost savings derived from the project. The students translate the technical findings into accessible formats such as educational materials (e.g., infographics, summary reports, presentation slides) that describe the principal findings and sustainability implications. The students submit the report for review to Alexander Mamishev to ensure that it is clearly written and effectively connects the project's actions to its objectives and to the broader goals of the Campus Sustainability Fund.
- Month 12: Sharing Findings & Project Closure - In the final month, the project reaches its culmination by disseminating what was learned and establishing long-term impact. The students present the project findings and recommendations to the UW Facilities Management, UW Sustainability Office, and other key stakeholders in a prominent setting, emphasizing the energy savings realized and the rationale for increasing maintenance efforts. To promote the educational mission, the students host a workshop or campus seminar presenting the project findings to the larger UW community, enhancing public awareness and encouraging behavioral changes concerning energy-consuming laboratory equipment. The students formally submit all final documentation (including the completed final report, the compiled dataset, and a list of recommendations for extending the initiative) to the Campus Sustainability Fund and applicable campus units. The students also plan to share the findings beyond the University of Washington (e.g., conference presentation) so that other institutions may benefit from the sustainability advantages generated by this project.
Plans for long-term project management
To ensure continued success after the graduating class of the current Student Leaders, we created this Project to be role-based, documented, and aligned with institutional partners; it is not reliant on any one person. The key implementation work is organized around the four student leadership positions (Project Manager, Technical Lead, Data Analyst, and Outreach Coordinator); thus, succession is obvious, as each position has a defined area of responsibility, repeatable deliverables, and explicit hand-off artifacts.
1) Succession pipeline via ITAC training and recruitment. As the project is housed in the University of Washington's Industrial Training & Assessment Center (ITAC), where students are being trained in data collection and technical communication as part of the ongoing Department of Energy funded program, we will recruit and train "shadow" contributors (at least one under-classman or early stage graduate student per role) in the first six months of the project, thereby allowing the next generation of leaders to learn the workflow from their predecessors, while they are still actively engaged.
This is in addition to recruiting and training students through ITAC and campus sustainability networks and providing them with training in safety, data management, and laboratory protocol.
2) Role hand off play books and a continuity calendar. Each role will document a "living playbook" (standard operating procedures, checklists, vendor lists, troubleshooting, lab communication template, and analysis script).
There will be two official handoffs: (i) after the baseline installation and QA, and (ii) before final analysis and dissemination.
Because some work is repetitive (e.g., weekly data quality checks and lab updates), we will document these as recurring tasks assigned to specific people so that when a task is reassigned to someone else, the new leader can continue the work without disruption.
3) Institutional anchors that will persist past student transitions. Faculty mentorship will ensure continuity across generations of the project team — the student team will lead the project from beginning to end, with faculty mentorship from Professor Alex Mamishev.
In parallel, the project is operationally tied to various campus departments with whom we collaborate to identify and secure targets, establish timing, and ensure safe implementation (Green Labs, Refrigeration Shop, and Environmental Health and Safety). This will ensure there is no loss of connection to these departments, regardless of changes in student personnel.
4) Continuity between participating laboratories through designated contact persons. Participating laboratories will identify a principal point of contact to support scheduling, site access, and operational limitations for each laboratory, thereby lessening reliance on the relationship between the individual student and the laboratory.
For example, the Eichler laboratory has agreed to serve as a pilot laboratory and provide access to 21 ULT freezers; they also agree to assist us in coordinating the project during both the baseline and post-intervention phases.
5) Continuity of long-term effects through institutional adoption. We intend to convert the results of this project into an implementation memo and a campus rollout plan, along with links to the associated energy/temperature datasets and validated avoided carbon savings.
The evidence generated by this project is expected to allow UW Facilities and other campus decision-makers to develop a continuous preventive maintenance program that continues after the grant period, thereby extending the project's life beyond the involvement of the student leaders.
Problem statement
Freezers that store biological samples and other materials at very low temperatures (often below -50 degrees Celsius) are crucial to the University of Washington’s research mission; however, freezers are also among the most energy-intensive equipment used in laboratories. The university currently tracks 168 ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers. Still, some university departments believe there could be a significantly larger number of ULTs on campus, since ULTs are often purchased through departmental budgets and stored in laboratories that do not report directly to the central administration. This includes a significant proportion of ULTs in laboratories conducting biomedical and medical research.
Since ULTs run continuously to ensure biological samples are kept at the proper temperature, any inefficiency in their energy use results in wasted electrical power and related greenhouse gas emissions. However, the reliability of ULTs is not negotiable – failure of a ULT unit during an experiment can destroy the entire year's worth of research. Therefore, the project addresses a fundamental sustainability issue at the University of Washington: There is no scalable, measurable method to determine which ULTs are using excessive amounts of energy, measure the amount of energy saved and corresponding greenhouse gas reductions from performing preventative maintenance on those units, or to provide the basis for implementing sustainable campus practices that reduce energy usage and minimize disruptions to research. Many laboratories at UW currently delay maintenance on their ULTs because standard procedures require the unit to be shut down, emptied, and serviced, which is difficult to justify without actual data demonstrating the energy and carbon footprint implications of delaying maintenance. Therefore, the University of Washington has identified a high-impact opportunity area for improving its sustainability performance where operational limitations, rather than a lack of good intentions, are preventing consistent application of sustainability improvement strategies.
The initial conceptualization of this project was driven by a "measure first" approach: If the University of Washington can pair high-quality data on temperature stability with direct measurements of each ULT unit's energy consumption, the University will have a reliable foundation on which to make decisions about sustainable campus practices. While campus partners are currently working on remote temperature monitoring to improve laboratory operation and provide a basis for reliability documentation, our project adds the previously missing element – validated energy data — so the University of Washington can clearly correlate maintenance actions with reductions in electrical energy consumption and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (in addition to cost savings).
As part of the CSF reviewer feedback on the Letter of Intent (LOI), we will expand the proposed project to place greater emphasis on environmental sustainability outcomes and provide a more specific framework for reducing energy use and minimizing carbon footprints. The approach is intended to be feasible, minimally invasive, and replicable. The student team will attach temperature loggers to a representative sample of the ULTs and place a limited number of non-invasive circuit energy meters to record minute-by-minute performance of each ULT across three periods: a baseline period, an intervention/maintenance period, and a post-intervention/maintenance period. During the intervention/maintenance period, the student team will implement several established, practical actions that laboratories and facilities staff already know are effective (i.e., coil cleaning, gasket replacement, defrosting, etc.) and safe set-point adjustments (i.e., -80°C to -70°C where applicable) to quantify changes in both energy usage and temperature stability. Strong campus partnerships and the presence of real-world deployment conditions are drivers of this project. The Eichler Lab has agreed to serve as the pilot site, provide access to 21 ULTs located in Foege, and coordinate the installation of monitoring and maintenance equipment to minimize disruption to ongoing research activities and facilitate safe, compliant access for monitoring and maintenance. By locating the project in an active research setting, the project will generate results that the University of Washington can rely on and act upon – ultimately generating a compelling business and sustainability case for implementation of campus-wide preventive maintenance practices (including options such as complimentary or subsidized maintenance) that will continue after the grant period.
Problem context
This project was designed to build on the laboratory sustainability support structures at the University of Washington (UW) rather than develop another parallel program. Currently, there are active partnerships among UW entities to improve the reliability of laboratory freezers and to promote best-practice energy use within laboratories; the university is also examining remote temperature monitoring of ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers to assess reliability and potential energy savings. We will develop the "missing link" between measurement and action: utilizing remote monitoring systems to provide the necessary maintenance documentation and generate energy data to enable the development of a campus-wide sustainability case based on energy savings from improved ULTs.
In terms of operations, our project is intended to integrate with and align with the teams at UW involved in ULT performance. Specifically, we plan to coordinate directly with the UW Sustainability Green Labs and the Refrigeration Shop to ensure that the data fields, timing, and targets of this project align with theirs. Additionally, we will rely on licensed electricians to safely install energy meters. We will use the resources of Environmental Health & Safety to assist with installations and protocols suitable for laboratories. In summary, we are not requiring laboratories to adopt a new system independently; we are integrating it into established workflow processes (access to laboratories, scheduling for refrigeration maintenance, safety regulations) so that the project's outputs may be used by the campus units ultimately responsible for implementing sustainable solutions.
From a technical perspective, the project expands upon existing monitoring by producing a data set that UW typically does not collect: combined temperature and energy usage measurements over a baseline period, a maintenance period, and a post-maintenance period, all collected via non-intrusive temperature logging devices and a limited number of non-invasive circuit energy meters. By collecting these types of data, UW will be able to identify the specific actions (e.g. cleaning coils, repairing gaskets, defrosting, adjusting set points from -80C to -70C when feasible) that result in measurable reductions in energy usage while still maintaining temperature stability; this type of evidence is precisely what is required to provide a basis for sustainable decision making that can be utilized to augment Green Labs' outreach and engagement activities, as well as the maintenance capabilities of facilities staff.
Additionally, the project aligns with UW's ecological structure because it begins with committed partners and scales to achieve collective impact. Specifically, the Eichler Laboratory has agreed to serve as the initial pilot site for this project and provide access to the 21 ULT freezers located in Foege. They will also ensure the safe, low-disruption deployment of the remote monitoring equipment; they will share operational context and facilitate dissemination in a manner that protects sensitive research information (including aggregated or de-identified reporting when necessary). This early commitment will help reduce implementation risk and establish a credible campus demonstration model that can be easily replicated across other departments.
Lastly, the proposal is structured to enhance existing initiatives through joint products and communications. Specifically, our team will develop and distribute easy-to-understand laboratory updates and create campus-based materials (handouts, case studies, workshops, and presentations) for UW Facilities and the Sustainability Office; thus, the lessons learned from this project will be translated into coordinated behavior changes and consistent maintenance practices across laboratories.
It is important to note that the final output of the project is not simply findings, but a concise implementation memorandum and business case for removing impediments to preventive maintenance (i.e., subsidized or eliminated costs for services), thereby allowing UW Facilities and campus leadership to maintain an ongoing program beyond the funding of the grant.
Measure the impacts
| Impact / goal | Metric(s) of success | UW stakeholders impacted |
|---|---|---|
| A measurable decrease in energy consumption and carbon emissions from one of UW's labs that uses a lot of energy. | Measures of success include kW savings (energy savings) and MTCO2e (avoided carbon emissions). As a secondary benefit, financial savings will be reported. Measures of success include kW savings (energy savings) and MTCO2e (avoided carbon emissions). | Undergraduate, Graduate, Alumni, Academic staff, Admin staff |
| Making decisions based on evidence for sustainability that is affordable and can be scaled up. | long-term implementation of ULT freezer monitoring and preventive maintenance can be incorporated into UW's existing operational structures without the need for continued CSF funding.long-term implementation of ULT freezer monitoring and maintenance | Undergraduate, Graduate, Alumni, Academic staff, Admin staff |
| Student Leadership and Workforce Development in Research Sustainability | students will gain hands-on experience in instrumentation, data collection, and analysis | Undergraduate, Graduate |
Education and outreach goals
The goal of our outreach and education strategy is to increase this project's visibility across the University at large while enabling lab managers to act on the data it provides. Since the project offers both linked temperature and energy datasets and quantified savings per maintenance action for energy, cost, and reduced CO2 emissions, the primary focus of our communications will be to translate the quantifiable data into actionable steps that can be easily adopted by laboratory and campus partners without requiring additional workflow burdens. The student team will be responsible for leading the entire outreach effort, from initial contact with laboratories to presenting findings, thereby ensuring that outreach is integrated into the grant's core deliverables.
Initially, publicity will be achieved through direct contact with the laboratories involved in the project and with the campus-based organizations that have already been established to facilitate scaling up results. During the project planning phase, we will coordinate with UW Sustainability Green Labs and the Refrigeration Shop to ensure that project goals, timing, and reporting align with their respective initiatives. At the same time, we consult with Environmental Health and Safety to ensure that all equipment installations and laboratory access continue to meet safety standards and best practices.
Additionally, we will provide basic participation and contact information for the project through the CSF project listing, allowing the broader campus community to engage with the project consistent with the plan to provide contact information through CSF communications.
Lab-based education will be conducted through clear, lab-specific communications before, during, and after data collection. Before installing equipment, we will brief each participating laboratory on the equipment being installed, the types of data that will be collected, and the data-collection schedule to minimize disruptions. Each laboratory's Letter of Commitment has emphasized a measurement-focused approach throughout the three phases (baseline, intervention, post-change) as well as scheduling and safety expectations within research areas. While collecting data and conducting maintenance activities, each laboratory will receive a brief, plain-language update explaining the changes made and why they matter. Following data analysis, each laboratory will receive a short memo describing the results in a practical format, facilitating immediate follow-up and enhancing learning through the laboratory's own data.
To foster respectful, scalable knowledge sharing, we will disseminate results in ways that protect sensitive research information. The pilot laboratory commitment explicitly supports sharing results with other laboratories and campus stakeholders via aggregate or de-identified reports as necessary, and we will adhere to this standard across the project. This will allow us to illustrate what practices result in energy savings, measure those savings, and normalize best practices for operating ULT freezers across the campus without revealing laboratory operational constraints, freezer contents, or research timelines.
University-wide education will be based on concise, high-impact materials that laboratories can use immediately. The proposal is already committed to developing and distributing one-page handouts outlining how to maintain the efficiency of ULT freezers, along with concise case studies that other UW departments and peer institutions can use when establishing similar practices. The handouts will be written to reflect practical applications for freezer rooms and lab benches and will emphasize actions that can be planned, verified, and repeated; we will also provide a short overview of how to interpret "before/after" measurements so that teams understand the relationship between maintenance practices and quantifiable energy and reliability results.
Broad-scale outreach will also occur through student-led educational forums and stakeholder briefing sessions that transform project results into shared campus-wide learning opportunities. As part of the proposal, we will sponsor student-led workshops and present findings to UW Facilities and the Sustainability Office. We will consider these two approaches as separate but complementary: workshops focused on lab-based practices and decision-making processes, and stakeholder briefing sessions focused on how UW can build on the project's benefits after the grant ends. In addition to the workshops and briefing sessions, the project's final deliverables will include a campus-level scenario demonstrating potential energy savings using UW's current inventory of 168 units and a working estimate of approximately 700 units, which will help communicate the scope of potential savings beyond individual laboratory sites. Finally, we will communicate the project's outcomes through a clear "path to adoption" statement: the project is intended to create a sustainable paradigm for future freezer maintenance, rather than fund ongoing operations. To achieve this, we will produce a concise implementation memo recommending free or low-cost preventive maintenance and a straightforward roll-out plan. This memo, combined with de-identified results and case studies, will be disseminated to campus partners that can institutionalize the practice, reinforcing the intent of the proposal that the resulting evidence will empower UW Facilities and campus leadership to develop an ongoing preventive maintenance program that will persist after the grant period.
For the outreach and education strategy to be deemed successful, there will be several tangible outputs that can be recognized as creating campus-wide value through CSF review: laboratories receiving regular updates and a results memo, campus-ready handouts and case studies disseminated through partner networks, workshops and presentations that facilitate translation of results into practice, and a final implementation memo and campus-scale scenario that will encourage continued adoption and sustainability after the grant ends.
Student involvement
Students’ professional growth is the central focus of “Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer Optimization through Sensor Monitoring.” Instead of just offering an operational service, the project is intended to be a student-led/mentor-supported project implementation effort. Students at the University of Washington’s (UW) Industrial Training & Assessment Center (ITAC), supervised by Professor Alex Mamishev, are responsible for completing all elements of the project. Consequently, students will utilize the same ITAC workflow to obtain experience in collecting data, preparing technical documents, and analyzing energy.
This will provide students with professional growth opportunities through relevant paid employment, with clearly defined, measurable responsibilities and accountability. A substantial portion of the project budget will fund students to work on aspects of the project, such as installing 20-30 Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) freezers with temperature loggers and adding 3-5 non-invasive circuit energy meters to those freezers. Collectively, students will provide more than 1,400 hours of undergraduate and graduate work (four students, phased across installation, maintenance, and synthesis). In addition, the project's structure enables students to lead it, install sensors, collect and analyze sensor data, contact laboratories to request information, and present their results to the university community. Consequently, students will be compensated for providing professional-quality deliverables and for practicing the habits of execution, documentation, and stakeholder communication associated with the entry-level position of an engineer working in energy engineering and sustainability implementation.
To allow students to acquire technical knowledge and experience directing projects, student responsibilities will be structured into four distinct positions: Project Manager, Technical Lead, Data Analyst, and Outreach Coordinator. Each of the above roles requires students to be responsible for each element of the project process, from project planning and data analysis to contacting laboratories, requesting information, and presenting results to stakeholders. Thus, students can experience the complexity of managing timelines, technical requirements, and stakeholder expectations in a real-world project environment.
In addition, the project will serve as a hands-on training program in the application of field instrumentation and the safe placement of equipment in an active research environment. Students will install temperature loggers and 3-5 non-invasive circuit energy meters onto 20-30 ULT freezers. Also, students will collect readings at 1-minute intervals across three time frames: baseline, maintenance, and post-maintenance. From this data collection process, students will obtain the knowledge required to plan and document installations, validate field data reliability, and interpret data in context. The project will also serve as a model for best practices in ensuring safety and regulatory compliance: licensed electricians will perform any panel or receptacle work, and Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) will be consulted to determine whether the installation complies with safe, acceptable standards for laboratories.
Multiple levels of mentorship will be incorporated into the project to help students convert data into actionable recommendations for campus units. First, faculty mentorship from Professor Mamishev will support students in technical rigor and in selecting methodologies. Second, the students will work with UW Sustainability Green Labs and the Refrigeration Shop to ensure that the project design and collected data align with current campus-wide initiatives. Third, the project will be designed to “work within the system” to teach students a valuable professional skill: producing output that fits into the campus’s existing operations rather than creating a standalone pilot project.
Site host laboratories will augment students' professional development by imposing real-world constraints that students must address while implementing the project. Examples include coordinating scheduling with active research, reducing disruptions, and maintaining access protocols to ensure safe access. The Eichler Lab has provided a letter of intent to serve as the first pilot laboratory for the students, thereby providing a tangible learning environment for the students; the laboratory has agreed to grant access to 21 ULT freezers located in Foege N028A & B to the students to coordinate the installation and maintenance activities of the students to reduce disruptions, and to follow EH&S guidelines for laboratory access protocols and electrical safety. Any modifications to panels or receptacles will be performed by certified personnel in accordance with UW Policy. The relationship between the laboratory and the students will enable students to develop the skills needed to communicate effectively with stakeholders, plan work responsibly, and implement the project safely in a complex stakeholder environment.