Lab Microscope Retrofits
Project Leads: Grace Vasiknanonte, Michael Liu
Sponsor: PowerSave Campus
TGIF Grant: $25,200
Project Theme: Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Project Location: Molecular Imaging Center
Project Description: This project aims to alleviate a large part of the inefficiencies in research-grade microscopes powered by metal halide lamps by replacing them with thermally stable and efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps.
Project Goals:
- Retrofit microscopes in the Molecular Imaging Center from inefficient and environmentally-hazardous light lamps to energy efficient and long-term use LED lamps.
- Establish metrics for the microscopes’ energy savings by recording time and duration of microscope usage
- Encourage behavioral change to conserve energy through outreach and awareness media
- Increase awareness of metal halide lamp alternatives to other microscope centers and laboratories on the UC Berkeley campus.
- Encourage other research units to adopt similar energy-saving initiatives independent of the initial TGIF grant.
- Find time to measure actual power draw from equipment to calculate metrics.