Advancing Efficiency in Laboratory Design: Actionable Insights from NREL

2025 Lab Design Conference speaker—Rachel Romero, senior engineer and project leader at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

At the closing general session of the 2025 Lab Design Conference, attendees gathered in Denver, CO to explore an increasingly critical challenge: how to design and operate energy-efficient laboratories without compromising safety or performance. In a field where labs often consume three to ten times more energy than commercial office buildings, the need for smarter, leaner, and safer environments has never been more urgent.

Presented by Rachel Romero, senior engineer and project leader at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Tanna Tennyson, a graduate intern at NREL, Advancing Efficiency in Laboratory Design: A Comprehensive Overview of Smart Labs offered an in-depth, actionable overview of the Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP) Smart Labs initiative. With examples, tools, and real-world lessons learned, the presentation gave attendees a playbook for transforming high-energy labs into high-performance facilities.

Why smart labs matter

One key statistic underscored the session’s urgency: at one NREL partner campus, laboratories occupied just 11 percent of the square footage but consumed 42 percent of the total energy. “Laboratories are a large, large consumer of energy,” Romero emphasized, noting that despite this, they’re often overlooked in energy efficiency initiatives compared to other building systems.

Smart Labs addresses this head-on by marrying world-class science with optimized design and operations. As Romero put it: “Through the design and operation, we can bring safety and efficiency to these high-performance laboratories.”

Inside the Smart Labs framework

The Smart Labs approach is structured around a four-step cycle: Plan, Assess, Optimize, and Manage. Each step builds toward continuous improvement—recognizing that laboratories are constantly evolving as research changes, personnel rotate, and technology advances.

Plan: build your team early

Stakeholder alignment is essential from the start. “Establishing that team of stakeholders is super crucial and important,” said Tennyson. A strong Smart Labs team includes facility operations, EHS and industrial hygiene professionals, researchers, and upper management. Early collaboration ensures that strategies align with scientific goals, safety standards, and available resources.

Tip: Use the I2SL Laboratory Benchmarking Tool during the planning phase to evaluate your facility’s current energy performance against national benchmarks.

Assess: quantify risk, reduce overdesign

Smart Labs emphasizes risk-based ventilation through a Laboratory Ventilation Risk Assessment (LVRA), moving away from static air change rates and toward a data-driven approach. By classifying laboratory risks from negligible (0) to extreme (4) and evaluating chemical usage, frequency, and containment strategies, teams can tailor ventilation rates appropriately.

“This plan gives you a framework to what happens when a new PI comes in, or when you find a gallon of a chemical instead of a small amount,” Romero explained. “How do we change the building systems to react to that and ensure safety?”

Smart Labs also aligns with key codes and standards—ASHRAE 62.1, NFPA 45, and ANSI Z9.5 (2022)—all of which support the LVRA methodology and laboratory ventilation management planning.

Tip: Visit the Smart Labs Toolkit to access the full LVRA guide and calculator tools. These resources can help justify reduced ventilation rates to authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) while maintaining safety.

Optimize: execute projects strategically

2025 Lab Design Conference speaker—Tanna Tennyson, graduate intern at NREL

Optimization focuses on implementing energy efficiency measures, both large and small. High-impact retrofits might include converting constant volume systems to VAV or installing new high-performance fume hoods. Low-effort measures could be as simple as adjusting control settings or installing retrofit kits.

Romero noted: “A low effort may be a fume hood retrofit kit done in house. High efforts may be converting your constant volume system to a variable air volume system.”

NREL's toolkit includes guidance for evaluating project scopes, prioritizing by cost and complexity, and identifying alternative funding sources. “We have a lot of partners that are short on funding,” Romero acknowledged, “so there is a tool in our toolkit to look at different alternatives for project funding.”

Tip: Use the Toolkit’s ECM categorization to triage quick wins versus long-term upgrades. Don’t let limited budgets stall your progress—start small and build momentum.

Manage: sustain gains over time

“Cannot forget this. This is so important,” Romero stressed to the Lab Design Conference audience. “You’ve put this all in place—you’ve done a ventilation risk assessment. Now implement the Laboratory Ventilation Management Plan (LVMP).”

Required under ANSI Z9.5, the LVMP documents building systems and operational protocols to manage future changes in lab use, staff, or hazards. It's a living document that enables labs to adjust ventilation settings or control strategies as circumstances shift—an essential practice in dynamic research environments.

Smart Labs partners like Cornell have successfully used the LVMP to uphold safety while optimizing performance. “That LVMP is straight out of the NC Z9.5 standard,” Romero said.

Tip: Establish a schedule for reassessing LVRAs and updating your LVMP at regular intervals—annually or after significant lab changes.

Case studies in action

The Lab Design Conference closing presentation included examples of institutions successfully implementing Smart Labs principles:

• UC Irvine: Reduced overall energy consumption even as lab square footage increased, thanks to a highly integrated team across facilities, industrial hygiene, and building management.

• Sandia National Laboratories: Used LVRAs to reallocate limited ventilation capacity and support requests for additional fume hoods in space-constrained buildings.

• Lawrence Berkeley National Lab: Employed ongoing commissioning and advanced analytics to significantly reduce natural gas use and catch major water leaks.

• Cornell University: Built an effective LVMP that supports both efficiency and safety, directly aligned with Smart Labs standards.

“These places are doing it,” Romero concluded. “This is not just theory. These are real-world applications, and they’re seeing results”.

From vision to reality

What sets Smart Labs apart is its holistic, flexible approach: it accounts for scientific complexity, evolving risks, operational constraints, and limited budgets, while pushing toward measurable improvements.

And it’s not just for federal labs. While the Smart Labs Toolkit includes regulatory guidance for federal facilities, the principles apply to any lab environment looking to enhance resilience, safety, and sustainability.

Romero encouraged everyone to “continue to assess, optimize, and manage,” reminding the audience that research doesn’t stand still—so neither should ventilation strategies.

If you’re designing, renovating, or managing laboratory spaces, here’s where to start:

• Use the Smart Labs Toolkit: It’s free, detailed, and packed with templates, case studies, and tools.

• Build an integrated team: EHS, facilities, researchers, and management must be involved from Day One.

• Conduct a Laboratory Ventilation Risk Assessment: Use it to justify right-sized ventilation rates and unlock capacity.

• Implement a Laboratory Ventilation Management Plan: Treat it as a living document to guide long-term operations.

• Start where you can: Whether it’s low-cost control tweaks or a major retrofit, every step moves your lab closer to high performance.

By embracing the Smart Labs process, lab stakeholders can future-proof facilities, cut energy waste, and support the cutting-edge science happening inside.

As Romero reminded the audience in closing: “Smart Labs enables world-class science—and we can do it safely and efficiently.”

Explore how to design laboratories that use less energy while maintaining safety and high performance at the 2026 Lab Design Conference, taking place May 11–14 in Orlando, FL. Learn practical strategies for reducing lab energy consumption through better ventilation planning, stakeholder alignment, and operational optimization. Connect with industry leaders and peers, earn AIA credits, and participate in tours and hands-on workshops that turn proven energy-saving concepts into real-world solutions. Visit https://www.labdesignconference.com/ for registration and agenda updates.