Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
UBC's 2022 Freezer Challenge: 13 labs moved 13 ULT freezers from -80 to -70 degC, saving an estimated combined 422 kWh/day.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Applying a blanket -70 degC setpoint change across every freezer without checking sample-stability requirements for temperature-sensitive reagents or biological material.
Editorial commentary
Cold storage is one of the highest per-unit energy consumers in modern research, with a typical -80 degC ULT freezer drawing 16 to 22 kWh per day, comparable to a household. Energy-reduction strategies include warming the setpoint from -80 to -70 degC, defragmenting and consolidating samples, replacing old units with ENERGY STAR or ACT-rated models, and operating sample-sharing platforms to reduce duplicate storage. Many institutional carbon-reduction plans treat cold-storage energy as a flagship intervention because savings are measurable and politically visible.
The -70°C setpoint figure, precisely
The energy saving from raising a ULT freezer’s setpoint from -80°C to -70°C is reported inconsistently across sources — figures in the roughly 20-40 percent range appear in different studies, and the true saving depends on the specific freezer model and how full it is, so treat any single percentage as indicative rather than a guarantee for a specific unit. A concrete, freezer-count result: the University of British Columbia’s 2022 Freezer Challenge had 13 participating labs move 13 ULT freezers to -70°C, saving an estimated combined 422 kWh per day across the group — roughly the electricity use of 13 homes.
Worked example
See minus-80 freezer management for the operational detail (defragmentation, sample consolidation, inventory audits) behind reducing the number and duty-cycle of ULT units a lab actually needs to run, which compounds with the setpoint change above.
Counter-example
Warming every freezer’s setpoint without first checking sample-stability requirements is not a safe universal fix — some reagents and biological samples have documented degradation risk above -80°C, so the setpoint change is applied selectively (informed by the sample type), not as a blanket institutional policy.
Related pages
See also minus-80 freezer management, plastic waste in research labs, and the 5R framework.
References
- International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) / My Green Lab, International Freezer Challenge.
- University of British Columbia, 2022 Freezer Challenge results (sustain.ubc.ca).
- My Green Lab ACT label database (mygreenlab.org).
Also known as
ULT freezer energy · Cold-chain research energy
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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