Difference between revisions of "Team:TU Dresden/iGEM-goes-green"

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It seemed kind of contradictory to think about world changing biology ideas while at the same time almost completely forgetting the effects on the environment of our project itself. We thought about compensation ways for our flights like planting trees and where we could reduce greenhouse gas emission in lab work. That’s when the idea of iGEM goes green started.  
 
It seemed kind of contradictory to think about world changing biology ideas while at the same time almost completely forgetting the effects on the environment of our project itself. We thought about compensation ways for our flights like planting trees and where we could reduce greenhouse gas emission in lab work. That’s when the idea of iGEM goes green started.  
 
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“Initially, I thought it is going to be a small subproject. It all started with the idea of planting symbolic trees. I liked the idea from the very beginning. In the end, it turned out to be so much more!”
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What seemed like a simple idea initially, became more complicated by trying to find more information about how to reduce the CO2 emissions of a biological laboratory. Due to the high security regulations in biological laboratories it is often not possible to turn off devices and systems (e.g. ventilation) to save energy and the ecological handling of working materials is difficult. 
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In the beginning we spent a lot of time investigating options and possibilities for planting trees, getting familiar with CO2 compensation, looking for collaborating partners and support. Therefore, we had to face some problems with university regulations and different opinions about sustainability in our team. Nevertheless, we were a motivated and dedicated group of people to realize our idea of a sustainable iGEM project.
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Revision as of 16:03, 21 October 2017

Start Saving While Researching!

Our Vision

How sustainable is lab work? How much energy does a freezer consume or how many pipette tips do we use?

Research projects often aim at making the world a better place, but at the same time they consume a lot of materials and energy. The iGEM competition encourages teams to also consider the environmental implications of their projects and the team of TU Dresden decided to go one step further. We want to take responsibility for the environmental impact of our whole project and our team. With the “iGEM goes green” initiative, we want to share the ecological improvements of our work and encourage as many teams as possible to get involved. To easily share our idea and prospects with other iGEM Teams, we have collected all our information and ideas about an environmentally-conscious project in our “GoGreenGuide”. Furthermore, we calculated the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions) of our lab work and offered this option to other teams as well with our own created GHG emissions calculation tool. For the development of the guideline as well as the calculation tool we also got in contact with some experts in the field of sustainability and exchanged views with the existing community.

Our vision is to encourage not only other iGEM teams but also research groups worldwide to join the green movement!

How we became green

“Climate change is the biggest challenge of humanity and therefore we should think and act sustainably in everyday life. Science is the basis of innovation and that´s why I believe that we, as young scientists, bear a special responsibility for guiding our society to more sustainability.”

In November 2016 our team started planning our project for the iGEM Competition 2017. Starting with fundraising, developing project ideas and setting up our lab made us realize how much material and devices we were going to need. For the first time, we were not only students attending a practical course, or working in an equipped lab where everything was prepared, but had to order and organize everything by ourselves. When we then booked our flights to Boston one of our Team members reminded us of the high greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by long distance flights like this.
It seemed kind of contradictory to think about world changing biology ideas while at the same time almost completely forgetting the effects on the environment of our project itself. We thought about compensation ways for our flights like planting trees and where we could reduce greenhouse gas emission in lab work. That’s when the idea of iGEM goes green started.

How we became green

“Initially, I thought it is going to be a small subproject. It all started with the idea of planting symbolic trees. I liked the idea from the very beginning. In the end, it turned out to be so much more!” What seemed like a simple idea initially, became more complicated by trying to find more information about how to reduce the CO2 emissions of a biological laboratory. Due to the high security regulations in biological laboratories it is often not possible to turn off devices and systems (e.g. ventilation) to save energy and the ecological handling of working materials is difficult. In the beginning we spent a lot of time investigating options and possibilities for planting trees, getting familiar with CO2 compensation, looking for collaborating partners and support. Therefore, we had to face some problems with university regulations and different opinions about sustainability in our team. Nevertheless, we were a motivated and dedicated group of people to realize our idea of a sustainable iGEM project.