William Smith, a graduate student at the University of St Andrews, usually studies it. Drosophila Stefan controls their movements in Pulver’s lab. But between calcium imaging and electrophysiology experiments, he wondered how much his work was affecting the environment. Together with fellow PhD students Amy Bebington and Ranjini Sarkar, and Professor Malte Geider at the University of Cologne, Smith systematically documented carbon use over the course of a year and recently published the group’s findings in the journal Genetics. This case study can help researchers learn which aspects of their work have the greatest impact on carbon emissions and identify where they can focus their efforts to reduce them.
In total, his research released 542 kg of CO, based on conservative estimates.2 Emissions, according to the researchers, are around 3 per cent of the average UK household’s annual emissions.
The authors arrived at this number by considering all stages of the research, from procurement of reagents and equipment, experiments, analysis, data storage and material disposal to work-related travel.
Direct use of CO2 3.62 kg of CO to anesthetize insects for sorting2 emissions for the year.
Other forms of carbon emissions were found to be indirect emissions from electricity use: food preparation for bees, equipment for running experiments, energy associated with data analysis, storage and presentation, waste disposal through autoclaving, building maintenance, and climate control for incubators. To estimate the carbon emissions associated with these activities, scientists had to convert kilowatts of electricity used into CO.2 Carbon use depends on how energy is produced in a given region and its energy needs, the emissions researchers noted. Smith’s research produced 12.6 kg of CO.2 emissions from electricity in southern Scotland, but 12 times more CO would have been emitted if it had done the same in South Wales.2.
Calculating carbon emissions associated with procurement was more difficult because it involved understanding how reagents got from suppliers to their labs, and requests for information to suppliers were sometimes unanswered.
The researchers also looked at the carbon emissions associated with travel. Not surprisingly, air travel accounts for a larger proportion of emissions than rail travel, and Smith’s total of nine travel events accounted for more than 442 kg of carbon emissions, equivalent to 32 electrophysiology experiments, 124 dual-color calcium imaging experiments, 334 imaging experiments, 334 calcium imaging experiments, and 334 calcium imaging experiments.
The researchers suggested several options that could help the field improve sustainability. By 2024, an estimated 2,074 are active. Drosophila Labs Therefore, changes in anesthetizing methods such as changing CO2 The use of cold anesthetization, if adopted by all, can have major implications. Drosophila The community prioritizes air travel for early-career scientists who can reduce travel-related emissions while benefiting most from these engagements over senior researchers. Finally, replacing old, energy-hungry appliances with more energy-efficient ones can reduce electricity use.
With more than 250,000 doctoral students graduating each year, the impact of widespread adoption of sustainability lab practices could be even greater. If more graduate students documented their carbon use in what researchers call a “carbon appendix” in PhD theses, we could record a wealth of data to empower researchers to implement green initiatives in the future.
