green labs
Chemistry labs at CU Boulder are using fewer toxic chemicals, less material, and shifting how students learn. CU Boulder’s chancellor and Department of Chemistry chair signed the Green Chemistry Commitment in 2025.
A Chemical Sharing Initiative, launched by Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) and the CU Boulder Green Labs Program, will help labs reduce the need to purchase chemicals, save research funding, and the time needed to acquire chemicals.
Over 800 laboratory items and over 1000 chemicals were removed from lab spaces during a recent lab cleanup effort. In summer 2025, the CU Boulder Green Labs Program led a Lab Clean-up Pilot event in three large campus lab buildings (Ramaley, Porter, and Gold) in collaboration with key campus partners (Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S), Property Services, Property Accounting, property managers, building managers, and researchers).
Thousands of CU Boulder glassware items found a new home in local public school classrooms, supporting over 6,200 students!
Did you know that thousands of students pass through CU Boulder’s General Chemistry Teaching Labs every semester? As a result, small actions for efficiency by each student adds up to large impacts. The staff of the CU Boulder General Chemistry Teaching Lab Program have been paying attention to find and implement modifications for sustainability in the teaching labs.
Utilizing the CUSG Energy and Climate Fund, the Environmental Center and Green Labs set out to replace the three most energy-intensive ultra low temperature (ULT) freezers on campus with new, top performing energy-efficient ULT freezers. After
The 26th annual Campus Sustainability awards program recognizes outstanding individuals and departments who demonstrate a sincere commitment to continuing the CU Boulder tradition of leadership and student participation in campus sustainability.
CU's helium recycling facility could pave the way towards helium reuse and recovery.
Surveying shows that CU Boulder students want access to green chemistry education as part of their chemistry coursework.
The Luger Lab, a Biocemistry labÌýheaded by PIÌýKarolin Luger, hasÌýwon the CU Boulder Freezer Challenge, put on by CU Green Labs. The CU Boulder competitionÌýhappened in conjunction with theÌýInternational Laboratory Freezer