Each year, the Green Laboratory Certification program recognizes the certified labs which stand out above the rest. Awards are presented during the UW Earth Day celebrations, and honor labs in several categories. 

 Labs have a massive impact on the university's energy use; they use about four times more energy than office spaces of the same size. All Green Labs help the University of Washington become a more sustainable campus.

For 2015-2016, the Greenest Lab award went to the ZaP Flow Z-Pinch Lab from the Aeronautics and Astronautics department. They received the highest overall score of 111% in the Green Laboratory Certification (the certification application provides opportunities for bonus points, allowing labs to score higher than 100%). This lab dedicates their research to sustainable energy from plasma, which does not produce waste. They are constantly reevaluating their operational sustainable practices, including reusing much of their materials in their research.

The Most Improved Lab was the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Tissue Culture Lab. This is a collaborative lab that shares tissue culture, equipment and instrument space with other labs in the department. They went from not reaching the Green Lab certification requirement on their first submission to achieving Gold level certification.

Best Innovation went to the Department of Chemistry's Zalatan Lab for their use aluminum beads in place of water baths. The Zalatan Lab researches cell-signaling mechanisms, and by using the ecofriendly beads they use less electricity, and the beads are recyclable.

Congratulations to all our Certified Green Labs!

Previous Winners

Prior to the 2015-2016 school year, the Green Laboratory program held a competition within a single school or college. The winners were:

2014-2015 College of Arts and Sciences Green Laboratory Competition

1st Place: Leopold Lab
2nd Place: Physics Instrument Shop
3rd Place: Biology 302 Instructional Lab

2013-2014 College of the Environment Green Laboratory Competition

1st Place: DeLuca Lab