Green Lab Certification

This work aimed to earn a “Green Lab Certification” for the Applied Chemistry Laboratories (ACL) (all rooms), located in the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building, in a one year timeframe. The aim is for the Green Lab Certification to build a culture of sustainability in the labs, increase collaboration and engagement, explore new processes, methods, and ideas, create a purchase mindset for procuring healthier materials for employees, save the center money and resources, enable public recognition of certification and success, and model for other labs throughout the agency.
The Green Lab Certification was selected as a key indicator of progress in the ‘Race to Zero 2030 Breakthroughs’ campaign by the United Nations. The Breakthrough Outcome states "95% of labs across major pharma and med-tech companies are My Green Lab certified at the green-level by 2030”.
The only Key Performance Parameter (KPP) is an assessment participation status of 80% or more to obtain a Green Certification Status within one year of project award.
The certification is designed to address all areas, such as equipment, fume hoods, waste, green chemistry methods, and culture. Human behavior and psychology/mindset are a big part of this movement, and the goal is to achieve 50% participation in assessments with a rating of Green (80% Certification Assessment).
The Green Lab Certification process took approximately 10 months to earn. The formal certification program steps are described here:
1. Assess Baseline:
a. Survey lab members to understand current practices.
b. Three to five weeks to submit results.
c. At least 50% participation is required.
d. Make recommendations for improvement.
2. Implement Changes:
a. Labs discuss solutions and implement behavior change practices.
b. Labs and Green Teams coordinate additional work.
c. Six to eight months, on average.
3. Get Certification:
a. Re-assess lab practices.
b. Three to five weeks.
c. At least 50% participation is required.
d. Certification level given to lab.
e. Make recommendations for further improvements.
4. Make More Changes:
a. Labs adopt additional policies and best practices.
b. Green Teams support further improvement projects.
5. Do Re-Certification:
a. After 2 years, re-assess lab practices and provide new certification level.
b. Further recommendations made.
The different levels of awards that could be earned are based on resulting scores of the Certification Assessment: Green = 80%, Platinum = 70%, Gold = 60%, Silver = 50%, Bronze = 40%. The goal is to achieve Green Certification Assessment.
The first month of the project included mobilization time to initiate the procurements postured with LASSO and Green Labs, and also working with laboratory management to obtain data for participation and coordination with the ACL team to assess, schedule discussions, and survey lab work and employee availability into the eight to ten month assessment. Interns and fellows were also assigned on this project. Status reports were provided at each point in the Certification Lab process at the bi-weekly ACL meetings where lab management and office management were present. The team initially scored at 40%. The Green Lab team took the data from the initial assessment to educate the lab employees and workforce by making procurements in more sustainable choices and creating an educational document of ways to practice more sustainable processes within our immediate control in the lab. This included basic behaviors such as turning off lights, unplugging lab equipment when not in use, procuring basic items such as low flow sink heads, and recycling programs for laboratory nitrile gloves and pipette tip boxes. The 12 principles of green chemistry were provided as a framework for evaluating and minimizing the life cycle impacts of a product or process. The labs were also made aware of inventory and communication practices to reduce duplicative purchasing and re-using items before discarding them. The lab was also made aware of broader impacts the center was doing to the lab, such as replacing fluorescent lights with LED lights, government purchase requirements from sustainable companies (when applicable), and the facility recycling program that already existed in the building.

At KSC there are sustainability efforts, yet minimal to none are implemented into immediate lab management plans or lab employee culture for Research and Technology at KSC. The ACL is one of the key laboratories that cultivates innovation and enables sustainable technologies for the Artemis program, including NASA’s Logistics Reduction and In-Situ Resource Utilization projects. The 2021 Sustainability Scorecard Summary provides information on NASA’s 6 Sustainability Goals1:
1. Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy - Increase clean and renewable energy while maximizing energy efficiency in facilities.
2. Building Efficiency Measures/Performance Contracting - Use performance contracts for energy and water efficiency measures, modernizing buildings, and meeting infrastructure goals
3. Water Efficiency - Implement energy conservation measures.
4. Sustainable Buildings - Meet or exceed the Silver Certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for new construction and renovation projects.
5. Waste Management - Reducing waste going to landfills to less than 50% annually.
6. Fleet Management - Improve fleet efficiency, reduce costs, and meet mission requirements.
7. Sustainable Acquisition - Acquire, use, and dispose of products and services in accordance with federal green purchasing requirements.
The KSC Five Year Sustainability Plan2 (KSC-PLN-8553) from 2016-2020 (from Kennedy’s Sustainable Publications3 FY 2022) has 10 goals, where Goals 1, 9, and 10 appear to be the discrepancy from the 2021 Sustainability Scorecard.
Goal 1 – Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction
Goal 2 – Sustainable Buildings
Goal 3 – Clean and Renewable Energy
Goal 4 – Water Use and Efficiency Management
Goal 5 – Fleet Management
Goal 6 – Sustainable Acquisition
Goal 7 – Pollution Prevention and Waste Reduction
Goal 8 – Energy Performance Contracts
Goal 9 – Electronic Stewardship
Goal 10 – Climate Change Resilience
This work would advance the state of the art for sustainable laboratory operations by advancing the Sustainability Scorecard goals of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and the Five Year Sustainability Plan goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
The non-profit has certified large corporations and universities/institutions from all over the world. No NASA center or facility/lab is listed on any of the lists. From NASA’s Mission and Sustainability Plan of 20204: “NASA’s sustainability policy is to execute the mission without compromising the planet’s resources so that future generations can meet their needs. In the risk management culture of NASA, that means we use proactive measures to reduce NASA's environmental, institutional, programmatic, and operational risks. In doing so, we continuously improve the resilience of NASA’s space and ground asset operations and performance.” This work would directly impact the technologies, the people, the planet, the values of NASA and ‘walk the walk’ in its sustainability mission.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.