FREEZER CHALLENGE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Urbana Champaign

How We Do It

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We have found that working toward common goals in streamlining sample-management within research while helping the environment and supporting the university mission in the process to be a successful approach.

Combining a media campaign along with outreach help and support from the student group reaching out to as many researchers on campus as possible, makes it possible to connect with research professionals that are equally passionate about sustainable labs, green research, and environmental stewardship. Intrinsic motivation in parallel with the extrinsic benefit of recognition and awards, we have succeeded at increasing sample management best practices in a safe & meaningful way that is healthy for the environment, valuable for laboratory sustainability and a greener future, all while having fun in a friendly competition.​

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To date, more than 70 UIUC labs have reduced approximately 1.871M lbs of CO2 equivalent, avoided 1,200,000 kWh's of electricity and provided over $104,600 in energy cost avoidance.

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The 2023 competition began in January 2023. Registration ends at midnight on July 1, 2023. 

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Join the IFC today.

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Past Competitions

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 2022:

We earned an Honorable Mention in the 2022 competition. Despite not ranking 1st like in previous years, we had our second best year of energy saving to date, saving over 795 kWh/day. This is equivalent to the yearly energy consumption of 26.2 typical US homes!

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2021:

We proudly continued our winning streak in the 2021 competition, by saving 1055 kWh/day! This is equivalent to 35 typical US homes, and $32,385 worth of savings. A huge thank you to all our participating labs for this success!

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2020:

In the 2020 competition, we once again earned the most amount of points in our division. We had 21 labs participate, resulting in an energy savings of  263kWh/day. This is equivalent to the yearly energy use of 9 typical U.S. homes. Internationally, the labs in the 2020 competition saved a total of 3.2 million kWh/year. Because of our excellent work and three-peat victory, the IFC awarded us a newly created Winning Streak Award!

See highlights of achievements from 2020 here​.

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2019:

In the 2019 competition, we had over 70 labs participated. These labs decreased energy use by approximately 438 kWh/day. This is equivalent to the yearly energy use of 13.5 typical U.S. homes. Because of this, we won 1st place for the second year in a row! 

See highlights of achievements from 2018 to 2019 here​.

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2018:

​During the 2017-18 academic year (October 2017-June 2018), the university’s inaugural Freezer Challenge gained the participation of 60 researchers from 58 labs in 17 buildings and among 15 Colleges/departments. Due to our awesome participants, we reduced  annual energy consumption by 262,800 kWh (about 720 kWh/day), and had an annual cost savings of over $20,000. This is equivalent to the yearly energy use of 25 typical U.S. homes. 

We ended up winning 1st place in the 2018 competition​, and were congratulated as the best at at reducing energy required for laboratory cold storage internationally.

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