In 2019, the University of Illinois came in 1st place for the second straight year in the International Freezer Challenge, being the only institution other than the Center for Disease Control to do so.

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Due to their amazing efforts, the 2019 University of Illinois team members were recognized in Nature Magazine and awarded a plaque at the 2019 I2SL conference in Denver, Colorado.

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Our top six labs were awarded gift certificates to high-end establishments in the Champaign-Urbana area, as well as Certificates in Leadership in Sustainable Lab Practices.

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As a whole, there were 72 laboratories across 15 buildings that participated in the 2019 competition, saving an estimated 438 kWh/day, or 159,870kWh/year. This was enough energy to power 13.5 U.S. standard homes.