Eight labs and one bio-repository volunteered to participate in the 2019 NIH Freezer Challenge to improve freezer management, increase freezer reliability, and reduce energy consumption. The challenge was held from January 1 to April 1 of 2019. Challenge initiatives ranged from maintenance options, incuding: performing a freezer defrost, changing the temperature setting of Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) freezers from -80°C to -70°C, and discarding samples that are no longer needed. Simply changing the temperature setting of an Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) freezer from -80°C to -70°C reduces energy consumption by about 30%. The results shown in the table below show the power each lab has to make a positive change towards protecting the environment and increasing freezer reliability. These savings are from only 9 labs; imagine what we could do if the entire NIH joined in! Participate in this year's Freezer Challenge to help out!
Participation by Lab and IC
| IC | Lab |
| NCI | Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis |
| NHGRI | Reproductive Cancer Genetics Section |
| NIA | Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI) Clinical Core Biorepository |
| NIDCD | Section on Sensory Cell Development and Function, Kindt Lab |
| NIDDK | Genetics and Metabolism Section of LDB |
| NIDDK | Karen Usdin's Lab |
| NIDDK | Liver Disease Branch |
| NIEHS | MSRSG/ESCBL/DIR |
| NINDS | Viral Immunology Section at Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurovirology |
A summary of the energy savings, costs savings, and greenhouse gas reductions are shown in the table below. Visit the freezer challenge Power BI report for additional freezer challenge data.
https://nems.nih.gov/sustain/Pages/Freezer-Challenge-Power-BI.aspx
2019 NIH Freezer Challenge Annual Savings
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The following table shows the complete list of initiatives completed as part of this challenge.
Detailed Participation Results
| Challenge Initiative | Total |
| Conduct a complete freezer defrost | 26 |
| Discard samples that are no longer needed (-86°C) | 11,097 |
| Discard samples that are no longer needed (-30°C/-40°C) | 652 |
| Transfer long-term samples to LN2 freezers | 20,521 |
| Maintain an electronic sample inventory | 106 |
| Barcode Samples | 14 |
| Consolidate Samples | 1,003 |
| Share freezer space with other researchers | 91 |
| Retire unnecessary freezers | 3 |
| Change the ULT freezer temperature setting to -70°C | 18 |
| Store samples at appropriate temperatures | 16 |