Plant Sciences Building: Certified Sustainable

For the first time, North Carolina State University has certified an entire building as a Sustainable Lab. The Plant Sciences Building on Centennial Campus earned the designation in November.

N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative Research Operations Manager Jie Pacelli led the effort to achieve the certification, which recognizes wise resource stewardship and environmentally responsible operations.

The Sustainable Labs program, launched in January 2024, is a collaboration of the NC State’s Sustainability Office, Energy Management, Waste Reduction and Recycling and Environmental Health and Safety.

At NC State, labs make up 27% of the built environment, consume about 45% of the university’s total energy budget and account for more than half of all single-use plastic purchases, Pacelli says. The Sustainable Lab certification focuses on improving energy and water efficiency, waste reduction and overall operational practices.

“Normally, certification is completed for individual labs, but in this case, I certified the entire building, which streamlined the process and saved significant time,” Pacelli says. “I completed the Sustainable Labs training, reviewed the campus guidelines and worked through the full checklist across all PSB lab spaces.”

The checklist covers operational practices such as managing cold storage efficiently, reducing single-use plastics, improving fume-hood sash management and ensuring equipment is powered down when not in use.

“I documented these practices, confirmed our resource-reduction measures and coordinated with Environmental Health and Safety to ensure we met the program’s sustainability and safety criteria before submitting the building for certification,” Pacelli says.

N.C. PSI Director of Operations Geoff Bock says that the new certification represents a commitment to sustainability that’s been part of the LEED Gold-certified building from the start.

“We’re proud to be recognized for the extra steps that Dr. Pacelli and others in the building have taken to ensure that we continue to live into that commitment,” he says.