The ripple effects of the energy crisis on academia

Abstract

Rising energy prices and drastic inflation put pressure on research institutions to save energy and money.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year has been jeopardising Europe's energy supply. The Western sanctions in response to this unjust and brutal war and Russia's retaliatory actions by halting natural gas deliveries have drastically reduced the EU's imports of coal, oil and natural gas as the continent is headed for the cold season. Energy prices have reached unprecedented highs, aggravating inflation and triggering an economic slowdown that could grow into a major recession. As much as we like to think that academia is spared from these developments, we are not insulated from the larger economic and social forces around us: a long‐lasting crisis will doubtlessly and severely affect academic research too (Fig 1).

Figure 1. Scientists are headed for a cold winter as Europe is facing a shortage of natural gas and electricity.

Figure credits: DALL‐E 2. Reproduced with permission from OpenAI.

… we are not insulated from the larger economic and social forces around us: a long‐lasting crisis will doubtlessly and severely affect academic research too.

Germany has been particularly affected: the country's transition away from nuclear power and coal has been fuelled by an ever increasing dependency on natural gas from Russia (EUROSTAT, ²⁰²²). Russia's stop of gas deliveries in September along with the destruction of pipelines in the Baltic Sea means that the country is heading towards a dark and cold winter without sufficient supplies for heating and power production. Other EU states are also feeling the effects of the war: energy prices have seen nearly double‐digit increases and prices for food and other consumables are following in its wake causing a massive inflation of 9.1% across the Eurozone in August with dire expectations that the rate could reach double digits in 2023. Non‐EU countries are not spared: in August, inflation reached 9.9% in the UK, 6.5% in Norway and 3.5% even in Switzerland.

The challenge for research laboratories

Research laboratories are big energy consumers and therefore directly affected by increasing energy costs: research facilities generally consume significantly more electric power than similarly sized commercial buildings. An office building may use no more than 234 kWh per square meter annually (Watch & Tolat, 2017; BBP, ²⁰²¹), whereas academic research spaces such as the Department of Biology at the University of York, the Chemistry building at the Universities of Manchester or the Biosciences building in Liverpool consume more than 650 kWh per square meter per year (Hopkinson et al, ²⁰¹¹). By another way of comparison, the electricity usage of the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK, is equivalent to more than 5,000 private households (ClarkeEnergy, 2015).

A typical research unit in the life sciences has various freezers and fridges that, along with IT infrastructure and ventilation systems, constantly draw power from the electric grid. Heaters, ovens, workspace computers, thermocyclers, incubators, sterile hoods and so on use a considerable amount of energy throughout the working day in addition to lighting, water supply, heating and hot water. Power‐hungry equipment such as electron microscopes or greenhouses for plant research can further boost overall energy consumption.

… the looming energy crisis and ongoing inflation could soon increase the pressure on academic research to find ways to save money and energy.

The resulting energy bill could create asphyxiating pressure on smaller research units. Disciplines that crucially rely on considerable power consumption—such as computational as well as systems biology, imaging or large‐scale sequencing—are more vulnerable and energy‐guzzling laboratories might even have to shut down at least temporary to save energy. The COVID‐19 pandemic has already left a massive economic and financial disaster in its wake and the looming energy crisis and ongoing inflation could soon increase the pressure on academic research to find ways to save money and energy.

Research could also be affected by academia's increasing dependence on external money. While public funding for higher education may be stable for now as budgets are set, governments may have to cut costs eventually to help buffer the economic and social effects of the crisis. Increased energy costs will likely influence industry support and research funding from charities reliant on donations or investments into the stock market. Plummeting commercial activities could directly affect research and development within industry.

Less research in academia and industry and less collaboration between the two will inevitably delay or prevent new research breakthroughs as well as the necessary applied research and development that is badly needed to find new solutions to various crises that plague humanity. Moreover, it will jeopardise the career prospects of students and junior researchers in academia and therefore risk losing a whole generation of young researchers. In light of shrinking budgets, many students and early postdocs might decide to leave research altogether which would create a massive brain drain across Europe. As other regions of the world are much less affected by the war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, research and development in Europe could further fall back against North America and Asia with a whole generation of scientists lost.

Solutions

A first and immediate measure is of course reducing energy consumption in the laboratory. This requires a restructuring of the social context by changing behaviour, attitudes and practices of those working there along with the use of automation and energy‐saving technologies (Staddon et al, ²⁰¹⁶). Such changes and investments require individual and collective shifts in work practices and managerial frameworks should include strategies that increase immediate and longer term energy efficiency and sustainability.

The most cost‐efficient step is to foster an energy‐saving culture in the workplace. Laboratory directors and managers should provide information and organise educational campaigns to promote energy efficiency and sustainability measures. A practical example would be assigning laboratory members to ensure adherence to energy policies such as the switching off experimental equipment when not in use or at the end of the day. Switching off lights overnight and on weekends or unplugging equipment on stand‐by such as computer monitors would also make a sizeable contribution given the large number of computers and other stand‐by equipment in an average research unit. Harvard University, in its “green labs” case studies identified basic conservation practices related to laboratory equipment use that could save more than 50 % on energy usage (Gilly, 2010). Implementing such behavioural changes can also create a sense of empowerment and responsibility that could stimulate further self‐mobilisation and action.

Identifying energy guzzlers within a laboratory can be a difficult task, especially if there is no reliable data available on how much wattage certain equipment requires when it is in use or on stand‐by. The collection of accurate and real‐time information is therefore crucial for creating energy profiles of experimental equipment and laboratory appliances. It may also require consulting experts to help design appropriate energy‐saving strategies, as well as creating new roles within an academic organisation to ensure that laboratories engage in energy‐conscious practices.

Automation provides a straightforward physical strategy for further energy savings. Current sensors and smart sockets or switches could help to regulate power consumption and minimise waste by controlling energy demand. A prominent example is automatically turning off equipment overnight. The UK National Health Service claims that more than half of the equipment remains on during off hours and that simple actions such as switching off small equipment could save a third of the overall energy consumed (Taha et al, ²⁰²¹).

Reorganisation in relation to equipment use and work protocols could further help to save energy. Extended working hours owing to different work schedules among laboratory members necessitate the use of operational energy—lighting, heating and ventilation throughout the day. Likewise, power‐intensive equipment such as laboratory ovens waste energy when switched off unnecessarily between uses. Better coordination between laboratory staff could reduce extended working hours, optimise handovers and planning for spaces and equipment to serve many users at the same time with the overall goal of reducing operational energy use.

The most cost‐efficient step is to foster an energy‐saving culture in the workplace.

Sustainability

Saving energy within a laboratory should go beyond reducing energy usage and include a shift towards more use of renewables: the exponential rise in energy prices in Europe has now increased the comparative financial viability of renewable energy sources (IRENA, ²⁰²²). Sustainable, local power production based on photovoltaic systems or Power Purchase Agreements with renewable generators, could cover, at least in part, the overall power demand and lower electricity costs sustainably. The option to sell excess electricity to the grid could also constitute additional streams of revenue. Academic institutions should work with industry to identify and share advice and best practices on how to lower the cost of renewable energy for their needs. Laboratories could adopt more sustainable environmental practices in terms of using resources more efficiently and responsibly by reducing, for example, the use of plastic vials, pipettes and other consumables.

Laboratories could adopt more sustainable environmental practices in terms of using resources more efficiently and responsibly…

The economic and social impact of the current energy price hikes are the topic of much public discourse. However, this discourse may hide the beginning of a wide‐ranging and long‐lasting crisis in academia. It forebodes a sense of uncertainty for the future of energy‐intensive laboratories and smaller service providers. Evidence‐based strategies to inform a combination of social and physical interventions should help to inspire individual and group behaviours towards energy conscious practices. Additional efforts to employ more sustainable research practices could be needed to combat the repercussions of the energy crisis and foster research viability.

Disclosure and competing interests statement

The authors declare absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

EMBO reports (2022) 23: e56287