Patrick Penndorf

Your Event For Greener Labs Discover where we are at and what you can do to save plastics, energy and reagents - without affecting your workflows. Starting 15th of October at 5PM Berlin | 11AM New York | 6PM Cairo + Recording f...

Why?

Because “biodegradable” can mean compostable or needs special facilities.

Made from biological sources: the thumbnail, the bio-based Eppendorf tube = 90% food oil waste + 10% fossil materials (for quality).

Want to know what’s actually feasible for your lab?
forms.gle/kJdaRCxePkLg...

“Bioplastics” can mean many things:

Two key distinctions:
🔹 Biodegradable vs. non-biodegradable
🔹 Made from biological vs. fossil sources

Yes — some “bioplastics” are still fossil-based, and some aren’t biodegradable.

Surprisingly, non-biodegradable biobased ones may be greener right now.

Bioplastics for the lab are finally here!

But there’s a big problem — few people actually know what bioplastics are.

Here’s what you need to know 🧵👇

Learn With Me How To Make Labs Greener Let me share how you can align with funding body requirements and save plastic waste, energy, and reagents in just a few minutes. 20 Minute talk on the 15th of October and recording + summary sent t...

To help, there will be a 20-min presentation + email resource:

👉 forms.gle/7zdXSKfmGyHH...
Done properly, sustainability can save labs €2000+ and cut >50% of reagent/antibody use.

Don’t get caught off guard—funders expect this.
#GreenLab #Funding #EnvironmentalSustainability

This isn’t hypothetical.
In the UK & Germany, it’s already a reality.

Last autumn, 7 major funders pledged support for sustainability.

Wellcome Trust & CRUK even require accredited certification: a 3–6 month process.

But done wrong, it can endanger your workflow and samples!

If you work in science, you need to adopt sustainable practices now - otherwise, you may soon lose funding.

2 of the world’s largest funders already require labs to report:
🔹 Cutting plastic waste
🔹 Reducing energy use
🔹 Traveling less

If not, applications won’t be considered.

I’ve optimized dozens of lab workflows to be greener 🌱
Skeptical? I’ll show you how in a free 20-min online talk at the biggest sustainability summit.

🎥 Register & get the recording here: forms.gle/zJSPZ5Gb4Ahb...

That wasn't Proper sustainable practices!

Green action doesn’t disrupt experiments or workflows.

What I have seen from them:
🔹 70% less plastic waste with smarter plating
🔹 Sterile cabinets <1 min after restart
🔹 S2 protocols optimized to save time + plastic

“Sustainable practices burned down their lab!”

That’s the story I once heard.

Someone stored lab waste instead of disposing of it. A fire broke out, and the stored waste fueled it.

What's the take away?⬇️

#STEM #GreenLab

Find out how to identify greenwashing We will share how you can: Spot greenwashing Assess the validity of marketing claims Know what to do instead = It’s an online session, sent to you so you can watch it whenever you want! This sessio...

Therefore, you don’t need to read 100s of pages.
One short email often tells you everything.

Want more strategies to catch greenwashing in science?

🎥 Register for our short online session + get a practical handout: forms.gle/bs1DgSTiPbnK...

#GreenLab #STEM #PhDLife

Quick tip to spot greenwashing:

- Some push “infinite recycling loops” that don’t exist
- Others fudge carbon accounting
- Or pretend an analysis = certification

👉 Just ask the company for details.

If claims are exaggerated, you’ll likely hear… nothing.
❌ Silence = red flag

Something we should tell every graduate:

Uni won’t teach you to follow your❤️but it will shape your career.

After graduation, the structure disappears.
You need to forge your own path.

What I heard scientists advise: Listen to your heart it will lead you properly

Other tips?

Still, S2O could:
Limit excessive publisher profits 💰
Finally let us read science without paywalls 🚀

Still, S2O could:

Limit excessive publisher profits 💰

Finally let us read science without paywalls 🚀

The first journal to try S2O?

👉 Annual Reviews, back in 2017.
Now, other big names like the Royal Society (UK) are adopting it too.

For scientists, if S2O works:

Free access to articles 📖
Free publishing (no APCs) ✍️
But uncertainty if it’ll stay that way each year 🤷

There’s a new publishing model you should know about.

🔹 Subscribe to Open (S2O)
If enough libraries keep subscribing, the journal flips to 100% open access for that year.

If not, it falls back to subscriptions + APCs.

Read more in the thread

#ScientificPublishing

For scientists, S2O could mean:
✅ Free to read
✅ Free to publish (no APCs)
⚠️ But also some uncertainty year to year

🔒 Traditional model: Libraries pay subscriptions → scientists read behind paywalls.

🌍 Open Access: Free to read → but authors pay hefty publishing fees

S2O works differently:

If enough libraries keep subscribing → the journal flips to 100% open access for that year.

The result?

✅ 45+ concrete opportunities for greener practices

What made this work?
Enthusiasm + positivity.

Here is my full list of sustainable actions: re-advance.com/a-list-of-su...

The Leibniz-HKI (renowned for microbiology & natural products) asked me to to consult and explore:

🔹 How to cut lab plastic waste
🔹 How instruments (HPLC, MS, PCR) can run more sustainably
🔹 How to get 400+ scientists onboard—without disrupting their work

Research labs generate tons of plastic waste every year.

But what if making science greener didn’t require extra effort from scientists? 🧪

Here’s how one of the world’s leading institutes tackled it—Leibniz-HKI 👇

@leibniz-hki.de @iubmb.bsky.social @iubmbtrainee.bsky.social

P.S. The thumbnail?
One of the memes I add at the end—
So people leave with a smile :)

It took almost a year... we hit 900+ subscribers.
No ads. Just consistency.

We are told these days success is instant

Reminder:
Not everything works right away.
Experiments don’t. Ideas don’t.
But if you stick with it, they will.

A year ago, I started a weekly newsletter on sustainable science.
At first:
– Few readers
– Zero feedback
– Hours spent on each post

Writing about sustainability changed my life.
The biggest lesson?

Good things take time.

A thread for anyone who's building something from scratch 👇

I’ve worked nearly 5 years as a sustainability consultant.
One thing I’ve noticed?
Almost no one talks about how much energy lab equipment consumes.

> A single institute can use enough electricity to power a small village.

Let’s raise awareness.
Let’s do better.

Of course, these vary depending on model + usage.
But even as rough averages, they’re eye-opening.

Big thanks to @MyGreenLab and @Eppendorf for pushing transparency on this!

#ACTLabel #LabEnergy

And the heavy hitters:

🌫️ Fume Hood: 20–35 kWh
⚛️ MS: 15–20
💧 HPLC: 5–15
🔥 GC-MS: 20–50
🥶 Freezer: 5–20 (old ones: >35!)

If you care about sustainability, these numbers you need to know - let's make it super quick:

These numbers are hard to come by but:

Centrifuge: 4.2 kWh
Incubator: 0.04–0.9
PCR Cycler: 0.2–2
Thermomixer: 0.11
E-pipette: 0.01–0.05

#GreenLab #STEM #Sustainability

The wild part?
In cases where the AI and authors disagreed, human judges sided more often with the AI.

We may be witnessing the next evolution of science.
Soon, we won’t know if a review was written by humans or AI.

Are we ready for that?

#AI #ScientificPublishing #STEM