An Owner’s Journey: High efficiency Fume Hoods – Great for Sustainability but are they all Safe?
Abstract
Fume hoods have long been recognized as some of the greatest energy consumers in modern research buildings. They require significant energy to individually operate and demand greater HVAC needs from a building through exhausting of conditioned air. Classically, prescriptive minimums for fume hood face velocities were the standard, to ensure user safety. This approach has been viewed as unnecessarily wasteful and there has been a recent shift towards improving fume hood performance to bring face velocities down. This high efficiency approach to fume hood operation has proven successful from a sustainability perspective, but is the previous standard of safety being maintained?
Since 2014, the University of Toronto has installed hundreds of high-efficiency fume hoods in its research spaces. Each of these hoods has been rigorously evaluated for safety, where each must pass an ASHRAE test, and an in-house visualization test that challenges even the best performing hoods. In that time, we’ve learned a significant amount about high efficiency fume hoods, specifically how well they can work, and also how easily some can lose containment.
Our talk is about our experiences evaluating high-efficiency fume hoods at the University of Toronto, ranging from single hood renovations to entirely new, state of the art research buildings. We will be discussing and demonstrating with smoke visualization the successes and failures of these installations. Most importantly, we will discuss what we’ve learned about these hoods and information that can inform future design considerations with installations of high-efficiency hoods.
Presenters:
Matthew White, University of Toronto
Matthew has worked at the University of Toronto since 2009 in Environmental Air Compliance and Chemical and Lab Safety. His primary duties at the University include fume hood safety and ensuring the organization’s continued compliance with Provincial Air & Noise Regulations. He commissions and tests each of the more than 1,600 fume hoods on campus, and oversees fume hoods from the point of the user to the point of exhaust, ensuring that the user’s protection is maintained, and environmental requirements are met.
Prior to working at the University of Toronto, Matthew worked as an environmental consultant, specializing in waste audits and Environmental Compliance Approvals. He received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and the University of Guelph, diploma in Environmental Technology at Georgian College and M.Sc. in Environment and Management at Royal Roads University.
Geoff Shirtliff-Hinds, University of Toronto
Geoff received an Honours BSc. in Chemistry from McMaster in 1990. He worked in the lab in industry on research and development and analytical chemistry. He returned to the University of Toronto and completed a Master of Health Science degree in Occupational and Environmental Health in 2002.
In 2007, he moved to his current position in the University of Toronto Office of Environmental Health and Safety managing the laboratory chemical safety program for laboratory staff and students. This current role includes responsibility for chemical and general safety in labs, managing the compliance program for more than 1,600 fume hoods on campus, environmental compliance, and dealing with other regulations and Acts at the Federal and Provincial levels.
In his role in EHS, Geoff has functioned as the primary contact for issues requiring expertise in laboratory ventilation of all types. In recent years questions around the balancing of safety and sustainability have come to the fore. Commissioning and decommissioning of labs and sustainability issues have been a significant focus of his activities.
SLCan presentations are eligible for professional development credits. Certificates are available upon request.
If this event has to be cancelled (e.g., COVID resurgence), your fee will be reimbursed less the Eventbrite processing fees.
Timelines:
Presentation & Networking
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm - Cocktails, Networking & Exhibitor's Table
6:00 pm to 6:30 pm - Service of the Meal (
please email john.alberico@rwdi.com with any dietary restrictions
)
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm - Presentation and Service of Dessert
7:30 pm to 9:30 pm - Networking
Cost (no payment at the door):
You can register using Eventbrite or via the SLCan website (
SLCan Toronto - Knowledge & Networking Event | SLCan / LÉCan
). The cost using the SLCan website is slightly less expensive.
Attendance:
SLCan Member: $ 120 (excluding HST and Eventbrite Fees)
Non-Member: $170 (excluding HST and Eventbrite Fees)
Thank you to our Toronto Chapter sponsors: 
DIALOG
 and 
Mohawk Group
For any questions, you can contact us at: toronto@slcan.ca
Information Source: Sustainable Labs Canada - Toronto Chapter | eventbrite

Toronto

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