Labconscious thanks Steve Miller for sharing this green lab tip on a program to help raise vaccine cold storage and life science research capacities. Steve manages the High-performance Lab Initiative at Eversource. It was clear from our conversation that Steve has compassion for people waiting to get the first COVID-19 vaccines. Likewise, Eversource stepped up to create a program to aid the rollout. Happily, Massachusetts and Connecticut have taken the Eversource initiative and made it into a statewide program for utilities. We hope that this approach will keep spreading!

• $1500 incentive directly off vendor’s quote for any Energy Star certified lab cold storage including refrigeration and freezers

• No energy study required before purchase, subject to inspection and standard protocols afterward

• Free Guidance on equipment selection for any vaccine cold storage equipment

• Contact: coldstorage@eversource.com

What is Eversource’s program to expand lab-grade cold storage?

Our program for our energy customers purchasing vaccine cold storage equipment is designed to quickly support the mRNA vaccine rollouts. We are providing an incentive of $1,500, no matter what the unit is, whether it is a freezer or lab refrigerator, whether it's one cubic foot or 25 cubic feet. It's 1500 dollars directly off the vendor’s quote. On the back end, we reimburse the equipment companies based on their sales.

We are also advising our energy customers in their equipment selection process. It has been really interesting developing guidance that is helpful for a wide range of energy customer perspectives. The receptionists from nursing homes that are setting up immunization programs are saying, “I was told to buy a minus 80C freezer and I have no idea what I just told you”. Then there are highly sophisticated national customers like CVS and Walgreens who are making decisions on a grand scale. Guidance is needed that can support everyone seeking vaccine cold storage.

Why is Eversource able to support vaccine rollout efforts?

We're not experts on vaccines but we are knowledgeable about what equipment is out there that could support appropriate vaccine storage and delivery and we can help people make decisions. That's really what this is about.

The Eversource High-performance Lab Initiative started with ultra-low temp freezers about four years ago. The states sponsor this initiative to help laboratory facilities to manage their energy use with incentives, information, and training. As the COVID-19 situation started to unfold, we came to realize the first vaccines were going to heavily rely on cold storage. I started researching with some cold storage companies on what their thinking was around what products would be appropriate for the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines. Working with some other folks that are in the Eversource world, we found that there were about 90 products-

(…90? Wow.)

Yes, these units are laboratory grade refrigeration, medium temp freezers, and optimum temp freezers that are Energy Star qualified. We quickly put together a plan for vaccine cold storage. Originally, for ultra-low temp freezers, it took almost eight months from an engineering study perspective to get a program out. Today, we just don't have that time. We've made some safe assumptions on savings and are very aggressive on incentives.

Do you think that this program will take off and cold storage will be needed long term?

Eversource is the leader on this. I don’t know of other utility companies researching this yet. There have already been utility people on the West Coast and in New York City who are gearing up. I will be presenting this program to the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) National Utility Working Group soon.

The thought right now is that RNA vaccines will be useful for years to come. Vaccine manufacturers and other folks in this world, have come to the conclusion that they're important medicines that aren’t going away. There's also some concern about the long-term effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. So we're treating these installations as 10 years. We will continue to monitor as new vaccines are released, and follow up down the line with proper engineering studies.

Eversource was already supporting freezer farms for vaccine manufacturers, now the important thing is to expand sustainable lab cold storage for everyone involved in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.