You raise the difficult question of reducing the huge carbon footprint associated with research institutions (Nature 519, 261; 2015). We draw your attention to the J. Craig Venter Institute in California: a clean, green scientific research building that could be a model for others.

Decisions made on building designs now will affect carbon emissions for many decades. In designing the new institute, a genomics research facility, we took responsibility for drastically cutting carbon emissions from its daily operations for the next 50 years or so.

We completely covered the roof with photovoltaic panels, which generate 485 kilowatts of power, which alone would have met only 25% of the energy needs of a typical 4,200-square-metre building. Yet the innovative building design is highly energy-efficient and cuts energy demand by 75% through, for example, heating and cooling with water rather than air; recovery and reuse of 'waste' heat from the water-cooled, −80 °C freezers; chemical sensors that allow fewer air exchanges each hour while improving lab safety; deploying operable windows in the office wing; and using natural daylight throughout.

As a result, we have created a laboratory workplace that operates with zero net carbon emissions.