Jerry Koenigsberg

Jerry Koenigsberg (born April 7, 1942) is one of the founders of the international Green Laboratory Design Movement. He retired in 2001 from G.P.R. Planners, an American laboratory planning and design firm which he and his two partners sold to Jacobs Engineering Corporation in 1998.

Early life and education

Koenigsberg was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, son of Irving and Sylvia Koenigsberg. His father, a trained tool and die maker, started an electrical wiring device manufacturing company. Koenigsberg was raised in Flushing, New York and graduated from Flushing High School in 1959. He received his bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York in 1963.

Following graduation, Koenigsberg enlisted in the New York National Guard and joined an infantry unit that was attached to the “Fighting Irish” 69th Regiment. In late 1969, he received his Honorable Discharge papers.

Career

After completing his six-month active duty tour with the Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1964, Koenigsberg went to work for the Fisher Scientific Company. He enrolled in their Sales and Marketing Training program and after nine months in the program, accepted an assignment as the branch's new Laboratory Designer.

In 1967, Duralab Equipment Company, one of the largest domestic manufacturers of equipment used to build laboratories, approached Koenigsberg and offered him an opportunity to join the firm and be their New York metropolitan area representative and national laboratory designer. He accepted the offer and spent the next 19 years designing and building some of the largest pharmaceutical, chemical, university, government and hospital laboratory projects in the country.

In 1987, the Principal and founder of GPR Planners Collaborative, a small 4-person laboratory master planning and programming practice, located in White Plains, a New York City suburb, approached Koenigsberg with an offer to join his firm and help transform it into a laboratory planning and design firm. He accepted the offer and within two years became a Principal and Partner of the firm, which by then had grown to eight people. When Koenigsberg retired in 2001, the firm had grown to 38 employees with offices in Westchester County, New York, Edison, New Jersey and Orange County, California.

Green Laboratory Revolution

The primary reason laboratory facilities consumed significantly more energy than most other types of facilities was their large capacity air conditioning systems used for both personnel comfort and to maintain high indoor air- quality levels in order to protect their occupants from exposure to airborne chemical vapors or biological agents. One piece of equipment, the fume hood (also known as a fume cupboard) and often considered as the most important safety device found in a chemical laboratory, was properly identified as the major culprit for driving up energy costs.

Before Koenigsberg"s solution, laboratory personnel routinely kept the fume hood's access door wide open at all times whether they were actively working at it or not. So regardless of need, the hood's exhaust system and related energy consumption were set up to support the full open position- 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of whether the facility was occupied or not. Koenigsberg's new approach would require employees to be trained to modify their workplace activities and simply keep the fume hood door fully closed at all times, except when access to the hood's interior work place was required. In addition, employees would now be instructed to limit the fume hood access door opening to the half open position when operating the hood, and only raise it to the full open position when required. This could building exhaust capacity and related energy costs could be reduced by 50 percent.

In 1982, Koenigsberg published “Fume Hood Design and Operation”, which described how the new approach to operating the fume hood could cut energy consumption in half and enhance work safety. It introduced his new fume hood design, called “HOPEC” (Hand Operated Energy Control) that included a number of features to support these operational changes. It also described a method for retrofitting existing fume hoods to mimic the HOPEC design, allowing facilities to access energy savings at minimal cost and downtime. Since it was first introduced, the “HOPEC” design, now often called a “Low Volume” or “High Efficiency” fume hood, along with the new operating guidelines, has become the dominant hood type used around the world.

In 1984, Koenigsberg published the first commercial fume hood operating manual, “The Fume Hood Operating and Safety Manual”, It has been estimated that over twenty-five thousand copies of the manual have been distributed around the world and translated into 5 languages.

Koenigsberg now turned his attention to other pieces of laboratory equipment routinely used in his projects that might be impacting the environment. His company, GPR Planners had become the dominant American laboratory design firm and responsible for specifying hundreds of millions of dollars of laboratory equipment yearly.

In the early 1980s, Koenigsberg was invited to develop a 3-day laboratory design seminar for the Center for Professional Advancement-a commercial technical education organization headquartered in New Brunswick New Jersey. Initially, the seminar was offered twice a year- once in New Brunswick, New Jersey and once in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. By 2001, more than 1,000 people had attended it.

In 1990, the seminar shifted its focus and was re-titled, “Green Laboratory Design”. It defined a “State-of-the-Art- Green” laboratory facility as one that was: Safe, Energy Efficient, Effective, Accessible and have minimal Impact on the Environment. With the increased interest in the subject matter, the seminar began to be held in other cities in America and other countries including Japan, Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. As a result, many of Koenigsberg ’s equipment designs began to be adopted by manufacturers in the Mideast, Europe South America and Japan.

The “State of the Art Green” laboratory message was also promoted in print, with the publication of over 20 magazine articles, and the presentation of many technical papers at national and international professional symposiums. Acceptance of the “Green” principals continued to accelerate, and as many of Koenigsberg ’s projects were reviewed and heralded for promoting the health and safety of personnel and a sensitivity to the environment. Among the many clients who embraced his work were the following: in government, NIH, CDC, EPA and the National Water Quality Institute; in academia, Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, New York University; in medical schools; George Washington University, University of Rochester, Harvard University; and in industry:, Aramco (Saudi National Oil Company), Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb,

In 1993, Koenigsberg ’s firm won the “Laboratory of the Year” award for the Hewlett Packard Corporation project, located in Wilmington, Delaware. In its citation, the R&D Magazine cited the unique elements of the design that dealt with energy efficiency, personnel safety and the facility's ability to respond to the special needs of employees such as wheel chair access and adjusting work bench height to accommodate shorter personnel.

Since 1993 many domestic and international laboratory projects have continued to incorporate many of the “State of the Art-Green” laboratory design elements first developed by Koenigsberg and his firm.

Greening policing activities

Shortly after arriving in Florida, Koenigsberg volunteered to join the Palm Beach County Sheriff Office's “Citizen-On-Patrol (COP) organization. The program was founded in the early nineties and with its 1,800 active members it constitutes the largest volunteer agency of its type in the United States. Members patrol communities, parks, and shopping centers in official vehicles provided by the Sheriff, and their primary responsibility is to report any activity that might require a police or emergency response.

Koenigsberg was soon promoted to captain and put in charge of his community’s unit. In 2014, in response to his request, the department allowed him to set up a “walking patrol”, demonstration project in his community. The intent of the concept was to validate whether existing personnel would volunteer for the new patrol in addition to the time spent in their vehicles; thereby doubling the coverage. In essence, it also demonstrated that walking patrols could minimize or potentially eliminate the need for motor patrols in communities which not only would be cost effective, but also reduce reliance on fossil fuels. When the six-month pilot program was completed, the results confirmed that many members elected to join the program and the total number of volunteer hours exceeded the most optimistic expectations.

In 2015, as a result of the Walking patrol” success in Koenigsberg's community, the department directed all units to begin organizing their own walking patrols. In recognition of his work, Koenigsberg received the prestigious, “ABCD” medal for “Action-Above-the-Call-of-Duty”, and his unit received the “Outstanding-Unit” award acknowledging their work in helping to validate the program.

Memberships/activities

• Member, American Biological Safety Association Member, American Chemical Society
• Member, NJ Chapter American Industrial Hygienist Association
• Member S.E.F.A. (Scientific Equipment and Furniture Association)
• Member A.S.H.R.A.E (American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers)

Appointments

• Member Committee for Laboratory Standards and contributor to the Battelle Research Center's Study for Future Trends in Laboratory Designs-1986.
• Member, Editorial Advisory Board-Planning Design, “Laboratory Safety & Environmental Management” Newsletter 1996–2001
• Contributing Editor, R& D Magazine's “Laboratory Design Newsletter”- 1996–2001
• Member of Editorial Advisory Board, “Heating, Piping and Air Conditioning Engineering” Magazine- 1999–2001
• Member of SEFA's Laboratory Fume Hood Standard committee

Awards

"Laboratory of the Year - 1993", Hewlett Packard Corporation, Wilmington, DE

Personal life

Koenigsberg married Heather Rudin in 1965 and they moved to New Jersey in 1970. They are the parents of two sons, Norman and Steven and have five grandchildren. In 2003, they moved to Palm Beach County, Florida.

References

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