MouseCare is your facility design and planning solution

Space and Energy Efficiencies
How to shrink the carbon footprint of your rodent facility?
... A mouse house can leave a hefty carbon footprint from using plug-ins and heat sink-designed IVC racks!
... A mouse house and the environment can benefit a lot from the use of non-motorized EVC racks!

Saving Energy in the Mouse House

CASE STUDY (43,000 Cages)

Review of Two Case Studies

Energy Audit at an Upstate NY Biotech July 17, 2007
This Energy Efficiency Study evaluates the energy consumption associated with the use of Open, Individually Ventilated (IVC), and Exhaust Ventilated (EVC) Caging systems within a mouse facility.
The case study demonstrates means by which an institution can reduce energy consumption and increase space efficiency while increasing the overall effectiveness of the facility, as compared to different mouse caging systems.

Three different caging systems with occupied cages that have a similar heat load were photographed using an Infra-Red camera. The Open and IVC systems have significant heat radiation to room and heat transfer to mass while the EVC system has no heat load that either radiate to the room or transfer to the mass of the rack.
Infra Red Thermography

The annual energy cost ($0.05 per kW) per mouse varies significantly between three diffrent caging systems: Open=$1.00, IVC=$1.66, and EVC=$0.82.
Audit Table

Validation Studies
The ASHRAE110-1995 Containment Test of a non-motorized exhaust ventilated caging system was successfully passed to allowing implementation of BSL-3 protocols.
BioSafety Level 3 Validation

NH3 monitoring shows an increase in value proportional to the room relative humidity (RH).
At 67% RH, a trio-breeding cage recorded 5 ppm NH3 after 14 days while at 29%, a similar trio-breeding cage recorded 0 ppm NH3 after 14 days.
A year long NH3 monitoring shows a similar trend.
Monitoring of Ammonia Production