The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recently gave the Science Museum's solar-panelled roof an award for being one of the ten best green energy projects of 2005 for raising public awareness and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But we need many more examples for museums to really make a difference.
Museums are in a privileged and responsible position when it comes to raising public awareness of environmental issues. Collections in museums and galleries are excellent tools for informing the public.
But improving awareness is one thing: in this age of climate change and gloomy predictions for the earth's future, genuinely reducing a museum's impact on the environment is far harder. Unfortunately most museums have a long way to go before they can duck the accusation of hypocrisy.
The DTI award is gratefully received. However, the solar roof on the Science Museum provides less than one per cent of the electrical needs of the building. This is tiny compared with the museum's efforts to achieve energy efficiency, a much more difficult task that has nevertheless led over the past four years to a 13 per cent saving on energy use.
Only a few museums have done anything about trying to achieve more sustainable levels of energy use, but that could change when the financial implications of a predicted 30 to 50 per cent rise in energy prices hits museums this year.
The upcoming Energy Performance of Buildings Directive legislation will also force museums and galleries as public buildings to account for and display how much energy they use. Like your fridge at home, showing an energy rating as a low and embarrassing 'G' will be a public incentive to get real environmental initiatives underway.
But even where commitment to the environment is made, the problem is sustaining it. Organisations that have made real progress often have a highly motivated individual in the operational facilities team, or more unusually, support and resources allocated from the very top.
The recently formed Museums and Galleries Energy and Carbon Group has brought together some of these individuals from national institutions. A common aim of the group was quickly identified: how can we get museum management and staff to take this seriously? Individuals alone are not enough. They still need permission to make change.
Part of the issue is cost. Though long-term investment is needed, many museums consider finding the spare money next to impossible. There are not yet enough sponsorship and funding opportunities available to help. The DTI funding scheme is one of a very small number that support the installation of renewable energy.
But the real savings are in improving existing operational arrangements. New boilers, better insulation, water-saving taps and recycling schemes - these can all contribute to reducing operational costs, but there are few funding sources available to tackle them.
One possibility is to create more innovative integrated schemes. Need new toilets next to your exhibition hall? Why not take some of the exhibition into the toilets and make them a feature?
The refurbishment costs can be included in the budget and a wider range of sponsors approached. Developing this type of scheme is possible if gallery and facilities staff work together. Unfortunately museums generally lack the expertise, or perhaps the will.
Museums have been very slow to develop environmental policies. To most museums the environment inside a museum is far more important than the environment outside. Standards for achieving the best internal conditions for collections do not consider the costs to the budget or the planet.
Will future generations thank us for blindly committing to our collections while ignoring the peril of our planet? Surely the best solution is to consider both. Innovative work in this area has been quietly taking place for some time, yet the lessons from the research are not making it into the mainstream. New thinking on what 'stable' internal conditions means is for the first time allowing new green designs for museum stores.
Green buildings that use natural ventilation, daylight and solar passive design may seem at odds with conventional conservation care. If museums and galleries are to guarantee the future of their collections, then reducing the operating costs of buildings with new designs is a priority.
It is here that museums have much to learn from the corporate world. Buildings are constructed all over the country to house perishable goods in strict internal conditions. Many of these are winning awards for green building design. Museums need to engage with this skills base.
The Museums Association's Collections for the Future report asked for greater innovation and long-term solutions for the storage of collections and access to them.
Perhaps it should also have mentioned our responsibility for the longevity of the environment outside museum buildings. The report encouraged museums to capitalise on opportunities for new investment and new ideas. Now is the time for action.
Increasing energy costs and increased public interest in the environmental credentials of all organisations are making us reconsider museums' relationship with the planet. Now the sector needs to develop more expertise to bring about the needed changes and avert an even greater funding crisis.
Reopening the debate to align traditional museum standards with more modern environmental thinking will help find better solutions for museums that don't literally cost the earth.
Rebecca Dawson is the sustainable development manager at the National Museum of Science and Industry
Museum Practice 33 has a practical guide on how to run your museum in a greener way. For more details visit: www.museumsassociation.org/mp
Museums are in a privileged and responsible position when it comes to raising public awareness of environmental issues. Collections in museums and galleries are excellent tools for informing the public.
But improving awareness is one thing: in this age of climate change and gloomy predictions for the earth's future, genuinely reducing a museum's impact on the environment is far harder. Unfortunately most museums have a long way to go before they can duck the accusation of hypocrisy.
The DTI award is gratefully received. However, the solar roof on the Science Museum provides less than one per cent of the electrical needs of the building. This is tiny compared with the museum's efforts to achieve energy efficiency, a much more difficult task that has nevertheless led over the past four years to a 13 per cent saving on energy use.
Only a few museums have done anything about trying to achieve more sustainable levels of energy use, but that could change when the financial implications of a predicted 30 to 50 per cent rise in energy prices hits museums this year.
The upcoming Energy Performance of Buildings Directive legislation will also force museums and galleries as public buildings to account for and display how much energy they use. Like your fridge at home, showing an energy rating as a low and embarrassing 'G' will be a public incentive to get real environmental initiatives underway.
But even where commitment to the environment is made, the problem is sustaining it. Organisations that have made real progress often have a highly motivated individual in the operational facilities team, or more unusually, support and resources allocated from the very top.
The recently formed Museums and Galleries Energy and Carbon Group has brought together some of these individuals from national institutions. A common aim of the group was quickly identified: how can we get museum management and staff to take this seriously? Individuals alone are not enough. They still need permission to make change.
Part of the issue is cost. Though long-term investment is needed, many museums consider finding the spare money next to impossible. There are not yet enough sponsorship and funding opportunities available to help. The DTI funding scheme is one of a very small number that support the installation of renewable energy.
But the real savings are in improving existing operational arrangements. New boilers, better insulation, water-saving taps and recycling schemes - these can all contribute to reducing operational costs, but there are few funding sources available to tackle them.
One possibility is to create more innovative integrated schemes. Need new toilets next to your exhibition hall? Why not take some of the exhibition into the toilets and make them a feature?
The refurbishment costs can be included in the budget and a wider range of sponsors approached. Developing this type of scheme is possible if gallery and facilities staff work together. Unfortunately museums generally lack the expertise, or perhaps the will.
Museums have been very slow to develop environmental policies. To most museums the environment inside a museum is far more important than the environment outside. Standards for achieving the best internal conditions for collections do not consider the costs to the budget or the planet.
Will future generations thank us for blindly committing to our collections while ignoring the peril of our planet? Surely the best solution is to consider both. Innovative work in this area has been quietly taking place for some time, yet the lessons from the research are not making it into the mainstream. New thinking on what 'stable' internal conditions means is for the first time allowing new green designs for museum stores.
Green buildings that use natural ventilation, daylight and solar passive design may seem at odds with conventional conservation care. If museums and galleries are to guarantee the future of their collections, then reducing the operating costs of buildings with new designs is a priority.
It is here that museums have much to learn from the corporate world. Buildings are constructed all over the country to house perishable goods in strict internal conditions. Many of these are winning awards for green building design. Museums need to engage with this skills base.
The Museums Association's Collections for the Future report asked for greater innovation and long-term solutions for the storage of collections and access to them.
Perhaps it should also have mentioned our responsibility for the longevity of the environment outside museum buildings. The report encouraged museums to capitalise on opportunities for new investment and new ideas. Now is the time for action.
Increasing energy costs and increased public interest in the environmental credentials of all organisations are making us reconsider museums' relationship with the planet. Now the sector needs to develop more expertise to bring about the needed changes and avert an even greater funding crisis.
Reopening the debate to align traditional museum standards with more modern environmental thinking will help find better solutions for museums that don't literally cost the earth.
Rebecca Dawson is the sustainable development manager at the National Museum of Science and Industry
Museum Practice 33 has a practical guide on how to run your museum in a greener way. For more details visit: www.museumsassociation.org/mp
