Five years ago, the Museums Association was in the midst of its Sustainability and Museums campaign.
It had many similar messages to Museums Change Lives – the need for healthy relationships with local organisations, the value of audiences as participants rather than consumers and, above all, the vital importance of having a clear, long-term social purpose.
Sustainability and Museums also gave a high profile to the need for museums to be gentler on the planet, particularly by reducing their use of energy.
It’s good to see that some museums have successfully reduced their CO2 emissions. One of the star performers is the Natural History Museum, which has improved its energy efficiency for five years in a row.
Smaller museums have also been successful. Banbury opened in 2002, stuffed with inefficient lighting and largely unnecessary air conditioning, although things are now better after six years of improvements.
But, overall, museums have failed to consistently improve their energy efficiency. In some places it’s got worse, even at museums that are making cuts. Perhaps if they tackled their burgeoning energy use they would not have to cut services and staff so much.
Research published last month by Arts Council England suggests that museums use proportionately more energy than other organisations in the cultural sector.
One reason is that many still wrongly believe that it is necessary to tightly control relative humidity and temperature. There is new UK guidance that recommends far less strict control – but it isn’t being put into practice.
Could your museum’s New Year resolution be to do more to cut energy use, especially if it might help save public services and jobs?
Maurice Davies is the head of policy and communications at the Museums Association
It had many similar messages to Museums Change Lives – the need for healthy relationships with local organisations, the value of audiences as participants rather than consumers and, above all, the vital importance of having a clear, long-term social purpose.
Sustainability and Museums also gave a high profile to the need for museums to be gentler on the planet, particularly by reducing their use of energy.
It’s good to see that some museums have successfully reduced their CO2 emissions. One of the star performers is the Natural History Museum, which has improved its energy efficiency for five years in a row.
Smaller museums have also been successful. Banbury opened in 2002, stuffed with inefficient lighting and largely unnecessary air conditioning, although things are now better after six years of improvements.
But, overall, museums have failed to consistently improve their energy efficiency. In some places it’s got worse, even at museums that are making cuts. Perhaps if they tackled their burgeoning energy use they would not have to cut services and staff so much.
Research published last month by Arts Council England suggests that museums use proportionately more energy than other organisations in the cultural sector.
One reason is that many still wrongly believe that it is necessary to tightly control relative humidity and temperature. There is new UK guidance that recommends far less strict control – but it isn’t being put into practice.
Could your museum’s New Year resolution be to do more to cut energy use, especially if it might help save public services and jobs?
Maurice Davies is the head of policy and communications at the Museums Association
