CLEED

Sustainability Consultancy for Cultural Institutions

Jun
9

By

#AAM2016 Follow Up & @PICGreen SEA Awards

Category: Conferences, Events, News, Sustainability Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

aamexpoHere is a recap of the PIC Green Events at AAM 2016 Conference and Expo. First, all the events and sessions were an overwhelming success! So, it shows there is a definite growing interest to learn how to make your institution more sustainable.
We had the following sessions:
1. Energy Efficient Cold Storage
2. Future Choices – Best Practices for Profession
3. Environmental Sustainability – Power, Influence and Responsibility
4. Stages of Sustainability
5. Sustainability Sins

picOur winners for the SEA (Sustainability Excellence Awards) for the following categories: Facilities, Programs and Exhibits were as follows:

usbotanicAnd the field trip to the US Botanic Garden was educational and bursting with sustainable initiatives, we even received our very own instruction manual for teaching. Check out the Sustainable SITES Initiative!

The Expo had a few highlights, but I have to mention the Virtual Reality Booth by SimWave Consulting in Canada. If you are an interactive museum, then you are going to want to keep an eye on their technology.

And a huge thank you to the Natural History Museum for letting us use their booth and partnering up in many ways moving forward!

Until next year in St. Louis…..keep up the green momentum!

 

 

Nov
30

By

@GreenBuild Recap Top 10 #GreenProducts & Technologies

Category: Conferences, Energy Efficiency, Green Buildings, Green Product Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Building-Green 1

This year GreenBuild took place on the hill in DC. If you wanted to learn the latest about sustainable building it was the place to be! It featured three jam-packed days of top speakers, endless networking opportunities, showcases, LEED workshops and in-depth tours of green buildings in Washington, DC.

Here’s a short recap from BuildingGreen of the best 10 products, technologies and cutting edge ideas. They all can be pretty technical, but I am partial to the last one, USAI Lighting Color Select Tunable Lighting. This kind of controllable lighting could be a key option for museum collections requiring a special spectrum of light. Be on the look out for them!

  1. Johns Manville ENRGY 3.E Halogen-Free Polyiso Insulation
    Johns Manville is the first manufacturer to sell a polyisocyanurate roofing insulation not containing TCPP, or Tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate, the halogenated flame retardant used in polyiso and spray foam.
  2. Organic Furnishings from Ekla Home
    These furnishings are made from natural latex and do not require chemical flame retardants.
  3. KI Chair with AirCarbon Plastic
    The materials that go into the KI Chair come from agriculturally-sourced methane rather than petroleum, which makes the chair carbon-negative.
  4. FocalPoint Bioretention System
    This filtration systems provides the performance of natural storm water filtration on a very small footprint.
  5. Multistack Magnetic Levitation Chillers with Danfoss Compressors
    These chillers cool offices, schools, and large commercial buildings; they are energy-efficient and eliminate the need for mechanical seals, gears, pumps, and many other conventional components.
  6. Fluid-Applied Cat 5 Air Barrier System from Prosoco
    The parts that make up these air barriers are based on the high-performance “hybrid” polymer chemistry, which lacks solvents and isocyanates; in addition, the removal of phthalate plasticizers makes them eligible for use in Living Building Challenge Products.
  7. Clean Energy Collective
    The collective develops locally-sited photovoltaic facilities across the U.S. and engages with local utilities so that local people can purchase and own PV panels within a shared array.
  8. Cascadia Clip Thermal Spacers
    The Cascadia Clip offers support for cladding over insulation, and it decreases thermal bridging more effectively than conventional methods.
  9. Marvin Windows with U.S. Passive House Certification
    Marvin Windows is the first major American window manufacturer to issue a Passive House Institute U.S.-certified window. These windows are available with FSC-certified wood.
  10. USAI Lighting Color Select Tunable Lighting
    This product blends the efficacy of LEDs with the ability to provide users complete control over the color and intensity of their interior lighting.

For for information check out the full article at BuildingGreen.

Aug
25

By

10 Resources for Greening Your Museum

Category: Energy Efficiency, Green Buildings, Green Museum, Green Practices, News, Sustainability Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Whenever I look at blogs or websites for specific information I find that lists are always very helpful. So here is a list of resources to help any museum or cultural institution, large or small, make more sustainable decisions. Each point starts with the overall category the resource would fall under, for example, Energy Efficiency for Energy Star Portfolio Manager.

1. Overall Green Practices: PIC Green,  AAM’s sustainability committee. You have to be a member of AAM to join and there are several committees ranging from development to projects that you can be a part of, if  you are looking to join, contact us here. The major project PIC Green is working is the Sustainable Operations Tool Kit. It is a developing resource which focuses on solutions for greening day-to-day museum operations.

2. Overall Green Practices: Green Museum Accord is an institution-wide pledge to be environmentally responsible which is a partnership between CAM (California Association of Museums) and AAM (specifically PIC Green).

3. Conservation: AIC (American Institute of Conservators) has a committee for sustainable conservation practices.

4. Online Seminars: IPI (Image Permanence Institute) give information webinars on Sustainable Preservation Practices. The next one is on September 4th: Sustainable Preservation Practices, register here. I highly recommend this one, their information is cutting edge and they are one of the only sources providing data and analyzing it.

5. Sustainable Landscapes: Sustainable Sites Initiative, interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden. They create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.

6. Energy Efficiency: Energy Star Portfolio Manager, the EPA created ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, an online tool you can use to measure and track energy and water consumption, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. Use it to benchmark the performance of one building or a whole portfolio of buildings, all in a secure online environment.

7. Sustainable Exhibits: Exhibit SEED, a website for exhibit and museum professionals to find resources for developing, designing, and building more sustainable exhibits.

8. Energy Efficiency: Minnesota Historical Society Blog. The Minnesota Historical Society has done an enormous amount of work commissioning their present buildings to keep all their building running efficiently. They show you how to turn the information you gather into hard earned savings!

9. Overall Green Pracitces: Sustainable Museums, AAM PIC Green’s Blog, to publish a white paper on findings from the last Sustainability Summit. Stay tuned for a link to the upcoming white paper.

10. Historic Building Green Practices: 10 Ways to Green Your Historic Home, Preservation Nation Blog, News from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

So, here’s a start to all kinds of green museum resources to get you started. Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of case studies from museums and cultural institutions that have taken steps to becoming more sustainable. And here’s to celebrating 96 years for the National Parks, Happy Birthday!

Yosemite-Falls