sustainability

Highlights from the Summit on Sustainability at AAM 2013

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Last month in Baltimore I attended what I think has been the most important Summit on Sustainability thus far for museums. Spearheaded by PIC Green, AAM’s sustainability committee and moderated by Sarah Brophy, the summit was broken up into 3 parts, see my earlier post. Each section had about 5-6 presenters focusing on but not limited to: practices, tools, case studies and personal experience.

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The first section had 6 speakers that covered a wide range of topics. A couple highlighted some building certification/rating systems, like Green Globes and the Living Building Challenge and showed how they can act as a guide to make your building more environmentally sound. Andrea Schnitzer, the National Program Manager at Energy Star spoke about their Portfolio Manager, which is an interactive energy management tool that allows you to track and assess energy and water consumption across your entire portfolio of buildings in a secure online environment. We also heard from Kari Jensen from OMSI explaining the process of how Exhibit Seed came into existence. It is a beta site of sustainable practices used to create exhibits. Definitely worth checking out as it is just as important to green your exhibits as it is your building. Lastly and my favorite was Holly Shimizu, Executive Director for the United States Botanic Gardens. She spoke about Sustainable Sites, an 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 to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices. In other words, Sustainable Sites promotes green spaces and shows how important it is work in accordance with the land and surrounding eco-systems.

The second part focused on what we have accomplished and several case studies were presented. The highlights were PIC Green’s own Shengyin Xu from the Minnesota Historical Society talked about her role as the Sustainability Specialist for their 26 sites. One of their biggest challenges was finding energy saving solutions for 26 different historic sites. Susan Glassman from the Wagner Free Institute spoke about her instituions journey with LEED. And Holly Shimizu, Executive Director for the United States Botanic Garden, spoke about how having  a truly green building is when you have green outdoor space as well. The USBG helped develop SITES(tm) The Sustainable Sites Initiative(tm), which is an interdisciplinary partnership led 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 to transform land development and management practices with the nation’s first voluntary rating system for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.   aquarium-from-water-taxi600

The third part, moderated by Laura Roberts was an analysis of how we can move forward with the tools that we presently possess. Some common limitations mentioned were how to accurately measure metrics and how to create positive behavioral change thus reinforcing core values within the industry. There are many leaders in similar industries to follow, like colleges and universities. When looking at that industry it seems that they are a few steps ahead. But we have all the tools in place as Wendy Jessup from Wendy Jessup & Associates and AIC stated that we are need to work together since we have common goals for museums to become more sustainable.

Three things that were refreshing and that I learned:

1. Almost all women panel, who are smart, engaged and motivated!

2. Conference positions PIC Green to be the leader and portal for Sustainability for museums and lays groundwork for partnerships with other organization like AIC, who also has a committee for sustainable conservation practices.

3. Highlighted the major gaps where we need to focus: education (behavioral change), long range planning and funding.

Here is a list of some resources to help assist your museum to become more sustainable.

1. 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. 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. AIC (American Institute of Conservators) has a committee for sustainable conservation practices.

4. IPI (Image Permanence Institute) give information webinars on Sustainable Preservation Practices. The next one is on July 10th: Investigate your HVAC System & Identify Potential Energy Savings, register here.

 

 

 

 

Virginia Living Museum Installs Solar

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It is important to note that the term “green museums” encompasses a wide range of educational institutions. We tend to think of sustainable measures being implemented in just art museums, but in fact that is not the case. The purpose of this blog and our company is show that all cultural/living/historic institutions can save money, become more efficient and act as models leading the way in green building.

VLM Deputy Director Fred Farris talking about solar panel installation.
VLM Deputy Director Fred Farris with solar installation.

The Virginia Living Museum, home to over 250 species of animals and plants found throughout Virginia, just installed 165 solar panels on a southern exposure. It is a bold move, spokeswoman Virginia Gabriele says, “is not only to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint and its electric bill, but to educate visitors on solar power and even encourage them to try it at home.” The installation when it is up and running, is expected to save the museum more than $5,000 in electricity costs in its first year, plus prevent the release of more than 41 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. The project will be unveiled during the Museum’s Earth Day Celebration on April 20th.

These kind of projects require funds that usually museums don’t possess. This particular one was funded with a $150,000 grant from Dominion Virginia Power’s charitable foundation and nearly $15,000 donated by Bay Electric Co., which installed the panels. Dominion is Virginia largest power company and according to Glen Besa, Virginia director of the Sierra Club, the state of Virginia continues to fall behind because Dominion isn’t making a “serious commitment to bringing job-creating solar, wind and energy efficiency to our state.” Let’s hope that Dominion partnering up Virginia Living Museum helps to change that outlook. Virginia itself happens to fall among the bottom 25 states in terms of solar power in a survey Solar Energy Industries Association.

All in all the museum is thrilled to have a new energy source and a new educational outlet. Fred Farris, the museum’s deputy executive director, says the “solar array has the potential to be an impressive educational display in support of alternative energy, due both to its size and its placement in close contact with the public. Not only will guests be learning about solar generation of electricity, but they will also get to see and learn about the incredible source of that energy: our sun.” Kudos to the Living Museum for making a commitment to a more sustainable future, I’m sure the animals and plans would be thrilled if they knew!

Living Green in the Watershed Exhibit
Living Green in the Watershed Exhibit

California Academy Of Sciences: The Mother of Green Musuems

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I’ve always been a fan of Italian architect, Renzo Piano and he didn’t disappoint with his renowned California Academy of Sciences building. Last September I was in San Francisco and made a point of visiting the institution. If you are a fan of green building and museums, this is considered the mother-ship. I’d have to say  for me the most impressive aspect was the 4-story rainforest, you truly felt like you were transported to a real one. As you walk in you are enveloped by the humid, moist air and surrounded by a cacophony of sounds and sights from croaking trees frogs to beautiful, lush tropical plants.

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The building itself earned it’s second LEED Platinum award back in September 2011. The Academy’s operations and maintenance practices were evaluated again and earned points across six different categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design process. The institution has many attributes ranging from their living roof with 6″ of soil for insulation, the 60,000 pv cells to generate 10% of the Academy’s electricity needs or the 70% of staff using alternative transportation to commute to work – this is just to mention a few. Overall, the Academy sets the bar for  cultural institutions and namely natural history museums. It is something of an aspiration for all those interested in this field of sustainability and green museums.

Living roof

They also just unveiled a rare octopus species, a larger striped Pacific octopus. If it is so rare, I’m sort of wondering how they got it? But it comes under the weird and wonderful category because it’s mates pressing their suckers and beaks together, as well as morphing colors and shape shifting! Now, that is something to see and they say her mate is coming soon!

Summit on Sustainability Standards in Museums

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The initiative to green museums has been gaining some ground in the past few years and it continues to grow. This year at the Annual  American Alliance of Museums Conference, the PIC Green Committee will be hosting a 3-part session on “Sustainability Standards for Museums.” (To learn more put in “summit” in the search field.) ” The program will be covering where we are, what we have accomplished and finally deciding the next steps for advancing the field.

The session is divided into 3-parts, the first part will look at LEED, Living Buildings, Sustainable Sites and the EPA’s EnergyStar programs.  The second will examine the experiences of various institutions with the above sustainability measures by highlighting the pros and cons. And lastly, the third part will analyze the present data we have and help to guide us in the right direction to increase sustainability awareness for all cultural institutions. The sessions are held on Tuesday, May 21 from 8:45am – 3:00pm with a break for lunch.

If you are looking for ways to help your cultural institution become more sustainable this is the place to learn more. You’ll be able to hear from professionals in the field with real first-hand experience on what works specific to museums. All museum staff can benefit from learning how to use less energy, create less waste, implement viable sustainability measures and create an all around better environment for visitors, staff and collections.