Museums & Portfolio Manager- Please Sign On

"The most successful voluntary energy efficiency movement in history..."

It's so easy and so helpful - to you, the field, the planet.  

In the EPA's online tool/database, you can record your energy and water (and waste) monthly, meter-by-meter. The idea is that if you track it - as in you enter it, compare it to other months and over time, and keep checking it, you will see what your energy use looks like.

Help Yourself: Seeing it on a dashboard gives you clues to reducing it - which means saving by identifying potential anomalies (leaks, meter defects, and equipment running too much), and identifying areas of just plain too much use.

Help the field: By supporting the development of an Energy Star category which makes it easier to satisfy USGBC's LEED standards and local code compliance. We have 100 museums signed up but need more to create benchmarks for each region.

Help the planet: Tracking your carbon reduction over time, and any increasing percentages of clean renewable energy use, documents your support of your city's contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement goals of carbon reduction.

The US goal is reductions by 26% to 28% from the 2005 baseline. What's the baseline you can establish and improve upon?

Questions, or need help? Call me, please. I'm thrilled to help. 978-505-4515

NOTE - Both EnergyStar and Portfolio Manager are Registered Trademarks of somebody, likely EPA.

American Swedish Institute Honored As First LEED Gold Certified Museum In Minnesota

Environmental sustainability and history working well together!  The new Nelson 

From the ASI website www.asimn.org

Cultural Center is a lovely addition to the American Swedish Institute's museum and historic house in Minneapolis - made even lovelier by the recent successful completion of LEED-NC Gold certification. The press release says "ASI is proud to be the first museum in Minnesota to earn this designation as part of its ongoing effort to promote and practice the values of respect for all peoples and the environment that are exemplified in the Nordic countries."

 

Talk about green as mission support!

 

At last year's AAM conference a number of us were delighted to take a green tour, and then Elizabeth Wylie and I included the project in the new edition of The Green Museum: A Primer on Environmental Sustainability just published by Altamira Press. What I love about the building is that it clearly does not compete with the historic structure, is set apart to provide views to the structure, and its green design reflects the principles of the institution it was created to support. Plus the daylighting and green space are fantastic.

 

ASI reports "Architect Tim Carl of Minneapolis-based HGA led the design team for the Nelson Cultural Center.  Swedish designers, Åke Axelsson and Karin Ahlgren served as consultants to the project. Green elements including bio-roofs and a geothermal heating and cooling system ensure that ASI remains not only beautiful but sustainable Institute for generations of visitors to come."                   CONGRATULATIONS TEAM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Path - A Video Tour of Sustainable Museum

The Wild Center is the new site for the  Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks n Tupper Lake, NY.  And A New Path is a video tour of The Wild Center's green building, landscapes and practices. A New Path is also interpreted onsite through descriptive panels, but whether you're at the museum in person, or at your computer, it's worth a look.

Naturalist Susan Newman does a good job of showing and describing how the earned its LEED Silver rating and, more importantly, just does a darned-good job of behaving sustainably and sharing that commitment with its visitors near and far.  Check out the story of the eco-pavers, or the biomass system, or the green roof, or the composting toilets....

Public Rating of Energy Use in Museums?

What will your public think when your energy consumption is posted online as if a tax record, added to an energy consumption black list, or branded on the side of your building?  Will they be proud, disappointed, or so annoyed they don't write that Annual Appeal check?

In the United Kingdom, all buildings housing a 'public authority' or providing regular service to the public, and of a certain size, must post a Display Energy Certificate annually. It ranks your energy efficiency from A - G, lists your carbon emissions, and identifies your energy sources - including renewables. It's quite colorful and must be prominently displayed. Can you imagine one in your museum?   

Well, Seth Godin's blog post Will Energy Consumption Stay Private? talks about a similar possibility: connectedness and measurements lead to information in the public domain.

Just like Pilot Fees, expect to see Energy Carbon Certificates on a museum near you soon. Why not pre-empt it with an Energy Star label or LEED plaque instead?