Green Museum - Greening The Field of Preventive Conservation

Greening The Field of Preventive Conservation

The needs of conserving artifacts and landmark buildings are often seen as conflicting with the most efficient and effective means of “going green.” Light, temperature, humidity, pollutants, particulates, and pests must all be monitored in order to properly preserve objects and historic buildings - the energy spent to control and maintain ideal environments for historic building and artifacts alone is staggering. Since the heart of authenticity for many types of museums is the display of artifacts and specimens from their collections, it can be challenging to create ideal environments for these objects while also creating greener museum buildings and exhibition spaces. For example, the California Academy of Sciences, which is housed in a LEED Platinum building designed by Renzo Piano, utilizes a natural ventilation system that could expose its collections to airborne flora and fauna, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, and strong daylight. In order to combat these factors, Jonathan Katz, CEO of Cinnabar, Inc., the firm that was hired by the California Academy of Sciences to design exhibits for the main floor of its new Natural History building, devised a “kit of parts” system where specimen display cases themselves could be configured to control temperature, humidity, and light. These cases had to reflect the sustainability mission of the museum and thus had to be built in such a way that they could be reconfigured and reused as exhibits changed. This is simply one example of how the perceived conflict between green exhibition and building design and the preservation of objects was resolved.

The struggle to reconcile green practices and object conservation goes far beyond the exhibition hall, as most museums only display a fraction of the objects in their collections. Museum conservators are tasked with the care, preservation, and restoration of these objects – the American Institute for Preservation, a professional organization in the United States that establishes and upholds professional standards among its members, states that the goal of its conservators is “to preserve the material evidence of our past so we can learn from it today and appreciate it in the future.” In striving to be “greener,” conservators must also now “consider not only the interaction of materials and environment with the art and artifacts treat, but also the use, production, and disposal of the materials employ in work.” Thus, another problem facing conservators is the issue of finding non-toxic or lower VOC replacements for tried and true conservation treatments. In order to fully understand the challenges associated with green conservation practices, then, it is helpful to examine what conservation professionals identify as core issues. Patricia Silence, in “How Are US Conservators Going Green? Results of Polling AIC Members” identifies five areas pertaining to sustainable practices: recycling, energy consumption, waste, improved sustainability through products and procedures, and education. The following list was composed based on findings from Silence’s paper:

Recycling

• Reusable materials (rags, sponges, brushes)
• Less paper (digital archives)
• Saving scrap (for later use)

Energy Consumption

• Temperature Control (radiant heating systems)
• RH Control
• Light Control (better lighting systems – better bulbs, utilizing natural light when possible, etc)
• Using renewable energy to power environmental systems
• Using more energy-efficient environmental systems

Waste

• Use less energy (environmental controls and office appliances) and materials (wood, paper, plastic, foam)
• Try to reuse or recycle a greater proportion of used items
• Proper disposal training for toxic items

Improved Sustainability through Products and Procedures

• Less toxic chemicals and solvents
• Water-based cleaning systems and/or natural products
• Organic cotton rags and towels
• Recycled or re-purposed products
• Used equipment, furniture, tools
• Less toxic packing materials
• Less toxic pest management chemicals
• Re-distilling
• Procedures for proper disposal
• Procedures for testing new materials

Education

• Best Practices Manual
• Resource List