Establishing Sustainable Environmental Strategy

This project seeks to develop new, or refine existing, climate control strategies for museum collections through working with collecting institutions to implement sustainable, knowledge-based solutions tailored to their specific needs.

• Reduction of National Gallery of Victoria’s carbon footprint and understanding of the energy savings in relationship to the changed parameters of temperature and relative humidity
• Successful collection of acoustic emission data to inform and optimize climate control strategy adopted by the National Gallery of Victoria
• “Changing Climate Management Strategies” workshop held in 2023 at the National Gallery of Victoria to demonstrate the practicality of the technique as an assessment tool for the wider conservation community
• Seamless integration of the acoustic emission monitoring system into the didactic display of the Flemish altarpiece resulting in enhanced public engagement with issues of collections and sustainability
• Improved acoustic emission monitoring training to convey technical information to a non-technical audience

It is widely recognized that the museum building and its collections should be viewed as one system, and that significant energy savings can be achieved by changing the system operating algorithm and measures such as sealing the structure, improving insulation to reduce heat gain/loss, and optimizing ventilation rates. It has also been demonstrated that relaxing the parameters of temperature and humidity result in a considerable reduction in energy consumption.

The project recognizes the crucial importance of addressing obstacles in redefining museum operations and provides tools for museum staff to support their decision-making process. It seeks to inform and implement environmental strategies for collections by considering building type, existing climate control systems, and the recognition that any strategy must support the overall heritage preservation plan.

Michał Łukomski, Project Lead, Senior Scientist; Vincent Laudato Beltran, Scientist; Alexandra Bridarolli, Assistant Scientist; Cecilia Winter, Project Specialist

National Gallery of Victoria