Saving Energy

Anna Buelow <anna.buelow [at] nationalarchives__gov__uk> writes

>As part of an on-going review of energy costs at The National
>Archives (UK), an evaluation of our current environmental standards
>is necessary in order to determine where savings can be made without
>compromising responsible stewardship of the collection.

For the past 9 years Te Papa has broadened the HVAC operating band
as an energy saving measure.  Our standard operating band is 52% RH
+/-7% This is a range of 45-59% RH.  Temperature range is 21 deg. C
winter, 22 deg. C summer +/-1 deg C. Having a broader RH band helps
reduce energy use, the thermal mass of the building also helps
maintain conditions.

We have two very large buildings with several collection storage
areas but conditions remain within 52-59% RH at least 90% of the
time.  Temperature is rarely an issue and "flat lines" at the set
point almost constantly.

When necessary we can adjust conditions in our Touring Gallery to
suite the lender, a recent exhibition required an RH range of only
50-55% an operating range of only +/-2.5% this is an extremely tight
band and was very difficult to achieve but we were successful.

We also take into account most of our collections are within
enclosures like boxes, drawers and cabinets.  Monitoring has shown
this helps create a micro-environment more stable than external room
conditions and buffers the collection item from any sudden external
changes within the store room should they occur.

We have separate storage for photographic negatives that require
special conditions, these are controlled independently of the
building system.

Tony Clarke
Preventive Conservator
Museum of New Zealand
Wellington
+64 4 381 7206


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:1
                  Distributed: Saturday, June 24, 2006
                        Message Id: cdl-20-1-013
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