AIC RATS – Microclimates
\nJune 1, 2011<\/p>\n
Museum environmental guidelines and the implementations of change<\/strong> Follow up to \u201cplus\/minus\u201d dilemma we\u2019ve been having otherwise known as: \u201cShould we loosen up the environmental restrictions on museum loans to other institutions?\u201d<\/p>\n At CCI \u2013 2,500 museums support across Canada and 500 archives. They were looking for an approach that can be adapted for a variety of organizations.<\/p>\n Recap of \u201cPlus\/Minus Dilemma\u201d at AIC 2010: http:\/\/www.iiconservation.org\/dialogues\/ ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Class of control\t\/ Relative Humidity \/\u00a0\tTemperature ASHRAE also has building types; higher Roman numerals have more climate control Why ASHRAE? Example: Risk assessment on historic house in Ontario They decided the building was the most important asset, but spalling was occurring because they were trying to maintain 45% RH inside; reduce RH will reduce strain on building envelope.<\/p>\n There is some confusion about RH and temperature. There is a perception that RH is an issue of paramount importance which can lead to inappropriate RH as in the above example. \u201cSaving Money, Preserving Collections\u201d dialogue Agreement on the following from museums across Canada: Any suggestions? CCI would appreciate your input \u2013 drop him a line! Charlie.costain@pch.gc.ca 613-998-3721<\/p>\n The Off-Grid Museum<\/strong> Energy savings – Denmark has been doing it WAY before it was cool and hip. Tim has worked with saving energy in conservation for many years. The presentation was given by Dr. Larsen from the National Museum in Denmark.<\/p>\n He showed us buildings that are relevant to the subject: energy savings<\/p>\n As you know, buildings depend on external energy sources to function \u2013 light, temp, RH, etc. Museums are big time energy consumers and Denmark is trying to create a building that doesn\u2019t rely on external energy sources and uses only renewable energy sources, taking into account climatic exceptions.<\/p>\n One example that he gave was this Nydam Iron Age warship that was exhibited in a temporary shelter designed as a balloon. As you can imagine, energy use quite large because sealing a balloon is no small feat. Needless to say, the \u201cballoon\u201d leaked, causing an unstable climate \u2013 maybe C or D class in ASHRAE terms. Air conditioning depends heavily on the building envelope and the envelope was failing in this example. TO add some more fun to the mix, there was a 6 hour power outage and the balloon collapsed \u2013 only held up by wires. Constant energy supply may become a luxury and not a constant.<\/p>\n He showed us another warship that was transformed into an exhibition building \u2013 a submarine-turned-museum. The interior of the submarine had a kitchen, bath, and \u201cartwork\u201d aka pinup girlie pictures. Hilarious!! This space has a very unstable climate \u2013 doesn\u2019t even class in ASHRAE system.<\/p>\n Example: A museum building with thick concrete walls located in the open landscape from the 1930s. Truly off grid \u2013 not even a telephone line and all one level. Museum has only natural lighting \u2013 insulation \u2013 high ceiling for human health requirement. Natural ventilation sufficient for air quality, no temperature and RH control. In winter we need heat for humans \u2013 ground heat pump is the most energy efficient way to heat.<\/p>\n Example: Gallery for minerals display that has a ground heat pump for winter heating and underfloor heating. It uses 4-5 kilowatt hour for heat. Wind energy index can be used as an energy source \u2013 a lot of wind in winter and coexists well with heat pump that could be powered by wind energy if necessary. The gallery has a heavy structure to give thermal stability and thermal insulation to reduce heat loss. Small windows reduce solar heating but allow for natural lighting. No humidity control but passive humidification from the walls but not intended \u2013 buttresses are taking in the rain water. Efflorescence is occurring on the walls, but it is not as dry in winter so it actually helps.<\/p>\n Example: 17th century house in Liselund Park. This house is only open to public in the summer and not heated with interior impermeable surfaces and finishes. Dehumidified air is injected to each room through small ducts in the floor to keep RH down. It works quite well according to environmental data. However, the temperature is not steady. Dehumidifier keeps the RH to about 60% \u2013 but the dehumidifier is totally keeping it in check \u2013 if it fails you\u2019re in trouble. Humidity-sensitive objects should be in microclimates because mechanical systems cannot be relied upon. Energy consumption for dehumidification is constant over the year \u2013 could use water turbine to power the dehumidification in summer, which would be a good off-grid solution. Mechanicals are unpredictable, but water freezes so what about winter?<\/p>\n Example: Runic stones in Jelling from 950-970 BC outside \u2013 no energy use at all (ha ha ha). Polychrome paintings that were on the stones are lost however \u2013 copies are displayed in museum nearby \u2013 photovoltaic panels integrated into skylights to give natural and artificial light \u2013 solar energy better in summer than winter, but condition stability problem during the seasons. Combine solar and wind energy then it will meet required energy needs for museum.<\/p>\n Read more at www.conservationphysics.org<\/p>\n Some of the questions\/ comments: One should note the practical limitations in USA with this type of off-grid environmental controls. Denmark is in Zone 5 maritime \u2013 mild climate; the USA varies from Zone 1 Humid to Zone 7 Dry maritime and humid \u2013 Zone 5 is very small geographically. One should design a museum to the specific location and its limitations in terms of environment.<\/p>\n New Technologies for Energy Storage Applied to Cultural<\/strong> I will admit that I had a difficult time following this talk, so I apologize in advance for the lack of information here. The main idea of this talk was to demonstrate a method of conserving heat (as energy) in Santa Croce, Florence by using a special kind of material in drywall. Storing and then release energy is the concept. I\u2019m thankful I understood that!<\/p>\n Well… here goes nothing…<\/p>\n The folks at the Consiglio Nazionale want to develop, evaluate, and demonstrate an affordable multisource energy thermal and electronic storage system integrated in building based on new materials, technologies, and control system: http:\/\/www.messib.eu\/<\/p>\n So they installed this system in two civil buildings: S Croce Museum was one of them. S Croce has heating system radiators, but no air conditioning. Illumination is halogen and metal halide lamps.<\/p>\n As I understood it, the materials that will hold the energy or heat are phase change materials (PCM) which has the capacity to stores much more heat per unit volume. It also has a desirable melting temperature in the desired temperature operation range, a high specific heat, small volume change with high thermal conductivity. This material (which I never actually got the name of \u2013 maybe they never said it because it\u2019s proprietary?) is available as a paraffin or hydrated salts and used in heating panels and solar (as in sun) systems. There is not much information on the long-term durability of this material nor is it inexpensive. PCM embedded in gypsum plasterboards PCM distributed in 20 with respect to gypsum.<\/p>\n So measurements of this material were made with automatic and manual air, temperature, relative humidity, and surface temperature contact on the surface of the art (I think) as it hung on the wall where the PCM material was infused in the gypsum wall. They chose rooms based on how much art was displayed in the room. Main results are below (as best as I caught them):<\/p>\n Installed panels with monitors for air temperature, RH, temperature of panel, and contact panel of wood board to simulate canvas painting. They also monitored VOCs in museum and lab. Found aromatic chlorinated alcohol terpene compounds, aldehydes, and organic acids. PCM emits low VOCs, but it is strongly reduced when in gypsum panel. Can\u2019t tell about aldehydes and organic acids \u2013 formic acid is from gypsum panel perhaps? Not PCM? There were lots of graphs about the PCM effects in the lab. Honestly the explanations aren\u2019t totally clear \u2013 something about the melting point of PCM? Maybe?<\/p>\n Anyway, according to all of the testing and graphing, they need more information on the material\u2019s thermal behavior, VOCs emissions, and interactions of VOCs and artifacts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AIC RATS – Microclimates June 1, 2011 Museum environmental guidelines and the implementations of change Charlie Costain \u2013 Conservation and Scientific Services, Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Follow up to \u201cplus\/minus\u201d dilemma we\u2019ve been having otherwise known as: \u201cShould we loosen up the environmental restrictions on museum loans to other institutions?\u201d At CCI \u2013 2,500 museums … Continue reading “AIC RATS – Microclimates – June 1, 2011”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,38,16],"tags":[61,654,848],"class_list":["post-1334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-research-materials-techniques","category-specialty-sessions","tag-aic","tag-microclimate","tag-rats-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Charlie Costain \u2013 Conservation and Scientific Services,<\/strong>
\n Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nHighlights:
\n\u2022\tJerry Podany: IIC – heritage conservation in the broader context of the modern world;
\n\u2022\tMax Anderson: candor and honesty of what you\u2019re doing and flexibility between parties and technical capacity of the buildings and energy concerns;
\n\u2022\tNancy Bell: in the UK AVISO group ask staff at Tate to reexamine conditions for loans and exhibitions \u2013 carbon emission reductions and new funding for research IGOR;
\n\u2022\tKaren Stothart: talked about the balance of need of exhibitions and loans and the protection of those 50% RH does shift during winter;
\n\u2022\tCecily Crzywacz: there is no magic bullet for conditions for all institutions;
\n\u2022\tStefan Michalski: he felt that consensus that 10% +\/- OK for most collections;
\n\u2022\tTerry Weisser: conservators are concerned about energy savings, but need to take care of collections also. Welcomes more research in this area for wider and looser parameters.<\/p>\n
\nThis is the organization that conservators look to when determining setpoint and HVAC standards for museums. There is an ASHRAE handbook that is put out every three years that includes information about designing museums . However, the temperature and RH setpoints\/ standards have not changed since 1999! This handbook is written in engineer language; design parameters; system selection for engineers. ASHRAE proposes classes of control: AA, A1, A2, B, C, and D. Cool, cold, and dry are the best conditions (duh) and each class has its collection risks and benefits. See list below:<\/p>\n
\nAA:\t50% RH +\/- 5%\u00a0\u00a0\t75\u00b0F (high) 55\u00b0F (low) +\/-4\u00b0F
\nA1:\t50% RH +\/- 10%\u00a0\u00a0\t75\u00b0F (high) 50\u00b0F (low) +\/-4\u00b0F
\nA2:\t60% RH in summer and 40% RH in winter +\/- 5%\u00a0\u00a0 \t75\u00b0F (high) 50\u00b0F (low) +\/-4\u00b0F
\nB:\t60% RH in summer and 40% RH in winter +\/- 10%\u00a0\u00a0\t 75 +\/- 5 and cold +\/-5
\nC:\t50% RH +\/- 25%\u00a0\u00a0\tBelow 85\u00b0F
\nD:\tBelow 75% RH\u00a0\u00a0\tBelow 85\u00b0F<\/p>\n
\nClimate control: (VI) collection vaults, (V) museums
\nPartial control: (IV) and (III)
\nUncontrolled: (II) and (I)<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tConsistent with risk approach to making decisions on collections
\n\u2022\tFlexibility for difference types of collections and locations and building types
\n\u2022\tFacilities communication between engineers and collections folks<\/p>\n
\nFirst questions during the assessment: collections and relative value of collections; created collections \u201cpie\u201d chart; building vs. collection; and collections overall by percentages.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tLack of awareness of options
\n\u2022\tLack of transparency in operations, loans and grant requirements
\n\u2022\tAs a result, discussions have begun on the federal level in Canada<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tOverview of evolution of guidelines for museum environment
\n\u2022\tOperation of facilities \u2013 facilities managers
\n\u2022\tCurrent operations – shared opportunity for savings
\n\u2022\tConditions for loans\/ funding
\nWhat temperature and relative humidity can we have to satisfy loan and grants?
\nOperating Conditions in National Museums
\no\tDiffers depending on type of building and collections
\no\tPurpose building facilities run at 50% RH +\/-5% in the summer and 43% RH +\/- 5% in the winter, with a temperature at 21\u00b0C<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tWhen sending materials to another Canadian museum, the loaning museums will not demand better conditions than their own
\n\u2022\tMuseums will lend objects containing hygroscopic materials to institutions that can achieve Class A conditions
\n\u2022\tFederal grant class A will be requirement where applicable
\n\u2022\tThis is not a strait jacket \u2013 meant to be a starting point \u2013 obligation as to why this object is not suitable \u2013 more candor and information exchange
\n\u2022\tHaving the discussion and getting agreement from some of these major players is a starting point
\no\tMoving from a rules based approach to a risk based approach \u2013 there is work to be done in terms of communication and research<\/p>\n
\n National Museum in Denmark<\/strong>
\n Dr. Poul Larsen and Tim Padfield<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nIsn\u2019t there a substantial cost to building thick walls? They anticipate that the buildings will last many years so that the cost of building will be gained back due to that.<\/p>\n
\n Heritage Buildings: The Microclimatic Monitoring of Santa Croce<\/strong>
\n Museum in Florence<\/strong>
\n Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche,<\/strong>
\n Istituto di Scienze dell\u2019Atmosfera e del Clima CNR-ISAC<\/strong>
\n Francesca Becherini<\/strong><\/p>\n