Climate Notes is a free e-newsletter published by the Image Permanence Institute and designed for collection care staff in cultural institutions. Climate Notes covers a wide range of topics related to managing the environment for preservation.

How can you make significant reductions in energy use and still provide a preservation environment for collections in your care? Providing a tightly controlled storage climate is costly and energy-intensive. Because of concern about climate change, as well as for budgetary reasons, collecting institutions are actively searching for ways to responsibly lower energy consumption. Individuals responsible for collection stewardship need to be involved in these activities. They should be prepared to make informed decisions based on current research, reliable data, and a factual understanding of the relationship between environment and material decay. They need specific guidelines and methods for avoiding risks to collections while taking advantage of opportunities for sustainability.

The place to begin is with the evolution of ideas relating to managing the environment in libraries, archives, and museums.  A number of generally accepted ideas—that environments should be steady and unwavering, that room temperature and 50% RH are ideal, and that short-term fluctuations matter more than long-term trends—are now regarded by preservation scientists as outmoded and counterproductive. The persistence of this overly simplistic model limits the ability to...

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The Image Permanence Institute applied for funding for three projects related to sustainability and the storage environment during the past several months. IPI's goal is to develop and disseminate sustainable preservation management strategies which achieve an optimal balance of preservation quality, energy cost reduction, and green practices. Many collecting institutions are searching for ways to responsibly lower energy consumption. It is inevitable that the cost of supplying a tightly controlled climate for collection storage—in terms of both financial and energy costs—will be under review.

The staff in charge of the long-term care of collections needs to be prepared to make informed decisions based on current research, reliable data, and a factual understanding of the relationship between environment and material decay. They need specific guidelines and methods that allow them to understand and avoid potential risks to collections while taking advantage of opportunities for cost reductions and sustainability gains.

IPI developed two new research projects—one focused on AHU shutdowns and another on the impact of temperature and relative humidity setbacks. Based on this research, IPI will develop protocols that ensure that library, archives and museum collections are not harmed by short-term (evening and weekend) environmental fluctuations.  The third, an education and outreach project, is designed to get the word out about the latest research on...

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Commitments to sustainable practices and pro-environment policies have been an integral part of Danish culture since the 1970s. The Danish government emphasized the need to resolve the energy crisis in the 1980s by encouraging conservation and the transition to renewable energy sources. Compared to most other European countries, Danish efforts have been substantial, and the preventive approach to environmental problems has spread throughout Danish industry and culture. IPI's work with the National Museum of Denmark opened our eyes to the many possibilities for sustainable practices in cultural institutions.

Collecting institutions around the world are taking the concept of sustainability very seriously...

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