Improving the energy performance of museum buildings - development and evaluation of sustainable refurbishment strategies

The energy performance of a museum building is characterized by severe indoor climate conditions originating from preventive conservation requirements. Therefore, reducing the building's energy demand, while simultaneously providing a stable indoor climate, is a challenging task that becomes increasingly complex when all influential variables are considered, for example fluctuations in the numbers of visitors or social events outside the usual opening hours. In addition, engineers' and architects' freedom of action is, in many cases, limited by museum presentation concepts, architectural challenges or even cultural heritage protection. On the other hand, museums, like all public buildings, contain a high potential for reducing energy costs by simultaneously raising public awareness regarding important issues such as carbon emission reductions and sustainability. In order to maximise the multifaceted benefits of museum refurbishment projects, a team of five German universities and research institutions have cooperated in developing forward-looking refurbishment strategies by accompanying different museums through their refurbishment processes as well as by focusing on arising research questions.