AIC's 45th Annual Meeting

Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM) has a long tradition of improving the environmental conditions for preserving its collection of more than 13 million objects. However, results are unexpected and far from what the museum hoped for as was shown by an analysis of the current environmental conditions in three museum buildings, built in 1925, 1963 and 2001. Analysis of energy use for climate control showed that the Environmental Studies Center, the most modern Peabody Museum building, is the least energy efficient of the three and one of the least energy efficient building at Yale University. Therefore, YPM decided to reevaluate its current climate control strategy towards a more practical and responsible approach, which takes into account the historic character of the buildings and the high cost of climate control. The assessment of climate related risks to collections was the main element in the transformation process towards a new strategy of climate control. It allowed preservation priorities of the YPM collections to be identified. Finally, guiding principles of climate control were proposed that meet the preservation targets of the museum's vast collections and at the same time reduce energy consumption and lower CO2 emissions.