Green Museums  bMuse logo  
        bMuse Home  
           
           

"Sustainable" is nearly mainstream: common language, common metaphor, and almost common consumer behavior. 
 
That means that the museums you're now living in must be operated in a sustainable manner: take steps to enhance your energy efficiency; control water runoff and reduce clean water use; reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible; and help your visitors and community do the same.
 
And it means that if you are building, renovating, or dreaming about either one, think sustainable. Without it you will be faced with retrofits and adaptations far sooner than you like. Fundraising for retrofits is worse than fundraising for operating support; it's like fundraising for debt: not what you want to be doing with your time.

What You Should Know
 
Davis Langdon 2007 - 2007 The Cost of Green Revisited It doesn’t cost more to go green. This is an excellent report comparing the average costs of building green and traditional buildings—it’s the same! 

The Greener Good  If you can’t build, you can still program green. Here’s our Museum article on what museums are doing.  

Who's Doing What
 
The Phipps Conservatory and Arboretum  This is a most marvelous project:  visitors center, innovative conservatory that doesn’t need HVAC, and plans for a Living Machine® (that means it treats biological wastewater onsite).
Click here for more on the Living Machine.

AAM and APGA are both creating green special interest committees — be sure to join.  Meanwhile California Association of Museums, the Virginia Association of Museums, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, and the Mountain Plains Museum Association are greening their conferences. MPMA has been doing that for three years already!

The National Building Museum in Washington, DC, experienced a 46% increase in visitation for The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Design and Architecture in May of 2006 - June 2007. They’ll be continuing their "green" exhibition series with "Green Communities" coming in 2009.
The Green House: Get into Green at the National Building Museum  

Sarah Brophy and Elizabeth Wylie are writing a book
The Green Museum: A Primer on Environmental Practice is due out in the summer of 2008 from AltaMira Press.

Elizabeth Wylie, HKT Architects, is co-author with Sarah of Being Green: Museums in the Green Movement (Museum News Sep/Oct 2006) and The Greener Good – Enviro-Action (Museum Jan/Feb 2008). . Elizabeth is an art historian and former museum professional with 20 years in the field as curator and director before starting a second career as Director of Business Development for HKT Architects, a 30-year old Boston-area planning and design firm with a focus on sustainable design for healthy places to learn, work and live.
 
What You Need to Know
 
Advice on Becoming Green

Board & Staff: Welcoming the Green Revolution in Your Museum
Many members of your board and staff may not yet be green, so just how do they 'become' green?
Philanthropy News Digest

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative: Green Buildings Overview 
An excellent introduction to green building.

Environmental Grantmakers Association: Resources 
A resource page with excellent articles on sustainability and environmental funding.

Why Build Green?

Advancing Your Mission With a Green Message
How museums are modeling responsible environmental practices to benefit the bottom line and beyond.

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative: Green Buildings Overview  
An introduction
 
Environmental Grantmakers Association: Resources 
A resource page with excellent articles on sustainability and environmental funding.
 
Funding Your Green Building

"Green" Money: The Funding Landscape for Museums Thinking About Going Green 
Funding green museums – Philanthropy News Digest.
 
The Kresge Foundation
A possible grant source for funding the planning of the green portion of your building project. AAM Presentation 2007
 
Clean Energy States Alliance 
Links to the 17 state funds that support clean energy implementation: some grants, some rebates.
 
Green Museum Websites — (Just a few)

Naples Botanical Garden and Adkins Arboretum 
Two public gardens going green in buildings and operations.
 
Olympic Sculpture Park Guide
The Seattle Times' great interactive map and description of the brand-new Seattle Art Museum's green Olympic Sculpture Park.
 
California Academy of Sciences
A fabulous time-lapse video of building the future museum.
 
Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center 
One of the earliest to choose green practice and green building.
 
Information to Use Right Away
 
Association of Zoos & Aquariums/Resource Center: Green Practices
How to Start a Green Team, Green Practices, and Standards for Environmental Management
 
Restauranteur Quiz
The Green Restaurant Association's quiz for how green is your restaurant?
 
The Shopping List of Green Ideas
The Green Engineer's useful tips page – for your home and your museum.

 
What Do You Know?
 
If you have a museum project to tell me about, or a question to ask, this is where to do it:
sarah@bmuse.net

           


Sustainable Museums
Copyright © 2008 bMuse, Sarah S. Brophy

bMuse Home