Towards sustainable climate control in museums: Global climate change, risk and energy consumption

This paper discusses existing gaps in knowledge allowing adequate estimation of the risk of mechanical damage in works of art caused by climate variations, also those generated by global climate change. The lack of risk models results in a very precautionary approach to climate control in memory institutions. As a result, significant resources are invested in climate control to minimize risks, which usually are secondary in terms of risk priorities.

This paper concludes that the young discipline of heritage science requires well-structured funding to grow in sustainable ways and deliver knowledge needed to develop effective policies, including the adaptation and mitigation policies for the cultural heritage field effected by global climate change. It is evident that resources which were invested to tackle problems caused by global climate change in agriculture, water sources, forestry, energy are several orders of magnitude larger than those in cultural heritage. As a result, there are significant gaps in knowledge related to vulnerability of heritage objects to climate, which impedes successful implementations of respective policies.