Encourage the institution(s) you work with to sign up for the Carbon Inventory Project to help lead the U.S. cultural sector in its growing commitment to understand and reduce greenhouse gas emission from energy use!
Energy use in buildings is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions worldwide. The buildings for museums, zoos and aquariums, gardens and historic sites use significant energy to light their gallery spaces, manage the temperature and humidity of their collections, and to power their shops, cafés, staff offices, and event spaces. Measuring and understanding energy use in museum buildings is both a high-return and low-risk effort for individual organizations, and sector-wide it has the potential for powerful collective action.
The Carbon Inventory Project (CIP) helps cultural organizations learn to measure, understand, and report their annual energy use. Participating organizations will contribute their 2022 calendar-year results to the first U.S. cultural sector carbon footprint. Totals will be calculated and announced on the first annual Carbon Day, June 16, 2023. With funding from an IMLS National Leadership grant, project leads Environment & Culture Partners, New Buildings Institute, and New England Museum Association have been offering free monthly presentations, office hours, and guidance using the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager reporting tool. They will be supporting participating organizations through June 1, 2023, when all data is due.
This is a collective action for collective good, and it benefits your individual organization and community. Understanding how energy is used in your building(s) may help you target opportunities to save money, as well as create avenues to new funders and funding opportunities. It has the added benefit of preparing your organization for compliance with new or upcoming building codes and energy regulations. And while you’re doing this work, you are also modeling climate awareness, action, and resiliency for your community, and overwhelmingly, we know that the public wants climate leadership.
Whether you’ve been logging energy data for years or are new to this and starting from scratch, we want you to join in – you and your organization's data count! Your participation encourages others, and a growing list shows the sector’s growing commitment to understanding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy use. We know that not all stakeholders in a cultural organization’s activities support climate action and engagement, so participating organizations can choose to stay anonymous. Participants that have opted to share their participation include the Science Museum of Minnesota, Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, The Museum of Russian Icons, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, and Exploratorium.
Sign up for the Carbon Inventory Project: https://tinyurl.com/SignUpforCIP2023
To learn more about CIP: visit the site page here, register for upcoming Office Hours, and watch previous webinars to help you get started.
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Tiffani Emig
Deputy Director
American Institute for Conservation and Foundation for Advancement in Conservation
Washington DC
temig@culturalheritage.org------------------------------