The Power of Green Discussing Broader Implications of Institutional Decisions Heather Soyka Assistant Archivist/Head of Preservation, Texas Tech University

Power + Green

Getting to know you… Understand what you have – HVAC care and feeding – Relationship with maintenance- build a team – What’s a “setpoint”? – Small fixes – Building map of usage

For archivists and collection stewards -Know thy collection -Climate- indoors and out -Collect data– and check it -Avoid too much fixation on climate targets -Make sure you know what you need- and that you are asking for the right thing

Evaluating your space

Archives and resource consumption Electricity/fossil fuel use determined by environmental controls > archivist/conservator Tight control means higher energy consumption Increase in mechanical sophistication > decrease in tolerance for deviation on T/RH Sophisticated systems require expertise

A few energy facts Buildings consume 2/3 of all electricity in the US and produce almost 1/3 of greenhouse gases 80% of that energy comes from coal Between 10-20% of energy is wasted Peter Pfeiffer, “Real and Relevant Green Buildings,” 2007

Impact of electricity usage Loss at each conversion step- only 30-50% reaches destination

Conservation versus Efficiency Can we change behavior? “Do less to use less”

What is the relationship between heritage and sustainability? How can we balance presentation, workspace, and preservation needs? – Ongoing conversation and evaluation

Outreach and Advocacy Effects of evaluation/”greening”: -direct $ savings, but also indirect benefits Other ways to make a difference: -recycling program, shredding -building tours/discussion of sustainability

A few more resources Climate data tracking – myclimatedata.com (IPI); PEM2s, Onset/Boxcar Energy audit -- TX- SECO Environmental guidelines for collections (Getty) – onmental/index.html

Thank you! Heather Soyka