New energy partnership to drive greener museums

Museums Victoria, Australia’s largest public museums organisation is to enhance its environmental credentials through an innovative energy management partnership with Siemens.

The partnership will see Museums Victoria:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35% – equivalent to taking 6,000 cars off the road
• Reduce its water usage by 6% – equivalent to the capacity of 75 swimming pools
• Reduce electricity costs by 32% – enough to power 1264 homes

The Victorian Government’s Greener Government Buildings program selected global engineering company Siemens to bring the latest energy and environmental efficiency technology to Melbourne Museum, the World-Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building, Scienceworks, the Immigration Museum and two storage facilities.

The buildings program, reintroduced by the Labor Government last year, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25,000 tonnes each year and slash the energy use of government buildings.

The initiative will improve Museums Victoria’s sustainability efforts through the installation of new LED lighting, chillers and water systems.

In addition, a co-generation unit on the roof of the Melbourne Museum will enable Museums Victoria to produce its own cleaner energy supplies.

Under the agreement, the Victorian Government financed the up-front cost of the $11 million energy contract with Museums Victoria to repay the cost within seven years using the energy savings.

Research by Sustainability Victoria shows that 93% of Victorians want the state government to take action on climate change, and 84% support the Victorian Government’s renewable energy targets of 25% by 2020 and 40% by 2025.

Image: Melbourne Museum

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