Museums and similar cultural institutions operate buildings that differ significantly from typical commercial facilities, yet national energy benchmarking tools compare us to them without adequately reflect our actual operations. This means energy scores, local certifications, and even laws applied to museums just aren't designed to serve our field. But we could offer them a better way - if we all worked together on this.
Environment & Culture Partners (ECP) and New Buildings Institute (NBI) (both nonprofit organizations) are coordinating a national data‑collection effort to support building performance analysis for the museum sector that could fill this gap. We're collecting 2025 energy use and building information from as many museums as possible all around the country.
Will you please help by contributing your 2025 energy use data?
It should take 30 - 45 minutes to participate depending upon the complexity of your energy bills.
We're so grateful to folks who are already sending us their data: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Exploratorium, Chicago Children's Museum, Acton-Shapleigh Historical Society, Historic New England, Ford House.....
Please join them, and us, in following the link below and helping to establish a National Museum and Cultural Institution Sector Energy Benchmark.
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Sarah Sutton, CEO
Environment & Culture Partners
sarah@ecprs.org------------------------------