The Green Museum

Blumenwiese vor dem Museum Folkwang,
Foto: Museum Folkwang, Jens Nober, 2023

“In order to become a climate-friendly, net-zero-emissions museum, we need to invest in technological innovations and act responsibly both as regards museum operations and the mobility of our visitors. Part of our social responsibility centres on combining energy-intensive preservation of our cultural heritage, visitor-intensive museum operations, and international collaboration on trailblazing sustainability management – it is a task that we will square up to each day anew.”
— Prof. Peter Gorschlüter, Director, Museum Folkwang

The express goal of Museum Folkwang is to consistently and swiftly embark down the path to becoming a “Green Museum”, to actively advance climate protection, and to reduce our own carbon emissions to Net Zero. Between 2018 and 2023, Museum Folkwang took steps in seven different areas, implementing processing that are already significantly reducing the museum’s carbon footprint. Museum Folkwang is committed to protecting the planet as well as current and future lifeworlds.

Climate assessment

Climate assessment

In the years 2019-20, Museum Folkwang took part in the pilot project “Climate assessments in cultural institutions” organized by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. A total of 19 cultural institutions in Germany were for the first time enabled to compile a climate assessment for their respective facilities for the year 2019 and in this way compute their own carbon footprint. The results of the 2019 Climate Assessment document the carbon emissions that were caused at that point of time at and/or by Museum Folkwang. The detailed knowledge the assessment provided on the individual factors has since then informed the museum’s sustainability management. In the wake of the pilot project, Museum Folkwang has of its own volition continued producing a climate assessment, supported now by the nationwide “Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit” – a sustainability action network.

Facilities technology

The single largest cause of CO2 emissions at Museum Folkwang remains the building’s air conditioning technology, which is in part powered by natural gas; the system can be subdivided into cooling technology, heating and steam supply systems. In cooperation with the City of Essen property management office and GVE Grundstücksverwaltung, in 2020 the cooling system was switched over to equipment powered by eco-electricity using the latest technology and featuring a free-cooling function as well as far lower process losses. In this way, the consumption of natural gas and the related CO₂ emissions have already been reduced by on average 40-50%. Moreover, since then far more climate-friendly “Low GWP” cooling agents are being used. Museum Folkwang pursues the goal of switching the heating and steam supply system over to heating pumps powered by eco-electricity and thus completely avoids natural gas in order to guarantee fully climate-neutral energy supplies for the museum. The supply of eco-electricity that has been in place since 2010 is being supported by an inhouse photovoltaic plant with a 237 kWp output installed in 2022, and all the electricity generated is inputted into the museum supply system. Parallel to this, Museum Folkwang is busy trying to further reduce the energy requirement, among other things by successively replacing the halogen lamps lighting technology with LED lamps, introducing additional shading systems and the temporary and/or permanent deactivation of facilities technology that is not compellingly necessary.

Museum operations

Since 2022 representatives of all museum departments have together with the management formed a sustainability working party started collecting ideas in order to devise plans for possible mitigatory measures and to create sensitization for the topics relating to climate protection and sustainability in the departments. Selected museum staff participate in nationwide network meetings and training sessions, such as advanced training in the field of transformation management. The measures already implemented include, among other things, resource-sparing production of exhibitions by utilizing wall and display systems that can be re-used and also re-utilization of existing material resources.
In the field of communication and marketing, the production of printed materials has been switched over to 100 recycling paper and climate-neutral printing and our digital communication tools expanded. As regards exhibition operations and loans conditions, we have eased our very stringent stipulations on ambient climate and adjusted the median temperatures to the respective season of the year. Moreover, ecological valuation criteria have been introduced into how we rate external service providers when awarding contracts.

The agenda

Berliner Platz_Folkwang und die Stadt — Blick auf den Berliner Platz während des Projektes
FOLKWANG UND DIE STADT
21. MAI – 7. AUG 2022

The agenda
It is through the museum programmes and curatorial work that we raise awareness for sustainability issues. There are, for example, programmes that explicitly address the topics of sustainability and climate protection such as our collaboration with numerous local and international initiatives that negotiate social and ecological transformation, which grew out of the long-term project “Folkwang and the City.” In addition, an effort is being made to stage special exhibitions created from focal points of the collection so that it is possible to draw on holdings from the museum’s own collection and avoid exhibits being transported over long distances. Finally, more recently Museum Folkwang has also included in its programme exhibitions featuring digital art that obviate altogether the need for transporting exhibits.

Networking

Beitritt Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit_20-6-2023 — 20. Juni 2023 - Das Museum Folkwang wird Partner des Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit in Kultur und Medien (ANKM)
Peter Gorschlüter und Anka Grosser (beide Museum Folkwang) Jacob Bilabel, (ANKM), (v.l.n.r.)
Foto Tanja Lamers, Museum Folkwang 2023

The pilot project “Carbon Footprinting in Cultural Institutions,” initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation enabled Museum Folkwang not only to compute its own climate carbon footprint for the first time in the years 2019-20 but also to share experiences and learn from others in a “convoy process” with the other cultural organizations taking part and accompanied by experts. In the meantime, Museum Folkwang has expanded its exchange efforts and networking of in the field of sustainability and continues to pursue its goals through numerous committees and work meetings. In 2023, Museum Folkwang joined the nationwide “Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit” sustainability network funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The network offers a central, cross-sector platform gauging the environmental impact of operations in culture and the media – with the aim of identifying and networking pioneers with interested parties, preparing and making accessible valuable past experiences, as well as initiating and accompanying future cooperations and pilot projects.

Biodiversity

Peter Gorschlüter und Simone Raskob
in der Blumenwiese vor dem Museum Folkwang, 2022

Motivated by the desire to support biodiversity in the urban domain, in 2022 Museum Folkwang teamed up with the municipal departments responsible for urban green spaces and the Grugapark (Grün und Gruga) and had herbaceous perennials planted in the green areas around the museum grounds. Special consideration was given to the aspects of hardiness and longevity, favouring domestic or naturally occurring plants and providing protection for insects. Not only were bulbs planted such as narcissus and grape hyacinths but also flowering plants like yarrow, goldenrod, and woodland sage, not to mention grasses and other plants ensuring that this greenery would survive for several years. By preferring domestic varieties, it is possible to encourage biodiversity and natural flora and fauna in an urban area. Watering is done by an integral, irrigation system that can be digitally controlled. This greening project is financed entirely from the EU’s European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF).

Visitor mobility Mobilität

Ladestation für Elektroautos in der Tiefgarage des Museum Folkwang

In addition to the emissions caused by the museum’s energy requirements and its operation the arrival and departure of visitors to Museum Folkwang will also be included in the museum’s audit of its carbon footprint. Several measures have already been undertaken to cut emissions in this area: the installation of an e-charging station for cars in the museum’s own underground carpark, the promotion of the museum as a cycle-friendly destination as well as cooperations with the local public transport company (Ruhrbahn) on tickets for travel to selected special exhibitions. In 2023, Museum Folkwang is conducting a survey on the topic of visitor mobility. This will also include the effects of the introduction of the new D-Ticket (49-Euro ticket) allowing free travel on local and regional services in Germany. Further incentives for climate-friendly visitor mobility are to be developed based on the study findings.