Energy conservation in museums via setpoint strategies: a case study for a state-of-the-art museum using building simulations

Museums are dedicated to protect their artwork collection and to display the collection as safely as possible. The indoor climate is of utmost importance to minimize collection degradation. Many museums employ tight climate guidelines, allowing only small fluctuations of indoor temperature and relative humidity, resulting in the following problems: huge energy consumption, the need for highcapacity HVAC systems, additional stress on monumental buildings. This research investigates the energy-saving potential of different setpoint strategies, while damage functions are used to assess the degradation risk of the collection, and an Adaptive Temperature Guideline is used to assess thermal comfort. A state-of-the-art museum in the Netherlands is modelled and the indoor climate is simulated. Energy demand includes simulated energy for heating, cooling, humidification and dehumidification. The main conclusion is that it is possible to significantly reduce the energy demand, significantly improve thermal comfort and even decrease chemical degradation.