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What Your Museum Does
Heating and Cooling
People don’t usually think about heating and cooling systems until they’ve stopped working. But the truth is, in almost every building—whether home, office, or museum—furnaces and air conditioners are the biggest energy users. In addition, by burning natural gas for heating and using coal to generate electricity for air conditioning, we’re expending non-renewable natural resources.
To decrease costs, conserve resources, and increase energy efficiency, The Field Museum is rebuilding its 60-year-old systems. Our new central plant will better modulate the building’s temperature and humidity year-round.
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Heating
In The Field Museum, heating and cooling are vital services. The Collections storage areas must be kept at an even 72 degrees and 40% humidity to ensure the safety of artifacts and specimens. And keeping the public and private areas of the Museum comfortable for visitors and staff is important, too!
During our recent renovation of our central plant, we installed higher capacity and more efficient boilers to heat the Museum during winter. The updated equipment also more accurately controls humidity levels within the Museum.
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Air Conditioning
As part of our central plant renovation, obsolete coal storage bins within the Museum have been reconfigured into chiller rooms. Using seemingly old-fashioned technology, these chillers produce ice at night when the demand for electricity is lower and energy costs are less. (Nighttime rates are one-fifth of day rates.)
During the day, low-energy blowers circulate the cooled air throughout the Museum. In addition, the new equipment also uses a refrigerant with lower potential for ozone depletion and global warming.
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