This is how Hamburg's museums are supposed to save energy

According to Culture Senator Carsten Brosda (SPD), Hamburg's cultural institutions are "agents of socially necessary change" - and can therefore hardly escape the problems. The Senate has now decided on further steps to save energy, and the cultural sector must also play its part. Eleven museums, exhibition halls and memorial sites are now starting the nationwide unique project "Elf to zero - Hamburg museums act".

The aim is to jointly develop and implement measures for greater sustainability and energy efficiency. Because in order to achieve the climate protection goals of the federal government, the Paris climate agreement and within the framework of the "European Green Deal", the cultural sector is also facing an intensive examination of its own CO2 footprint. "Culture can be a role model," emphasized Brosda in the state press conference on Tuesday. The "Elf to zero" project is an "important contribution to enabling us to achieve our savings targets".

In the first step, the Hamburg cultural centers draw up CO2 balances of their consumption with the help of experts. They are to be collected on the basis of consumption in 2019 - the last year of full operation before the start of the corona pandemic - and contain data from different areas, from mobility to exhibition production and building operation. The aim is to be able to transparently present fact-based sources of emissions and their effects by the end of the year, "in order to identify the levers for change and to tackle the transformation," it said.

In September, as a second step, 20 people from the institutions involved are to be trained as transformation managers "who should also carry the change into their houses," explained Alexander Stockinger, the commercial director responsible for the project at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg . The cultural authority supports the project with 50,000 euros.

According to Brosda, numerous savings opportunities have already been implemented in recent years through refurbishment measures for cultural properties. "The Russian war against Ukraine is increasing the pressure to act," said Brosda. The participating houses, including the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Bucerius Kunst Forum and the Museum der Arbeit, could be “institutions that set standards and provide perspectives”. He hopes that the ideas of the museums, exhibition halls and memorials "as open and lively places" will also have an effect on urban society for more sustainability and sees "a humanitarian need to face these tasks".

He also wants to discuss possible CO2 savings at the forthcoming music dialogue with representatives of the music industry and in discussions with the Hamburg theaters. In every single house it is necessary to look at where energy can be saved.

The initiative for "Elf zu Null" came from Alexander Stockinger, who asked the Senator for Culture in a letter last year to talk about the sustainability strategies of the houses. Now it is "about concrete action": "The time of mere announcements is over."

As a cultural institution, it is important not only to take a critical look at topics such as climate change or capitalism, but also to change internally accordingly: “The challenges of the climate crisis are big enough. If we, as museums and as a society, tackle them together and tackle them immediately, we can overcome them," said Stockinger. The project now presented is, so it is hoped, “the starting point for a far-reaching and long-term change in cultural institutions.”

According to Stockinger, good experience has been gained in the past with the conversion to LED technology, self-learning thermostats and employee training on energy-saving behavior. For example, the Archaeological Museum "saved 30 percent of Heinz energy from one day to the next - without sacrificing comfort" thanks to new thermostats.

However, many questions are still open. For example, how the sometimes high requirements of monument protection can be reconciled with energy-efficient operation. Senator Brosda and museum director Stockinger do not share the fear that the quality and scope of the collections and exhibitions in Hamburg could suffer as a result of the measures.