Launching the DREEMS project

MoDA's DREEMS project is our response to the challenge of reducing energy consumption in our museum collections store

At the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture we are committed to reducing energy consumption in order to tackle the climate crisis and rising fuel costs. The heritage sector is increasingly recognizing that the requirement for compliance with the highest standards of HVAC-assisted (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning) environmental control has placed an unreasonable burden on institutions and the global environment.

December 2022 sees the launch of a year-long project entitled “Designing a Resource Efficient Environment for the Museum Store” (DREEMS). This is a scientific experiment to test the efficacy of our archival boxes and rolling shelving units in reducing the impact of temperature and humidity fluctuations in the museum’s collections store.

Using the data from our research, we will assess the level of risk involved in relaxing our temperature and humidity HVAC specifications. We intend to assess the risk of damage from environmental fluctuations that may occur should the air conditioning unit be run at different set points, or scheduled to run for fewer hours (eg turned off at night). We will also calculate the benefit of these practices in terms of reduced energy usage.

This project has been devised by MoDA’s Conservator, Emma Shaw in collaboration with Phil Parkes and Professor Jane Henderson, both based at Cardiff University. It’s an example of research with a real-life outcome, and we intend to disseminate findings to colleagues across the museums and archives sector.

We’re delighted to have been awarded a grant of just over £1,000 by AIM for the monitoring equipment necessary to begin this project. We’ll be adding more details here soon as the project progresses.