The Carlos Museum is “going green.” As part of Emory's Sustainability Initiative program, the Museum is helping to reduce the university’s energy footprint by 25% by 2015. As part of this effort, the Carlos Museum staff is taking necessary steps to conserve and recycle. Although a gratifying and tangible piece, the Museum’s quarterly newsletter is now in an electronic version and will be prepared with as much attention to design and content to keep Museum members informed and engaged!
The Carlos Museum has switched over to new energy efficient lighting in parts of the Museum. Staff members are conserving energy by turning off lights in unused offices and storage areas, unplugging computers and other large electrical devices at the end of each workday, and using the stairs instead of elevators. Recycling receptacles have been set out all over the building, for staff and visitor use, and almost 75% of all trash generated by the museum is now recycled. The museum bookshop will be using only recycled or biodegradable materials for shopping bags and gift boxes, and such packaging will be used sparingly. The bookshop processes most mail orders with recycled and reused packing materials. The Museum also actively encourages alternative transportation for all employees, to reduce commuter drive miles as well as automobile traffic into the campus. This initiative, supported by Emory, includes free bus passes, carpooling, flex-car rentals, telecommuting options, dedicated university shuttles, and the use of bicycles.
In the near future, the Museum’s infrastructure changes will result in reduced energy and water consumption: new signage encouraging museum visitors to use the stairs instead of elevators, timer-switches to better control lighting in some spaces like storage areas and bathrooms, new low-flush and dual-flush facilities in the bathrooms, more efficient HVAC with greater control features throughout the building, more energy-efficient lighting within museum galleries. The “triple bottom line” of social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability will be used to measure progress.
