As a fine arts institution, the Timken Museum of Art recognizes its duty to maintain industry-standard climate conditions to protect the artwork. The museum is solving this issue through the prioritization of sustainable and efficient building systems. For three years now, the Timken has pioneered the use of a high efficiency dehumidification system (HEDS) that was created by Scot Duncan, founder of Conservant Systems, to address energy waste, extreme weather events, and significant problems associated with many installed HVAC systems.

 “Having the right temperature and humidity is one of the most critical tools for the conservation of objects entrusted in our care. While museums may have different types of objects and exhibitions, the right conditions to protect artworks are standard across the industry,” said Megan Pogue, Timken executive director. “Trying to achieve these environmental benchmarks challenges every institution. Without a simple, state-of-the-art technology like HEDS, museums must rely upon expensive, energy-intensive, and often supplemental systems—as well as labor-intensive strategies—to achieve the proper temperature and humidity levels.”

“HEDS was created to help the US Department of Defense solve HVAC-related problems, such as poor indoor air quality, poor environmental control, excessive fossil fuel energy use, and biological growth,” said Dr. Tim LaClair, a senior buildings researcher with the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “Through an opportunity with DOE’s Building Technologies Office and its High Impact Technology Catalyst (HIT) program, NREL evaluated the technology at the Timken this past summer. We successfully demonstrated HEDS can achieve electrical energy savings ranging between 39 percent and 72 percent, and fossil fuel reductions between 64 percent and 99 percent.”

ASK Energy and AESC conducted the CalNEXT evaluation of the HEDS technology for the California investor-owned utilities. The evaluation found annual HVAC electrical energy savings of 79 percent and fossil fuel consumption reductions of 91 percent, mirroring and further validating the Department of Energy and NREL findings for summer operation.

“The study found HEDS energy recovery system saved significant energy and natural gas in the summer, and the HEDS HVAC optimization system enhanced and extended those electrical and fossil fuel savings throughout the year, even when dehumidification was not required,” said Akane Karasawa, P.E., of ASK Energy. “The operational efficiency—and the reduced maintenance needs of the HEDS air handling unit—helps ensure low lifecycle costs while creating a financially viable steppingstone to reduce the costs of heat pump systems to replace chillers and boilers to fully decarbonize critical facilities.”

“Nobody on the technology evaluation team can recall ever seeing an HVAC retrofit project that approached the level of savings generated by the HEDS energy recovery and optimization system.” There are many reasons the HEDS technology should be considered for both retrofit and new construction. The HEDS is simple and easy to maintain, controls the temperature and relative humidity better than alternative dehumidification methods, and—when coupled with significant improvement in the indoor air quality—even exceeds the air purity levels required by infectious disease hospital operating suites.

“The HEDS technology has proven to be a successful environmental and financial initiative for the Timken Museum of Art. The new system provided the lowest construction costs and reduced annual energy and HVAC labor costs by over 70 percent and 90 percent, respectively,” said Holly Martin-Bollard, director of operations for the Timken. “The independent DOE, NREL, and CalNEXT testing confirmed what the Timken has been experiencing: The HEDS technology significantly reduced greenhouse gases and electrical energy consumption. These savings really captured the attention of our board.”

In addition to significantly reducing the museum’s energy consumption and carbon footprint, Ms. Martin-Bollard shared that the system is also incredibly sensitive and responds to environmental variables as small as a janitor wet-mopping the museum’s floors.

The HEDS removes airborne salt particles to better protect the Timken’s collection while maintaining a consistent temperature and relative humidity profile throughout the museum. HEDS has the unique added benefit of anti-viral capabilities, capturing or killing 99.9 percent of airborne pathogens.

“Offering purified air is a significant and timely benefit for the museum’s 250,000-plus annual visitors,” Ms. Martin-Bollard said.Because the Timken is funded by donors and offers perennially free admission, museum leadership is highly conscious of environmental impact while being good stewards of the donor dollar. The HEDS has resulted in lower utility costs, allowing the Timken to allocate funds to other projects and helping enable the museum to maintain its status as a four-star charity, according to Charity Navigator.

“Our hope is that the Timken can serve as a role model for other institutions looking to implement proven, simple, and effective green initiatives that protects visitors and artwork alike,” Ms. Pogue said.