"DYSECO contributes to a vast energy saving"

Marco Martens showed in his PhD thesis, completed in 2012, by doing extensive field studies that the currently used climate demands in museums are often stricter than needed for collection preservation. Moreover, most museums showed a complete trust in their technology; sustainability did not play any significant role. Yet the desired climate demands could not be achieved in reality because of insufficient or non-optimal climate systems. When climate demands are better matched with collections and building needs, most collections can be preserved optimally. Moreover, these demands are easier to achieve using less energy. Marco developed a method to estimate the magnitude of biological, mechanical and chemical risks to collections from measured series of temperature and relative humidity data. This risk approach poses a solid base for analysing indoor climates in terms of preventive conservation; a well balanced choice for a specific climate demand can be made.