Due to construction, Museum parking may be limited at the time of your visit. Look for additional parking in free or metered spaces along nearby streets.

Sustainability

Sustainability Statement

We believe in making sustainability a significant aspect of our strategic initiatives and we are in the process of implementing a series of goals to further climate justice within our institution and become a better cultural role model. In accordance with the Museum’s commitment to the environment, we have recently developed a sustainability program, which we hope can also be a resource for other museums. Working in support of the Paris Climate Agreement, we recognize it is vital to reduce the world’s carbon emissions by 50% and substantially reduce waste by 2030.

Museum History

Exploring the relationship between art and the natural environment is a central thematic principle that drives everything we do at the Nevada Museum of Art, including our collections and exhibition programming, which thematically probe diverse facets of the subject. Furthermore, it is part of our origin story, given our co-founder James Edward Church Jr., was a humanities professor and climate scientist known for developing innovative techniques to measure the amount of water in snowpack for supply forecasting, on the nearby Mount Rose Summit (elevation 10,776 ft). The climate is also embedded into our graphic identity, whether it’s our logo that is based on the geo-thermal formations underneath the museum, or the thermostat reading that appears embedded in the distinctive emblem on our website. Significantly, we are also the only museum in the country to have a Center for Art + Environment—a growing archive and research center devoted to the practice, study, and awareness of creative interactions between people and their natural, built, and virtual environments.

Locality

Living in Reno, we recognize, too, that we have a vested interest in the issue of climate change, given Reno was designated the city with the fastest-warming climate in the nation. According to Climate Central (a non-profit research group), “Since 1970, summer temperatures in Reno, Nevada, have risen 10.9 degrees.” As a result, we are committed to assessing the leadership role we play in impacting our own micro-climate by reducing our emissions and inspiring our regional community to take further action as well.

Acknowledgments

The development of this action plan took place over the span of one year, and has been an ongoing process since, while participating in the Ki Futures program—a comprehensive, international coaching and training program designed for the cultural sector by the non-profit organization Ki Culture.

We would like to thank nZero, the Teiger Foundation, and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation for their financial support of the sustainability initiatives at the Nevada Museum of Art.

The Sustainability Action Plan and statement has been developed by the Museum Green Team which includes the following staff members: Bonnie Blair, Savannah Chappell, Apsara DiQuinzio, Sara Frantz, Nisha Hallert, Chelsey Lundin, Chris Martin, Claire Muñoz, Catie Polley, Colin Robertson, and Ela Zawadzka.

Sustainability Action Plan

BUILDING + OPERATIONS

Progress

  • Replaced all cleaning products with environmentally friendly products
  • Switched from plastic membership cards to digital cards
  • Calculated the carbon footprint for 2019, as the starting baseline
  • Replaced complimentary plastic water bottles with water in paper cartons.
  • Eliminated plastic cups for membership events
  • Added occupancy sensors to bathrooms, woodshops, staff offices, and loading dock
  • Installed necessary infrastructure for switch to future heat pumps
  • Measured energy being drawn from media towers—moved some components to timed power
  • Added bike parking with canopy
  • Replaced trash cans with waste sorters
  • Added smart water controllers to landscaping irrigation system
  • Determine the institution’s carbon footprint yearly to track emissions reductions

Goals

  • Work towards reducing the building’s emissions by 50%
  • Acquisition and implementation of solar panels and subscribe to the renewable energy plan offered by your local utility company
  • Replace chillers with more efficient heat pumps when equipment expires
  • Replace all incandescent bulbs with LED lights
  • Turn off appliances, lights, copying machines, computers, and electrical surge protectors at night
  • Implement composting and reduce waste
  • Develop water capture techniques for septic system
  • Continue to modify the climate control policy based on micro-climates and the local environmental context (already maintain +/ – 5% RH; can go to +/- 10% RH)
  • Work closely with contractors to balance conservation needs with engineering
  • Review green building certification programs.
  • Converting entire property from electric to steam humidifiers by 2025.
  • Implement new power on/off procedures in building to improve energy consumption.
  • Raise awareness with vendors about our efforts to mitigate energy consumed by data storage
  • Request an audit through NV Energy

 

MUSEUM STAFF

Progress

  • Implemented remote working days and a hybrid working environment to reduce commuting
  • Received a scoping grant for solar panels from the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative for installing solar panels
  • Developed a Green Team comprised of all levels of staff and museum departments
  • Reduced employee travel by 50%
  • Invited Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (KTMB) to speak to staff on recycling
  • Invited Washoe County Sustainability Manager to speak to staff
  • Provide sustainability training for staff
  • Invite staff, volunteers, and public to Truckee Meadows Clean-up.

Goals

  • Ask employees for ways they can contribute to the sustainability plan
  • Encourage and incentivize alternative modes of transportation for staff (bike to work days), volunteers, and visitors
  • Visit Waste Management facility
  • Visit Redwood Materials facility
  • Invite Reno Sustainability Manager to speak to staff

 

EXHIBITIONS + COLLECTIONS

Progress

  • Extended the length of exhibitions
  • Use virtual couriers when possible
  • Re-use vitrines, pedestals, and exhibition furniture
  • Planted twenty-one fruit bearing trees as part of the Monument to Sharing commission with Fallen Fruit, and added environmentally friendly maintenance systems
  • Use work lights during installations instead of all overhead lights.
  • Replacing all gallery bulbs with LED bulbs in the galleries.
  • Reuse walls between exhibitions and reduce wall construction by 50% at minimum
  • Do virtual studio visits when possible
  • Replace vinyl signage with more sustainable exhibition didactics

Goals

  • Reduce overseas air freight shipping by 50%
  • Replace non-sustainable packing materials
  • Reduce the carbon footprint for publications by 50%
  • Use sustainable wood (or reuse wood) for all construction and shipping crates; disassemble wood and reuse it
  • Calculate the carbon footprint for large-scale exhibitions and reduce it by 50% going forward
  • Encourage artists to install remotely when possible

Resources