Energy demand for indoor climate control in museums: challenges and perspectives in time of a changing climate

The control of indoor climate conditions was considered the best approach to reduce the occurrence of climate-induced risks, but heating and air conditioning systems, if inefficient, are now resulting insufficient to meet a sustainable energy demand of these spaces. This study investigates the potential changes in heating and cooling energy demands in museums under the extreme Shared Socio-economic Pathways climate scenario (SSP5-8.5), considering temperature thresholds suggested by standards for limiting thermal-induced degradation. The expected increase of the outdoor temperatures will be responsible for a decrease in the total energy demand in museums located in Trondheim and for a slight increase in museums in Rome. In the latter, the significant decrease in the heating demand will be not sufficient at compensating the sharp increase in cooling demand. Although the thermal insulation of the building envelope makes it possible to decrease the energy demand due to the reduction of the conduction heat transfer, this solution could be responsible for overheating issues, especially in summertime and middle-low latitudes, due to a higher solar gain with respect to higher latitudes. This opens new insight into the design of multi-option passive solutions in museums to avoid the use of energy-demanding systems.