The metabolism of cultural services. Energy and water flows in museums

Museums are one of the most longstanding, deeply rooted cultural services in society owing to the function they perform (communication, education and conservation of our heritage). The research in this article focuses on analysing the energetic and water metabolism of 28 museums in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in order to quantify and model its demand of resources during the operation of museums. The results show that in museums' energy profile, consumption of electrical energy predominates. A visit to a museum is associated with an average energy consumption of 15.7 kWh whilst the average energy consumption per square metre is 102.9 kWh. This consumption is associated with greenhouse gas emissions of 2.34 kg of equivalent CO 2 per visit. Besides, a visit to a museum is associated with an average water consumption of 27.3 L. Energy and water consumption have a significative strong correlation with the area and the number of visits and also among them. Several regression models have been developed in order to analyse in depth these relationships. A power equation model between energy and water consumption has been obtained, which could become a simple management tool for monitoring and controlling the consumption of museums. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.