Energy Efficiency in Historic Museums: The Interplay between Thermal Rehabilitation, Climate Control Strategies and Regional Climates

Museums housed in historical buildings combine the intrinsic value of the collections with the historical and architectural values of the building itself. Although usually made with thick elements with high thermal inertia, very effective in damping and delaying the heat flow, these buildings are usually characterized by elements with low thermal resistance, poor-quality windows and low area/volume ratio in the noblest buildings, which renders them ineffective at maintaining a stable indoor climate adequate for conservation, comfort and energy efficiency issues. In this paper, a simulation study was carried out to analyze the impact of the building location (weather), thermal envelope and climate control strategies by analyzing a generic room of the National Museum of Ancient Art of Lisbon. A simulation study was carried out for 15 European cities to verify the impossibility of standardizing the rehabilitation solutions in cultural heritage since energy needs depend on the location. It was concluded that the focus on climate control strategies has great potential for energy reduction and that in temperate climates of southern Europe, the improvement of thermal transmittance has a reduced effect on the building’s response.