Checking on the beehives atop Mia’s roof.
Back in 2008, a group of staffers at Mia, calling themselves the Green Team, began meeting to discuss potential reforms, ways that the museum could reduce its impact on the environment. It was never going to be easy—preserving the art means regulating the environment. Also, the museum is old. And money, as in any non-profit, is hard to come by.
But over the years, the Green Team—representing almost every department at the museum—has made a difference. Here, Mia’s new head of facilities—and Green Team member—Tom Lyons talks about the work that’s been done and what’s to come:
• I’ve been entrusted with supervising the operations of this beautiful, complicated campus, parts of which are more than a century old. That covers everything from lawns to lighting systems, garages to galleries, sprinklers to spigots, boilers to bees.
• On environmental matters, I turn the page. No, literally. After I fill up a yellow legal pad, I turn it over and write on the other side.
• Bees? Before I arrived this winter, all I knew about bees was that they stung. So my first thought was: What’s happening with the bees on the museum’s rooftop? Thankfully, the Mia Green Team was here to greet me and reassure me that the beehives are healthy and well.
• This team of Mia environmentalists led by Charles Walbridge, Mia’s lead collections photographer, has worked to reduce waste and energy consumption throughout the museum campus with motion-sensing light switches, energy-efficient blower motors, reverse-osmosis water filtering, technotrash recycling, and other efforts. And a lot of this happens to save money, too.
• From my own facilities experience, I see opportunities to do even more. Some efforts will be felt, not seen—like a new high-efficiency burner that cuts the gas consumption of our steam boiler by 11 percent. But keep an eye out for motion-sensor lavatory faucets, dual-flush handles across all 68 museum toilets, and new pollinator gardens, to be installed soon. Maybe even a green roof one day.
Here are a few of the Green Team’s initiatives:
New LED lighting in Mia’s galleries.
LED lights
In 2011 and 2012, Mia replaced 2,908 halogen lamps in its third-floor galleries with LED lamps, which use about two-thirds less electricity. The LED lamps are also better for art, as they don’t produce potentially damaging ultraviolet or infrared radiation. In 2013, Mia completed a similar swap in its second- and first-floor galleries, and the work continues throughout the museum. Combined, we save an estimated 15 percent in electricity consumption and have significantly reduced Mia’s carbon footprint.
Recycling, composting, and consumption reduction
Mia now offers single-stream, or commingled, recycling of plastic, glass, and metal, as well as a technotrash recycling program to prevent hazardous materials from entering the waste stream. During our annual Art in Bloom event, we compost some 2,700 pounds of floral materials instead of leaving it for the landfill.
The rain garden maintained by Mia.
Water conservation
In 2012, Mia’s Green Team received a grant from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization to build a rain garden and purchase native prairie plants. The garden now filters rainwater and melted snow from local parking lots and roofs through the roots of prairie plants, instead of running unfiltered into the Mississippi River. And to reduce the need for five-gallon water coolers, we installed five reverse-osmosis water filtration systems in common areas for staff drinking water. Next up: stormwater reclamation from the roof, which would either be used in our cooling tower or irrigation system; it would save thousands of gallons of water.
Bikes, buses, beehives
To encourage alternative transportation, Mia offers staff discounted bus passes and provides ample bike parking, along with bike tool kits and pumps. And since 2013, Mia has partnered with the University of Minnesota’s Bee Squad to maintain four beehives on the museum’s roof. The bees have prospered, becoming essential pollinators for city gardens and trees.