David Rabkin

VP for Innovation, Strategic Partnerships, and Sustainability

Museum of Science

A Sequence of Developments

• Economics-driven conservation efforts• Staff-driven recycling and care in purchasing

• A strategic plan requiring substantial renovation and perhaps new construction– Green building “important” but not well-understood

• Appointment of a recycling guru and task force• Assignment of “sustainability” as strategic to a VP• Creation of a board-level Green Building Committee

• Birthing a new phase of organizational development

Greening the soon-to-open Gordon Wing

• Conventionally-designed office space for 100+ with a permitted design – already bid out…

• A challenging intervention… at first– Knowing enough to ask the right questions– Identifying goals– Being serious, even when we didn’t understand our goals

• Results were a success– 38% reduction in (modeled) energy consumption– Superior daylighting and indoor air quality– Plumbing in anticipation of grey water use– Far greater understanding of our “logic”

Owning the “logic”

• Life cycle analysis• Green doesn’t have to cost more• Payback periods• Responsibility for staff and visitors’ well-being• Multiple energy cost scenarios• Evolving measures and targets

• Perceived tradeoffs between investing in “green” and our mission

The mission of the Museum of Science is to

stimulate interest in and further understanding of

science and technology

and their importance for individuals and for society.

Creating the Science Center of the 21st Century

In the late 20th century, there has been an emerging recognition of the great scale of human impact on what once seemed an infinitely vast world with unlimited resources.

In the 21st century, the Museum's mission challenges us to use our scientific knowledge and engineering abilities to respond to this realization.

Science and technology allow us to understand our world and to design technologies and ways of living with future consequences consistent with our values.

Creating the Science Center of the 21st Century

Core Sustainability PrinciplesThe Museum will:• Consider the sustainability of the global environment; the well-being

of people in our institution, community, and worldwide, together with our long-term economic viability.

• Use educational value and societal impact as primary considerations

• Reduce our negative impact and seek to regenerate and enhance• Use our decisions as opportunities to engage the public• Establish a decision framework and adjust it annually as we learn• Strive for intellectual honesty and rigor in estimating long-term

impact and the true costs and benefits

Implementation

• Educational program• Facilities and operations• Convening our community• Marketing and communication• Fund-raising• Organization development

Education

• The engineering of sustainability• Ecosystems and our integral role in them• Climate change science• Technology forum – critical thinking about the

technology-driven issues of our times

Facilities and Operations

• Project management: toward integrated planning, use of commissioning

• Planetarium Renovation• Deferred Maintenance as an opportunity• Recycling: visitor side and back-of-house• Purchasing: office, cafeteria/catering• Research: wind, PV, hydro, GSHP, living roof• Residential-scale wind turbine “lab”• Commuting/transportation• Study the cafeteria

Convening, Marketing, Funding

• There is a useful role we can play as a convener of the community…

• We’ve done a lot with our facility and programs, but who knows about it?

• Fund-Raising– New sources, new goals– New opportunities (e.g., 3rd parties)

Organization Development

• Build buy-in to and understanding of core ideas• Insertion of sustainability into annual goal-setting• Measurement systems and decision logic• Policy development• Decision-making, particularly when there’s long

payback or no direct payback• Ongoing learning: knowledge and skills

Sustainability takes work and organizational change