Vatican city is breaking new ground with Solardach!

Vatican city is breaking new ground with Solardach!

Vatikanstadt, Italien - Sustainability is very important in Vatican City! From now on, the Vatican museums will supply themselves with electricity from a newly installed photovoltaic system. This innovative glass roof above the entrance was completed within just six months and will be inaugurated on Friday, December 20th. Cardinal Fernando Vergez Alzaga, head of government of the Vatican State, and Barbara Jatta, director of the museums, will attend blessing. This measure is in line with the guidelines of Pope Francis from the environmental encyclical "Laudato Sì" and fulfills the obligations of the Paris climate protection agreement, as the official statement of the Vatican states. The Vatican has been pursuing strategies for the promotion of renewable energies for months, among other things by converting the entire fleet to electric vehicles that are operated with green stream.

energy consumption in museums in focus

In Germany, on the other hand, the museums face a completely different problem: A look at the new National Gallery in Berlin shows that after it has been renovated, its energy consumption has increased dramatically. The Museum of Modernity is currently described as the most energy -consuming building of its kind. Stefan Simon, director of the Rathgen research laboratory, criticizes the enormous energy costs that museums cause in times of climate change and the impending energy status. Future planning must focus on energy -efficient use in order to reduce the high costs and at the same time support the climate goals. He suggests rethinking the current recommendations for indoor climate and humidity and relying more on evidence -based approaches. Simon calls for pragmatic solutions to save energy, especially in view of the changing climate conditions.

The situation shows that during the Vatican with innovative measures to take climate neutrality, the museum architecture and its energy consumption urgently need to be adapted in other regions such as Berlin. Simon emphasizes that the time of the classic glass museums is over - it is high time to take new ways in using energy. These parallel developments show that the path to a more sustainable museum landscape in Europe is far from complete, but the first steps are promising, as Kap. The great risk associated with the current energy consumption of museums is also not to be neglected-politics and those responsible are equally challenged here, as Deutschlandfunk emphasizes . .