About
London Canal Museum was awarded bronze status membership of the Green Tourism for London scheme in July 2008. Green Tourism for London is part of the nationwide Green Tourism Business Scheme, the largest accreditation scheme of its kind for tourism businesses. We are working to make further changes in order to achieve silver in 2010.
Most of the museum's lighting is now low-energy
and no further purchases of traditional high-energy lighting are being made,
with the small exception of decorative lamps for use during private functions.
(which are used for no more than a couple of hours per week on average). A
number of installations were converted to LED operation in early 2010. Plans
are being made to convert further lighting to highly energy-efficient new
lighting with significant added benefits in terms of display and
accessibility.
The museum's main heating is gas fired. It is not programmed to come on automatically, but is switched on when needed only. On the first floor we have an air-coolling and heat pump system that uses the latent heat in the air to heat the first floor. This system is only used during special events and prvate functions, because there is no need for it during normal hours when the heat from the ground floor rises to keep the first floor sufficiently warm in most weather conditions.
We are steadily increasing the proportion of our purchasing that is recycled or otherwise environmentally-friendly.
We make use of Islington Council's recycling scheme for charities, and collect glass and plastic bottles, cardboard, paper, and cans for recycling.
We insulated our loft with a double layer of Eco-wool, a loft insulation product made from recycled plastic bottles that has no hazardous properties. The insulation improves curatorial care as well by reducing the variation in temperature in the rooms below.
Our education service includes a number of lesson plans and workshops teaching children about the ecology of the canals which are, although man-made, now an urban haven for a good deal of wildlife.
