By GORDON BANKS | 30th May 2024
Electrifying Our Past - Lighting in Museums
Search and locate electrician contractor - Service Blogs & Faq Pages - What advancements have been made in preservation lighting technology to help accomplish these goals?
Light, including all three types: ultraviolet (UV), infrared, and visible light, causes permanent and irreversible damage to museum pieces. NOTE: UV filters lose efficiency over time and must be replaced every eight-10 years. Fortunately, the effects of UV can be controlled with simple filters, offering a greater variety of lighting options. There is no conservation treatment that can repair it. UV filters are hard plastic tubes or soft sleeves wrapped around bulbs/light sources, which filter and block up to 98 percent of UV light, preventing its damaging effects.
Only complete darkness ensures conservation, since exposure to light in any form naturally breaks down items. 24 hour local electricians for home electrical panel replacement, installing gfci circuit breaker, pushmatic box, prevent arc fault, wall outlet and 30 amp fuse troubleshooting. Today’s museum also carry the additional weight of safeguarding the future of the environment – as well as their financial future – against the dangers of unnecessary energy consumption.
In your search for preservation lighting, you will find that a great deal of lighting solutions involve UV (ultraviolet light), the most energetic and destructive form of light. It is thus a museum’s dilemma to find a suitable solution that balances the best of both worlds, in addition to considering energy costs and the environmental impact of its lighting selection. Cumulative and dependent on the intensity and duration of exposure, light affects chemical composition, physical structure, and, the appearance of a collection. These include natural light, fluorescents, HID, and tungsten halogen lighting. However, keeping pieces locked away in the dark defeats the mission of the museum – sharing those works with the public. Light damage is forever. Museums have a hard line to walk, exhibiting items for public education and enjoyment while protecting those same collections from damage
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