Video Talk - Slides
BIOGRAPHY
Poul Klenz Larsen, Senior consultant, Department of Conservation, The National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen where he deals with maintenance and conservation of historic buildings. His research is also focused on the study of the physical interactions between the environment and buildings and on the control of microclimate to make it stable and suitable for conservation needs.
ABSTRACT
The microclimate of historic buildings and its stabilization.
Many medieval churches and historic buildings have a high RH all year, which is not related to human activity. A permanent high RH may lead to biological degradation of the interiors. Wood boring insects will eat up the furniture and moths will feed on the textiles if nothing is done to reduce the RH. The acceptable range for RH is 60% - 70%, which is higher than the usual recommendations for museums and galleries. In most cases the interiors were never adapted to lower RH, so it would not be appropriate to enforce a set point at 50 %RH.
There are two options for a simple humidity control strategy in historic houses which are not permanently occupied by humans: Conservation heating or mechanical dehumidification. The question is which of the two strategies is the most energy efficient, and how to decide for the one or the other. The question is dealt with through generic energy calculations and case studies of historic buildings.
