Drifting temperature climate control for archives and stores

The climate within museum stores and archives can be regulated by dehumidifying a building whose temperature is allowed to vary seasonally without explicit control. The ground beneath the building provides thermal inertia to hold the annual temperature cycle around 8 – 16°C, in northern Europe. A well insulated above-ground structure moderates short term fluctuations in the weather. Good airtightness reduces the energy required for dehumidification. This combination of cool and dry storage is beneficial to the vast majority of artifacts. However, the implementation of such storage is inhibited by some restrictive standards for the museum and archive environment.