The Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles Will Soon Be Powered Entirely by Solar Energy

The Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles is making history
with its plan to switch entirely to solar power, which would make
it one of the first nonprofits in the world to do so.

The ICA, formerly known as the Santa Monica Museum of Art before
it relocated to downtown
Los Angeles from Bergamot Station in 2017, has partnered
with Kickstarter Arts to launch a crowdsourcing
campaign that will cover the upfront capital costs. The
initiative debuts as art institutions around the world are grappling with how to
become more sustainable and fight climate change in an industry
that requires constant travel, frequent shipping of heavy objects,
and pricey climate control and HVAC systems.

The museum, which recently appointed
Hammer curator Anne Ellegood as its new director, aims to raise
$25,000 to install 206 solar panels and six inverters across the
museum’s 12,000 square feet of rooftop space. This will
produce 100,000 kilowatt hours annually, allowing the museum to
remove itself completely from the Los Angeles grid.

The total estimated cost of the project is estimated at
$156,000, though much of this will be offset by the $30,000 per
year that the museum projects it will save in utility costs. It was
also able to secure a significant rebate from the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power, the museum’s deputy director, Samuel
Vasquez, told artnet News.

“It was a perfect alignment,” he said. “Being socially conscious
has been in the DNA of this institution since the beginning. We
have always focused programming around environmental and social
issues, and with our move to downtown LA, that has been amplified,
including discussions about wanting to go green.”

Vasquez said that going solar is just the beginning of the
museum’s green initiative. “It’s one big step in an ongoing
process. We’re really looking at our operations and other ways to
reduce consumption and economize in other areas,” he said. The
entire staff is “super excited and re-thinking how we do
things.”

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Soon Be Powered Entirely by Solar Energy appeared first on
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