Energy Management at Centrale Nantes

Energy impact of the campus buildings

Partial or total energy renovations have been carried out on the buildings, new buildings have been built (L, E, T) and the new C building was completed and inaugurated in 2023/24. This building was designed to reduce the impact of the construction and its energy consumption. Its roof is equipped with solar panels.

Heating: reduced emissions thanks to connection to the heating network

 

The campus buildings are heated mainly via the connection to the Nantes Métropole heating network in 2016, while the M, N and O buildings remain heated by gas, for an estimated Carbon Footprint of 57tCO2eq - 2018 data.
Connecting to the heating network has led to a fourfold reduction in greenhouse gas emissions linked to the heating of the campus.

Decree No. 2019-771 of 23 July 2019 on obligations to reduce final energy consumption in tertiary buildings requires a 40% reduction in emissions between 2010 and 2030.

Consumption linked to heating has been monitored by building since 2008.

Building energy display: a commitment to transparency and awareness

A display is posted on all the doors of the buildings every year (carried out via a student contract). The aim is to provide transparency for users and also to raise awareness so that doors are kept closed in winter and summer and heat loss is reduced.

An example of the energy display for each building is available in French here.

Cooling the supercomputer

A thermal engineering firm has been working since the end of 2020 on various scenarios for recovering the heat dissipated by the supercomputer, in particular by using it to heat the site and to connect to the urban heating network.

This project is eligible for the ADEME Heat Fund. The firm is currently carrying out measurements in Building D.

Renewable Energy at Centrale Nantes

Centrale Nantes produces energy via the SEM-REV offshore test site and the FLOATGEN floating wind turbine which produced 6.8GWh in 2019.

Since its inception, Centrale Nantes has focused its study programmes and research on energy: wave energy, propulsion and motors, electrical networks, thermal energy etc.

Learn more about energy research projects