Digital at the service of energy efficiency

The CoRDEES (Co-Responsibility in District Energy Efficiency & Sustainability) Urban Innovative Action (UIA) project is lead by the City of Paris, and it is aimed at creating an innovative energy ecosystem at Clichy-Batignolles, a 54-hectare new eco-district of Paris, currently under construction. Essentially, the project partners use SMART city solutions to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy usage. Unlike many SMART city projects, however, the focus is on governance and not on technology.

The context – energy and climate objectives

In 2014, the European Union (EU) committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to the 1990 levels, across all sectors of the economy. According to the Commission’s proposal, Member States should meet binding annual greenhouse gas emissions targets from 2021-2030 for the transport, buildings, agriculture, waste, land-use and forestry sectors.

The City of Paris has two relevant plans in place: The Smart City Action Plan and the Paris’ Climate and Energy Plan. The Smart City Action Plan sets ambitious goals to cut the city’s environmental impact. The plan foresees a 25% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, 25% reduction of energy use and the increase of the renewables share in the urban environment by 25%. The Paris’ Climate and Energy Plan goes even further and specifies that the energy consumption of refurbished buildings should not exceed 80 kWhm2year, and the same figure should be below 50 kWhm2year for new buildings.

The Eco-district

The CoRDEES project is implemented in the Clichy-Batignolles District, in the 17th City District, located in the North-Western part of Paris, covering a total area of 54 hectares. The Clichy-Batignolles District is an ambitious new development, aimed at establishing a dense, mixed use urban fabric – a real eco-district – around a 10 hectare park (among the largest in Paris). The project was launched in 2002; the first residents moved into the district in 2012, and the full completion of the development is foreseen by 2020.

The project in figures

• The total area: 54 hectares
  
• … out of which 10 hectares of park
  
• 3.400 housing units
  
• 7.500 residents
  
• 12.700 jobs
  
• 140.000 m2 commercial office space
  
• 120.000 m2 public offices
  
• 31.000 m2 shops, cultural and recreational facilities
  
• 38.000 m2 public facilities

• Dense, mixed-use, compact development: the buildings host shops, schools and recreational facilities on the ground floor, offices and apartments on the higher floors.
  
• Abundance of green areas: the multifunctional buildings are arranged around the vast, 10-hectare park; in addition, private green spaces will amount to 6.500 m2, while the surface of green roofs will reach 16.000 m2.
  
• Use of rainwater: Impermeable roadways make up only 12% of the total surface area of the district. Thanks to the park and the many green spaces the volume of rainwater that runs off into the sewer system is limited to 50% in the public area and 70% in private plots. In the park, rainwater is collected and channelled towards wetlands. Moreover, 40% of the park’s watering needs are met by rainwater.
  
• Reducing urban heat island effect: The park acts as a a natural “air conditioner”, significantly reducing the urban heat-island effect of buildings and concrete surfaces.
  
• Low energy profile buildings: the energy consumption of buildings is limited to 50 kWhm2year, which is lower than the value required by the current energy regulation in Paris.
  
• Geothermal energy provides heating and domestic hot water: all the buildings will be connected to a heating grid supplied with geothermal energy, as a result, at least 85% of heat production will be covered from renewable energy sources.
  
• Solar energy produces electricity: many rooftops will be equipped with solar panels, producing nearly the equivalent of roughly 40% of the electricity consumed by buildings in Clichy-Batignolles.
  
• Good external accessibility: the eco district is easily accessible using public transport from other parts of the city, while within the area wide sidewalks, cycle paths will create a pedestrian- and cycle friendly environment, promoting the use of sustainable form of mobility.

The eco-district is not just climate-friendly, though: segmented housing ensures high level of social diversity – 50% of all housing units will be social housing, 20% capped-rent housing, and only the remaining 30% will be sold at market prices. Various types of apartments – tailored to the needs of different population groups (families, students, dependent seniors and disabled) – will be spread across the district, resulting in a socially diverse area.

CoRDEES – experiment in the eco-district

A 15-hectare area in the Western part of the eco-district was dedicated as a real-world laboratory to test the large-scale use of intelligent energy networks. The project involves office, residential and commercial buildings – altogether 12.

It is not about technology

SMART City projects experimenting with the use of intelligent energy networks are implemented in many cities across Europe. Most of them, however, focus on the technology aspects of such networks.

Partners behind the CoRDEES project believe that technology is not an issue anymore – the necessary technological conditions are already in place. The efficient operation, governance of these complex, multi-stakeholder systems, on the other hand is a challenge that needs to be addressed.

The CorDEES answer to this challenge has the following main elements:

1. The first is the Community Energy Management Platform (CEMP): CEMP is “an interoperable/multi-user platform for monitoring, consolidating and analyzing in real time energy data for all buildings (electricity and heat), public facilities (EV stations, street lighting, automated waste collection) and defining optimization scenarios.”
2. The second element of the CoRDEES solution is the so called Urban Energy New Deal (UEND). UEND brings together the various stakeholders to collectively define energy commitments, contractual, financial and regulatory conditions as well as the specific roadmap of specific energy efficiency actions for the project’s successful implementation.
3. The third element is the provision of Urban Energy Services (UES): in order to ensure efficient energy use, specific energy services have been developed for the involved stakeholders. The development of the services was based on international benchmarks and the mapping of stakeholder needs. Three distinct service categories have been defined:
   1. Information service provided based on the platform (data visualization, analysis and alerts of consumption gaps).
      
   2. Support to efficient building operation for building managers and operators.
      
   3. Awareness raising and tenant involvement to improve energy conscious behavior of end-users.
      

Partners behind the CoRDEES project believe that technology is not an issue anymore – the necessary technological conditions are already in place. The efficient operation, governance of these complex, multi-stakeholder systems, on the other hand is a challenge that needs to be addressed.