Dix labos énergivores dans le viseur de l’Université de Bordeaux
“We are an intensive research university with many health biology laboratories, which are very consumer-intensive, explains Dean Lewis, president of Bordeaux University. We want to have a specific action on ten of them because if we reduce energy consumption by 15 to 20% (mainly electricity), this outweighs the consumption of the entire establishment. A targeted approach that does not exempt the University of Bordeaux, which hosts 54,000 students, from the expected savings measures by lowering the heating or air conditioning of computer servers by a few degrees, for example.
Avoid wild cuts
“We toured our large energy-intensive laboratories and we wonder if we can reveal the load there or even postpone particularly energy-intensive operations and thus avoid wild cuts”, adds Éric Macé, vice-president in charge of transitions. environmental and social. Among these chasms in terms of energy consumption, there is for example the European Institute of Chemistry and Biology (IECB), located in Pessac. “There are, for example, 150 extractor hoods which are constantly running, and freezers at -84°C and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance)”, points out the president of the University. He also points out that 250 fume cupboards (ventilated laboratory enclosures) are constantly running to renew the air three times an hour at the Institute of Molecular Sciences (ISM).
The measurement and imaging equipment, which the Neurocampus is equipped with, for example, also greatly increases the establishment’s consumption. “There are pet shops there, which we cannot stop like that”, underlines the president. In Pessac, the clean room (in which the particular concentration is controlled for research needs) is also causing the counters to panic greatly.
Worried about a possible drop in the voltage of the power supply from 240 to 220, the management of the university has also launched a kind of audit on this equipment, to find out if those which will be maintained will be able to function well at this power.
Also renovate the energy strainers
With the transfer of the university heritage of the State to the University of Bordeaux, which represents between 10 and 15 million m2, the establishment has had time to identify its energy sieves. “Already 35% of our real estate assets have been upgraded (with a final delivery in 2023) and a maintenance budget over 25 years, which we did not do before”, argues the president. Remains a major project assessed for the remaining heritage, or 400 million euros over 20 years.
“We don’t have too many m2 in terms of national indicators”, points out Dean Lewis, adding that 29 hectares have been identified and could be sold, on the model of leases to be built. The idea is to ensure a certain consistency on campus, for example by favoring student housing.
The establishment is also considering equipping itself with more photovoltaic panels (12,000 m2 today) and in Talence, Pessac and Gradignan, a heat network (biomass geothermal energy) would concern university structures in particular, from 2024. it’s not just about “getting through the winter” but about anticipating a lasting energy crisis.