the company is committed to implementing any necessary technological
changes that will allow it to further
improve energy efficiency and reduce
CO2 emissions. CPCU also plans to
explore the development of a biomass
system that would burn industrial
wood waste.
Cooling and Preserving Aesthetics
The success of CPCU’s district
heating network helped pave the way
for the introduction of district cooling
in Paris. In 1990, Elyo and Cofathec,
a subsidiary of Gaz de France, founded
Climespace as a joint venture. (Elyo
holds a 28 percent share while its
subsidiary CPCU also owns 22 percent.) The system started operation
the following year, and today Climespace exports its district energy
know-how via numerous projects
including the trigeneration plant –
the only one of its kind in Europe –
that supplied power to Expo ’98 in
Lisbon.
In 2004, Climespace produced
360 GWh (102,348,000 ton-hr) of
chilled water for air conditioning 3. 5
million sq m ( 37. 7 million sq ft) of
space. Production
reaches its
peak dur-
ing August,
when the
company
generates
60,000 MWh
( 17,880,000
ton-hr).
Although the
company’s
350 customer
buildings pri-
marily house
office space and
financial organi-
zations, its varied
customer base includes
renowned shopping venues such
as the Hermes and Chanel stores,
A Look at the Louvre
At 60,000 sq m (196,850 sq ft), the Louvre Museum in Paris is one of the
largest and most famous museums in the world. Each year 6 million visitors enter
its doors to admire some of the world’s greatest artistic masterpieces, which
encompass 11 millennia of culture and civilization. The museum has been a CPCU
customer since 1947; it connected to the Climespace system in 1988. The Louvre
utilizes steam for heating and maintaining the proper humidity and temperature
levels for its art collection. It uses chilled water for air conditioning.
The Louvre was originally built as a fortress at the end of the 12th century by
King Philippe II to protect the Right Bank of Paris from invasion. Some parts of
the original structure remain, including the dungeon. Inhabited and redeveloped
by various kings through the ages, the Louvre became a museum in 1793 and
began expanding its treasures with acquisitions, donations and the addition of
royal collections. As
part of former
French President
François Mitterrand’s
efforts to enlarge
the Louvre in the
1980s, architect I.M.
Pei designed the
glass pyramid that
now stands at the
main entrance to
the museum. The Louvre Museum, a customer of both CPCU and Climespace,
is home to such world-class art masterpieces as the Mona Lisa
and Venus de Milo.
Galeries Lafayette and Passage du
Havre;
hotels such as the Hôtel George V
and InterContinental;
financial institutions including
Banque du France, BNP Paribas
and the Caisse des Dépôts et
Consignations;
cultural gems like the Opéra
Garnier and Louvre Museum; and
other noted Paris landmarks like
the Forum des Halles, Cercle
Militaire and the National
Assembly.
Most of Climespace’s customers were
CPCU customers first. Although marketing district cooling was originally a
tougher sell when the system was
new, the concept is now better known
in Paris, and demand to connect to
the system is high.
The opportunity to establish a
district cooling system in Paris was
created by a combination of rising
air-conditioning demand, interest in
the technology’s traditional energy-saving and environmental benefits,
and its ability to help the city decrease
or eliminate a number of nuisances.
Those included polluting emissions,
the potential outbreak and spread of
legionella, and noise and vibration
from individual building cooling
equipment and towers. District cooling could also help preserve Paris’s
architectural aesthetics – a very
important consideration in a city
known worldwide for its neoclassical
architecture, romantic atmosphere
and historic landmarks.
