Then LyonTech site will have a double vocation

It is a prestigious international showcase is the University of Lyon for his project of "eco-campus": that of the Universal Exposition in Shanghai. In a week devoted to "the post-carbon energy city", the Lyon teaching and research (PRES) pole present, early August, the outline of an ambitious project, that of the la Doua LyonTech campus. It includes over 100 hectares, four (Insa, the université Lyon I, PBS and Enssib), institutions and organizations for research and development, industrial technical centres, and an incubator. Either total 220,000 square meters of buildings which will be fully rehabilitated to meet the HQE (high environmental quality) criteria, thus prefiguring the first "sustainable" L'hexagone University campus. The beginning of the work is scheduled for end of 2011, with delivery expected in 2014.

At a time where most academic sites look to sustainable development, Lyon intends to project a showcase for its expertise in this area, at the same time as an element of its international reputation. The lyonnais site provides two features that distinguish it from the 'eco-neighbourhoods' traditional. First, it is the restructuring of an already existing site, and not the creation of a new space. Then, LyonTech site will have a double vocation.

It will be used for the implementation of a series of "clean" technologies: optimization of public lighting or reduction of energy consumption of buildings, for example. "But at the same time, the campus itself will become a real support for research, training and innovation," said Michel Lussault, the President of the ESRP. Experimentation on innovative technologies will be conducted, scientific measurements will be carried out. What involve students, researchers and business partners. LyonTech will be both a "demonstrator" and a test site.

Arrange travel

If certain steps such as energy savings, reduction of greenhouse gases or waste management are quite traditional, others are more original. Among the main innovations proposed is a device for the sustainable management of water and storm water. "Most often, rain water are evacuated out of the city via a network of underground pipes, exposes Bernard Chocat, Professor at Insa Lyon and Director of the laboratory of civil engineering and environmental engineering (LGCIE). While the water is a precious natural resource, is thus seen as a waste.

LyonTech instead plans to use a set of advanced subject: creation of a parking lot in porous concrete, installation of a wall of water surface to retrieve the waters of roof... Infiltration wells and retention basins will be also developed. All devices designed to prevent flooding and to ensure a continuous water treatment, while achieving savings. The eco-campus lyonnais table on important work for the reorganization of travel. With such a development of the supply of transit through the multiplication of the workstations and an effort for the car-sharing.

On these various subjects, the University of Lyon has the experience of some of its members. The Insa de Lyon, for example, is working on "green" habitat or the heat of the building with the Mines ParisTech and Tsinghua University of Beijing franco-chinois Environmental Centre and the energy of Tsinghua (Cefceet).

The Lyon initiative in China fits also into a broader operation: the région Rhône-Alpes, traditional partner of the city of Shanghai, is indeed at the universal exhibition all of the themes related to sustainable development. With such a series of lectures and presentations, current August, on topics such as energy and the environment. A way for the University to assert its presence internationally. "The PRES is not intended to substitute for institutional members, recalls Michel Lussault.". But it is to promote the image of the lyonnais site abroad and promote the emergence of major collective projects.