Nanorgysol

Nanorgysol project aims to explore a great number of materials and concepts in order to evaluate their potential and to be able to make at the end of this project the strategic choices in term of paths to develop. This project is financed by the National Agency of Research (ANR) within the framework of the “Solar Photovoltaic" Program.

Thus, the results awaited at the end of this project are to obtain with one of the developed concepts: 
      -   a solar efficiency of 5% on 1cm² glass substrate,
      -   the demonstration of a solar efficiency on a surface of 100 cm². 
The lifetime of the most promising cells will be measured. 

These considerations were carried out within the framework of the network NANORGASOL, supported by CNRS, set up in April 2005 and will be relayed by the National Institute for Solar Energy (INES) based in Chambéry, which counts CEA and CNRS as partners.

More information on : www.nanorgysol.cea.fr

Source : CEA 

Bionersis :

A pioneer company in its sector, Bionersis is a global player in the production of renewable energies and the reduction of greenhouse gases. Bionersis recovers the landfill gas generated by household waste sites.
Bionersis designs, installs and exploits installations to:

• Recuperate and eliminate landfill gas,
• Produce and export electricity
• sells the electricity produced from the combustion of the harnessed methane
• sells the carbon credits from the combustion of the methane.

Process : A network of wells (vertical or horizontal) is installed in the landfill site.This network is interconnected and linked by a central collector to an exhaust flare. The exhausting depresses the site and forces the extraction. After being processed once, the landfill gases generated by the landfill waste are eliminated under controlled conditions. This system is more efficient than simple gas vent systems (passive ventilation), which, in the majority of cases encountered in the field, allow, at best, 10 to 15% of the landfill gas generated by the waste to be sent into the atmosphere without being destroyed. During this phase, Bionersis analyses the flows, as well as the characteristics of the gas emissions.An additional installation for processing and cleaning the gas will enable us to produce a gas that can fuel a generator that produces electricity sold directly to the consumer or delivered through the network. 

Bionersis has performed a private investment transaction with qualified investors, in the form of a capital increase which made it possible to raise 15 millions euros

More information on : www.bionersis.com

Source : Bionersis website

Climpact : Climate Information technology

Climpact is a spin off from the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, the leading French research center on climate and is related to several other institutions : CEA, CNRS,Polytechnique, the IRD, the UPMC and the UVSQ.

The Company sell past and forecasted climate indexes to quantify the historical financial impact of climate events on businesses and help decision making by anticipating future events.

The indexes are established by an in house system combining business data with climate observations and forecasts (daily to six month ahead) from several meteorological centres (European and US). Our clients run businesses with high climate exposure and belong to the food and beverage, financial, insurance and re insurance, tourism, and retail sectors. The indexes are available through our web based plateform for an annual fee.

Climpact secures € 1M from Elaia Parnters to reinforce its R&D and Professional Services teams, increase its sales in France and prepare for European deployment. Proceeds from this A round will also allow the extension of Climpact’s offering to the financial sector, with indices targeted for asset managers and financial analysts.

Source : Climpact

More information on : www.climpact.com

Opaly : Active Solar envelope in buildings

OPALY SAS is owned by the family Balduini and Jean Maillard. The family Balduini has also Usiduc, business specialist machining and processing of composite materials. This brings to OPALY its reputation and its know-how. 

The developments OPALY respond to the problems of heating and cooling industrial buildings, commercial and logistics. These products include functions Siding classic (structure and insulation) and functions active (solar thermal…). In addition, eco-design adopted by the company OPALY takes into account environmental constraints related to the product life cycle. 

The principle of frontage, or active solar envelope in buildings, is one of the objectives described in the forward-looking document of the European Technology Platform on solar thermal (ESTTP Solar Vision, in May 2006). It should cover between 50 and 100% of heating needs of buildings, and therefore to develop products combining the functions support, insulation and energy generator.  
OPALY established a real process innovation, with particularly interesting options to meet the standards, such as the choice of materials used or integration of technologies into a building. Thus qu'OPALY based its project: to develop a solar cladding for heating and cooling of buildings, in line with future regulations (RT 2010, RT 2015…). These panels cover aesthetic, colored with the wishes of the client, especially for commercial buildings, and so on. In southern exposure, this facade could recover 50% of solar flux. In a second phase, OPALY plans to incorporate the generation of electricity panels by adding photovoltaic cells.

Source : Oseo

More information on : www.opaly.fr

Solaire Direct

SOLAIRE DIRECT is the first solar electric utility fully dedicated to photovoltaic in France. The company provides solutions and all inclusive services to a range of electrical markets from 4-12 MW large scale PV plants to 2-3 kW commercial and residential integrated solar roofs. The company markets a turn-key solution which involves project development, engineering and operations services. SOLAIRE DIRECT has partnered with the leading solar component and system manufacturers as it builds a portfolio of hundreds of MW of power generation and thousands of customers. They are headquartered in Paris ( France).

Source : Techfund

More information on : http://www.solairedirect.fr/

Skywater

In 2004, Loic Gouzen and Willy Rohdman, both graduates in management information systems, created Skywater to recover rainwater and reuse it for industrial purposes and collective household. This process allows to substitute up to 70% in average water needs for the industry, communities and 53% for individuals. It has developed a patented technology : a valve coupled with "the booster"which helps avoid cuts pressure and flow the water supply switched from the tank. To market its solution, it relies on a network of dealers and has more than 200 references installed. Skywater has finished a first round table of 2M€ to accelerate its development.

Source : Skywater 

More information on : www.skywater.fr

Electravia : Driving the silence

Electra is the first electric aircraft with batteries which will have an airwothiness certificate (and not a glider, motoglider,...). Its autonomy (48 mn ) is the most important never reached on batteries (and not thanks to photovoltaic systems). One of the challenge was to scale up electric drive to equip passenger - carrying conventional aircraft of the kind flown by recreational pilots. The French engineers team who is behind this project use the experience and skills of the ACV Aero Service and ELECTRAVIAfirms, and the APAME (association for the promotion of Electrical engine aircrafts). These innovative works are managed by Anne Lavrand, Electra project manager. 

The single-seater Electra is the first conventional airplane to run entirely on batteries. The plane has a very traditional design, the only difference being the method for turning the prop. It shows that as the energy density of batteries increases, so too does their potential application

More information on : www.electravia.fr

Source : Le Journal Innovation

A new Carbon storing powder

French-led technologists said they had beefed up the performance of a nano-powder that stores carbon dioxide (CO2) in what could be a step forward in tackling global warming caused by road traffic.A cubic metre (35 cubic feet) of the new substance, called MIL-101, is able to capture 400 cu. metres (14,125 cu. feet) of CO2, thanks to pores 3.5 nanometres (billionths of a metre) across, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a press release.

It outperforms current commercial nano-powders which have maximum pores of 2.2 nanometres.

The powder could have a potential use one day as a filter to help reduce CO2 emissions by road vehicles, lead researcher Gerard Ferey at the Lavoisier Institute in Versailles, near Paris, said. Capturing and storing CO2 has become one of the most eagerly-explored areas of research in global warming.The idea is to sequestrate the gas as it is being burned by power plants, factories and vehicles, rather than let it escape into the atmosphere where it will contribute to the greenhouse effect.

The CNRS team is to report on MIL-101 in a forthcoming issue of Langmuir, a journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Ceram Hyd : Hydrogen storage

Ceram Hyd is a French Company focusing on hydrogen technolgies. It was created in September 2005. The company’s core activities are R&D in the domains of hydrogen production, storage and re-conversion into electricity. Ceram Hyd has, to date, been financed by private investors and innovation grants in France. Ceram Hyd has developed a range of technologies that address various aspects of the hydrogen economy : - a novel ceramic proton exchange membrane that works in a temperature range between 0 and 200°C - an innovative process of ionic transport and absorption -a nano-structured ceramix developed specifically for hydrogen storage. Ceram Hyd’s aim is to bring its breakthrough technologies to market and to become the number one provider of CeraPEM membrane, hydrogen storage materials and integrated hydrogen production and storage processes.         More information : www.ceramhyd.com                                                                                                                   Source : Ceram Hyd

Kilowattsol : Solar Resource Expert

Calculate the potential photovoltaix from any point on the planet, particularly of course from a roof is the performance of the system developed by Kilowattsol, a start up crated by Xavier Daval in Lyon - France.The system integrates in a box apparatus to acquire data which are then exploited when loading via the Internet using a system of calculation. The box, placed on a roof, calculates the greatest slope, records the GPS, took a photo to 360 degrees in the horizontal direction, and 180 degrees in the vertical direction. It records masks the effect of which will then be calculated by simulating the course of the sun. " In summary, the system records that the roof "sees (and receives) and not what the artisan, the client, the architect who remain on the ground calculate. 

The data are used to distance after loading onto a site. A simulation software can calculate, with a margin of error of 5%, the amount of solar energy received by a roof or roof several elements in the case of complex architecture.

More information on : www.Kilowattsol.com

Source : Translation from Enviscope