You’ve probably noticed that at Pangloss Labs we like innovation, in a way that makes sense for the environment we live in. Now we have a chance to make these two things come together in a huge way for Ferney-Voltaire and the Pays de Gex. For the last four years, we’ve been working with TerrInnov, as well as a whole host of other partners, as part of the ZAC Ferney Geneve Innovation, to create a new Energy Innovation Space, right here in Ferney-Voltaire.
The upper floors form the car parking space for the new area, with 25% of the parking spaces equipped with electric vehicle charging points, and the design such that this can be increased. The roof will, of course, be covered in photovoltaics. The new tram into Ferney from Geneva will stop pretty much outside our door, and of course we will be reachable by bicycle.
The Hotspot building has been designed from the ground up to provide an experimentation space for citizens, associations, students, and enterprises to trial and grow new forms of renewable energy, along with energy saving techniques and technologies. The ecological transition is not only about organic local food, bicycles, buses and trams (although we like these too!), but also about the ways in which we heat and cool or homes, the things we buy, how they are powered, how they are designed, and how ordinary citizens can benefit.
You may have heard of the “waste heat” project between the Pays de Gex Agglo and CERN. This is transforming into an energy network, run by the SEMOP Pays de Gex Energies . This project recently won significant funding from the French government in the call for projects “Demonstrateurs de la Ville Durable” That will be based in the Hotspot building, along with a datacenter cooled by the network, a mobility centre, a Living Lab for citizen experimentation around the transition to zero carbon energy. For our part, if all goes well, a quarter of the ground floor will house an upgraded Fablab, ready to serve as a prototyping and experimentation space for new startups in the energy market, as well as all the incredible variety of projects that we currently facilitate. These projects are only the start, with more coming. If we’re going to become a Positive Energy Territory (Territoire à Energie Positive) by 2050, we’d better get a move on!
We believe that jobs can be created that make sense, both for the people concerned and the planet we live on, and so we’re planning to do just that. We’re building the future we’d like to see. We’d love you to join us in making it happen.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us, or come see us at one of our events.
