Environmental policy
2010 report
Optimized energy time
Electricity, cold production, waste recycling and water treatment, among others, are all priority challenges included in dynamic sustainable development policy.
As we know, Rungis is busy mostly at night. The principles of sustainable development must therefore make allowance for this unavoidable constraint. In 2010, SEMMARIS carried out a study to modernize the public lighting system, which represents 20% of the electricity consumption of the overall service charge, according to a green energy objective. It is a matter of optimizing the lighting yield by area throughout the Market, while reducing energy consumption at the same time. The degree of lighting, expressed in number of lux, varies depending on whether you are on the roads, in the parking lots or next to the buildings.
Trials were therefore conducted to determine what equipment and what positioning would improve the lighting, while generating lower energy costs. Furthermore, the development of logistics flows, particularly on the ring road around the Market, or the installation of new parking lots, necessarily involve changes in the Market’s outdoor lighting. The result of this study showed that renovating these lighting systems would generate a saving of roughly 30% while redistributing the lighting yield more appropriately, by working on lighting colours too, since white is better for video surveillance. The specifications resulting from this study will be completed in 2011 and the works will start in 2012 and last at least two years.
Green energy comes to Rungis
At the same time, the modernization of the high-voltage electricity system supplying the Market is continuing, along with the campaign to “relamp” lights with low-consumption lamps. A call for tender was launched in the 2nd quarter 2010, to renew the purchasing agreements for electrical supplies, ending in the selection of two operators in 2011: one for the Market per se, and the other for the Euro-Delta area. From now on, 25% of the energy supplied to Rungis Market will be produced by green energy (hydraulic dams, for instance), out of the 33 gigawatt-hours consumed annually.
Besides electricity, sustainable development involves many other businesses at Rungis. For example, the decision was made to start the work at the fish and seafood pavilion to replace its roof’s air-tight complex with materials equipped with white membranes serving as a “passive coolant”. By reflecting the sun’s rays, they slow the rise of temperature inside the building. In this way, two or three degrees can be gained, saving on the corresponding cold production. Still in the cold domain, the replacement of refrigerating fluids by R22 or its substitutes is continuing and by end 2010, 70% of the transfers had been completed.
Waste and water treatment
Sustainable development is also about waste treatment, of course. Waste recycling is already well installed at the Market: nearly 7,000 tons in organic form, over 30,000 tons by incineration and nearly 19,000 tons in substance recycling. 2009 was marked by the set-up of a container system, with 2,000 containers allocated to Market users with the objective of reducing the volume of waste left on the roadside and encouraging sorting. In the meantime, SEMMARIS installed 38 waste collection points based in the various collective areas (on the side of buildings, parking lots, etc). As a result, this waste went from 15,000 tons in 2008 to 9,000 tons in 2010, representing a 40% decrease. Other collection points are under study and should be installed in 2011.
Lastly, we come to water. To respect discharge standards, works to store rainwater per plot of land have been undertaken, using tanks or pipes handling very large volumes, to regulate discharges. A storage ratio of 50 cubic metres per hectare has now been achieved. Concerning wastewater, 45 discharging agreements have been signed with tenants that have hazardous discharges. This figure has doubled and it should number 60 by the end of 2011.
