The EDF Group

The EDF Group is a leading player in the European energy industry, active in all areas of the electricity value chain, from generation to trading, and increasingly active in the gas chain in Europe.
Leader in the French electricity market, the Group also has solid positions in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
In the electricity sector, it has the premier generation fleet and customer portfolio in Europe, and operates in strategically targeted areas in the rest of the world.
The Group is also the leading network operator in Europe, giving it a sound business model evenly balanced between regulated and deregulated activities.
More information: www.edf.com

EDF Research & Development
Thinking research in term of co-development

The vocation of EDF R&D is to contribute to improving performance among EDF Group operating units and to identify and prepare new growth drivers for the medium and long terms.
EDF R&D has a committed policy of working with partners in France and Europe, especially the countries where the Group is active, as well as in other parts of the world.
A growing share of research is being conducted through partnerships and research co-production. It is a way of drawing on outside talent and ideas, stepping up research and sharing costs and risks.

The European Centre & Labs for Energy Efficiency Research (ECLEER) illustrates such an ambition. Set up in 2008 by EDF jointly with the School of MInes of Paris and the Polytechnical Federal School of Lausanne, ECLEER aims at increasing research efforts and dynamics of innovation towards a lower-carbon intensive Society.

Managing energy production, supply and consumption modes is – as of today – a main challenge for Society at large. The transition towards a lower-carbon society using better energy is inescapable. Testimony of this is the array of international, European and domestic actions aimed at fighting climate change, reducing CO2 emissions, as well as ensuring security of energy supply. Energy producers and suppliers contribute to these efforts.
Without leveraging on the energy demand-side, we will not be able to achieve it.

Demand’s drivers remain insufficiently understood, measured and anticipated, in particular for households at times viewed as a kind of “black box”. These drivers are closely tied to complex researches (such as those covering lifestyle, consumption patterns – as well as the evolution of both -, roles of stakeholders from politics and business arenas, renewable or smart technology’s diffusion, buying and uses people’s behaviours, as an example). The understanding and potential energy savings quantification deriving from tertiary sectors also requires further research.

The research programme Energy Demand and Dynamics of Consumption is specifically targets such scientific issues. Its ambition is to speed-up upstream research and related dynamics of innovation on these topics. To this effect:

==> It federates and gathers various & complementary disciplines, skills, and know-how deriving from social sciences, economics, as well as engineering sciences,

==> It is implemented in association with top academic centres in Europe in the field of energy research, prioritizing exchange, de-compartmentalized approaches and cooperation between the teams.

==> It adresses tree higly linked areas:

– Energy Demand Forecast & Foresight

– Households behaviour, social practices and systems of consumption

– Policies, markets and players of energy efficiency
More information: www.ecleer.com

Design in energy field
Energy is vital and is becoming increasingly precious in a world which will soon gain 8 billions inhabitants. Besides the building’s sector represents 43% of the primary energy consumed in France.
But electricity stays commonplace and it remains intangible in our everyday lifes. The evolution of the daily individual and collective energy practices towards a well-balanced consumption is at stake.
This is one of the fascinating paradoxes faced by design in the field of energy : how can we shape energy (interfaces and new production solutions) in order to help the user to better consume it.

In collaboration with all EDF R&D researchers and EDF operationnal divisions, EDF R&D designers contribute
– to improve the efficiency of each kind of energy systems for buildings (technical design of heat pumps, solar panels, thermal solar solutions, …)
– to develop and facilitate the integration of renewable energies solutions in existing and new buildings (LCA, architectural integration, user experience, …)
– to imagine interfaces and interactions to help everybody to progress towards more energy sobriety (behavioural aspect)
– to assure the long-term balance between the demand, the production, the budget, the wished comfort of life and the environment respect.

EDF R&D designers are finally convinced that energy challenges call for humility and co-design work carried out by the active participants in society (individuals, schools, business, institutions, academics…).