PublishedSeptember 8, 2022, 6:06 PM
VaudCarbon neutrality: EPFL inaugurates its new thermal power plant
From now on, the Lausanne campus will be heated and cooled entirely with water from the lake and the heat generated by its data center.
Different political personalities, including Vassilis Venizelos (in the center), visited the new plant.
© EPFL / Murielle Gerber
This Thursday marks a turning point for EPFL in its quest for carbon neutrality. In the presence of Vaudois State Councilor Vassilis Venizelos, head of the youth, environment and security department, the campus inaugurated its new thermal power plant.
His particuliarity? It combines pumping in Lake Geneva, heat exchangers, recovery of the heat released by the data center and solar panels. In other words, hot and cold will come from own and autonomous production. “This corresponds to 54% of our total energy needs. For the rest, 6% of the energy consumed comes from gas, and the last 40% comes from electricity,” explains EPFL.
In addition to the heat given off by the computer servers, in the future, the plant could also use the composter located just next door, where plant waste from the parks and gardens of the campus is dumped. A digester for cafeteria food scraps would be a further step towards a small local production of biogas. Finally, the complex will also make it possible to achieve scientific goals. The EcoCloud center and the EPFL Energy Center will join forces to set up a project aimed at minimizing the CO2 emissions associated with the use of the datacenter.
(XFZ)