Visitors were able to freely discover through eight thematic villages, “Energy Awareness, Renewable Energies, Energy Savings, Construction and Housing, Transportation, Competitiveness Clusters, Local Authorities, Ethics and Environment,” the latest innovative energy solutions offered by leading industrial, regional, national, and European players in the field of New Renewable Energies (ENR): solar, wind, biomass, geothermal. Among them, the EDF group, one of the main sponsors of this trade show dedicated to professionals, came to demonstrate its expertise particularly in photovoltaics and explained, under the auspices of its Deputy General Director for Integration and Deregulated Operations in France, Jean-Louis Mathias, the national and international energy policy of the group regarding ENR and Nuclear.
4 plenary sessions on the topics “Energy Revolution: New Global Challenges,” “How to Help the Citizen Become the Consumer of Tomorrow?”, “New Renewable Energies: The Most Profitable Sectors for the Future”, and “Ecological Challenge: What Measures to Apply for the Survival of the Planet?” with presentations available on the ENR AGORA website from July 13 at https://www.enr-agora.com enabled a wide audience to follow environmental news centered around strategic directions on future energy supply, with the entire international industrial community agreeing on an “ENR”/nuclear energy mix by 2015.
Lastly, about twenty specialists from Northern Europe (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands), Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Principality of Monaco), India, Israel, and Latin America (through the Amazonia Rural Development Promotion Center) addressed the crucial challenges of the new millennium in the sectors of building, transportation, and sustainable tourism to preserve both the planet’s natural resources and biodiversity, guaranteeing the survival of future generations.
Numerous organizations in the vein of Agora Energy such as ENERPLAN, AVEM, and AMAV (electric bikes and vehicles) as well as renowned companies like Venturi Automobiles which presented its first solar electric vehicle prototype: the Eclectic, demonstrated the advantages of these new hybrid modes of transport to fight against greenhouse gas emissions and to ease urban traffic. Prominent figures – Nicolas Hulot, Jean-Louis Etienne, Professor Jaubert – emphasized the urgent implementation of concrete solutions in all industrial sectors. Their testimony was supported by prestigious organizations like the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Sophia Antipolis Foundation, the Nordic competitiveness clusters Business Kolding, CapEnergies, and Agro-Resource Industry, a major specialist in biofuels, and was followed closely by many regional and European companies present in the ENR AGORA exhibition space: Tenesol, Philips, Electrabel-Groupe Suez, Daikin, Ecofys, Ecostream, Cetco, Yazaki Ebu France, Crรฉdit Agricole, as well as by the Azur and PACA BTP Federations…
Following the summaries of workshops led by exhibitors on topics as varied as heating, air conditioning, lighting, sealing of individual and collective buildings, and the use of ENR for better energy performance, the CARI group and the Sophia Antipolis Foundation committed with their respective partners to a collaborative remote follow-up of their projects: progress status of the Eco-lucioles building, the first 6000 m2 office complex meeting HQE standards by the CARI group whose construction began in February 2007 in the Sophia Antipolis technology park and will be completed in 2008, during the second edition of ENR AGORA. The Sophia-Antipolis Foundation, on its side, will present the various alliances and technology transfers developed between French and Indian competitiveness clusters in synergy with the Scitech Park in Pune in the energy field. This first professional challenge inaugurates a cycle of pragmatic innovative challenges that all companies specializing in ENR are invited to take on, projects rewarded by the Agora 2008 Trophies. The selection criteria for this competition, established by an expert committee, will be defined on the exhibition’s website during the second half of 2007.
A true success, therefore, for this first edition of ENR AGORA, which aims to double for its next event, on the 3rd & 4th of July 2008, the number of visitors and exhibitors by strengthening its international dimension!
