SMART TERRITORY

The internet of objects and artificial intelligence can streamline day-to-day management by local authorities, by delivering efficiencies in operations, energy consumption, costs and finally, assist their ecological transition. The Serre-Ponçon federation of municipalities in the HautesAlpes, has embarked on a smart territory project with help from digital services company Atos, to optimise energy, water, waste and mobility management. It is all based on data collection and sharing between relevant stakeholders.

Four workshops resulted in the first 25 practical examples being established, according to expressed needs and available data. Solutions were then sought – in terms of mobility, for example. Driving conditions and access to the resorts remain sensitive subjects during high season for this tourism region. Providing better information for users about the state of the network and encouraging them to take the right decisions are therefore of great importance. “Solutions which use surveillance cameras to provide information about occupancy rates in car parks or road traffic exist. We can also use Bluetooth connections to know about numbers of users in different areas and extract other information such as parking times and types of vehicle present. We can then implement predictive applications about driving and parking”, explains Léa Duran, Data Scientist at Atos.

What remains is to gather as much data as possible and to seek financing.

HE SAID

“The European Smart Altitude programme has helped to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in 20 European resorts. To go faster and further, resorts must be considered more broadly, as areas linked to the Region, in domains including energy, water and mobility, to achieve short-term carbon neutrality objectives”.

Pierre Vollaire, Orres Mayor and organiser of the Ocova forum

MOUNTAIN INNOVATIONS: CURRENT AND UPCOMING INNOVATIONS

Renovation of buildings in the mountains, a very important part of transition actions!

50%

The percentage of properties considered to be energy sieves (classed F or G) in French ski resorts, with a French national average of close to 17%. Heero, a fintech specialised in energy renovation, studied the energy performance of 70 resorts. The most energy intensive properties are found in the Alps and the Pyrenees. On the contrary, the most virtuous resorts are found in the Vosges, the Jura and the Massif Central. The reason being altitude, climatic factors, the age of the construction (many were built before the oil crisis), materials used, etc.

While the energy classification only currently impacts the long-term rental stock, furnished tourism rentals could also be targeted. “French Housing Minister, Olivier Klein, pointed out that furnished holiday rentals will also be affected, with a very negative impact for ski resorts, which may see their rental stock decrease on average by half by 2028 – in just 5 years! For some of them, it will be physically impossible to renovate all of the properties concerned within this short timeframe”, laments Romain Villain, General Manager of Heero.

The challenges are environmental of course, but also economical: poorly classified properties risk seeing their value decrease on the resale market. But renovation work comes at a hefty price and can prove difficult due to altitude or the size of the property, and does not only depend on a single owner, but rather the entire co-ownership, who must decide what work to carry out. Some municipalities have already begun to address the issue and grants now exist.

The 5 Resorts With The Most Energy Intensive Accommodation

1. Isola 2000 (Mercantour Massif): 90% thermal sieves in the housing stock

2. Piau Engaly (Hautes Pyrénées, Aure Valley): 86%

3. La Pierre Saint-Martin (Pyrénées Atlantiques, Pierre Saint-Martin Massif): 79%

4. Puy-Saint-Vincent (Ecrins Massif): 76%

5. Barèges (Hautes Pyrénées, Val de la Batsus): 74%

The 5 Resorts With The Least Energy Intensive Accommodation

1. Espace Alpin Bellefontaine (Jura Massif): 15% thermal sieves in the housing stock

2. Le Markestein (Vosges Massif): 18%

3. Le Champ du Feu (Vosges Massif): 20%

4. La Combe Saint-Pierre (Jura Massif): 21%

5. La Mongie (Hautes Pyrenees): 26%