ALE Lyon - Agence Locale de l’Energie du Grand Lyon, or
Lyon LEA : Local Energy Agency of the Greater Lyon

ALE Lyon, the local energy agency of the Greater Lyon, was been created in 2000 to implement actions on energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and green buildings for all local stakeholders. It is mainly working with citizens, local authorities and social housing companies.

The Greater Lyon conurbation is a large urban area, gathering 58 cities, for 1,3 million inhabitants and which is 515 square kilometres large. It is the second largest urban zone in France. It is also the centre city of Rhone Alps region, which is one of the most dynamic in France regarding renewable energy sources (universities, research centres, factories, and a big network of associations). The energy agency of Lyon has very good relationships with plenty of local, regional and national energy actors and local authorities.

ALE Lyon has a team of 16 staff (July 2011) and its budget is mainly coming from public funding.
Sources of funding : European Funding : 10% National Funding : 20% Regional Funding : 25% Local Funding : 35% Private Funding : 10%

ALE Lyon is member of several national or regional networks.
Learn more :

1. • FLAME, the French federation of Local Energy Agencies,
   • CLER, the Liaison committee for renewable energies, a non-profit organization, gathering over 150 professionals located throughout the national territory, among whom Industrials, Manufacturers, Fitters, Distributors ; Consulting firms, Architects ; Professional Syndicates and Federations ; Research and Training Centres, Universities ; Local communities ; Non-profit organization ; and Energy Agencies.
   • IERA, Rhone Alps Energy Information, a regional network of 12 non profit organizations advising citizens on energy issues, with more than 180 employees.

Our statutory goals are to work, under the control of its members, on actions whose targets are :

• to enforce energy efficiency
• to develop their rational use, like lightning, heating and cooling…
• to promote renewable energies

The organisation will thus contribute to a better environment, and to save natural resources.
ALE Lyon also focuses on social and economic aspects of energy, therefore considering energy and climate topics as a key point for sustainable development.

ALE’s team is mainly working on three topics :

1. Awareness raising (education activities in school, conferences, exhibitions, on site visits...), professional trainings ; and energy information centre for local stakeholders, mainly focused on energy efficiency in private existing buildings or new projects.
   
    
2. Concrete projects management on energy and buildings technical aspects : high environmental quality of buildings, RES in buildings (solar, PV and wood energy), energy efficiency standards...
    
3. Energy and climate local policies : from their definition to their implementation : we are supporting the Greater Lyon conurbation to implement its climate action plan, and a large number of its cities. We are also involved in some projects dealing with district refurbishment (eco zones or eco districts) and issues like urban planning and energy management.

• Awareness raising activities, education, communication

We made around 100 events per year last 2 years. We organize on site visits for RES facilities and energy efficient buildings, we are giving advices to customers on various fairs, we organize specific conferences on energy, and we take part in many conferences and debates linked to climate and energy topics. We also loan exhibits about home efficiency for adults and pupils. We work on education on energy in primary schools (pupils aged 10-12 years). And we produce communication leaflets, a journal, and other deliverables.

• Energy information centre

We are an energy information centre with an agreement of our national energy agency, ADEME. We give advices to circa 4000 people a year. And we have a more technical advice task, focused on non individual’s bodies, which is producing short studies for social and private builders, local authorities and others.

• Training activities

We have been running a course for architects based on environmental quality of buildings, with a training duration of 600 hours in the Architecture School of Lyon. We also have short terms trainings for various publics. We currently take part in 2 European programs (IEE) named BEAM21 and PROMOTION 3E, which topics are to train municipalities and electric appliances stores dealers on energy and climate issues.

ALE Lyon facilitates the integration of energy and environment aspects in the buildings process. We work for this on the earlier stages of the building phases, in order to help decision makers to write their call for tenders. This include local authorities, private and social builders, and multi owners properties. ALE Lyon works complementarily with energy consultants and in close link with the Greater Lyon housing and urban planning direction.

We have developed a specific tool for climate and energy protection plans, based on the Climate Compass from Climate Alliance. It is being implemented by 21 cities of our conurbation, with our technical and methodological support.
ALE Lyon is cooperating with some cities on matters related to the Covenant of Mayors :
Greater Lyon, City of Lyon (465.000 inhabit.) and City of Villeurbanne (135.000 inhabit). This includes :

1. Provision of methodologies (for emissions inventory)
2. Support in developing Sustainable Energy Action Plans
3. Support in implementing the Sustainable energy Action Plan

We are also involved in some projects dealing with district refurbishment (eco zones or eco districts) and issues like urban planning and energy management. This includes solar urban planning, or old districts buildings refurbishment schemes.

ALE Lyon’s has been involved in European projects since its beginning. The local energy agency creation was funded by An EU Intelligent Energy for Europe -SAVE program and this decision of creation was influenced by a THERMIE program on energy efficiency in buildings, called REStart.

Since then, we have been involved in :

Some subcontracting on various programs :

- With Rhônalpénergie Environnement (RAEE)

• BUDI : Energy performance certificates, IEE SAVE 2007,
• PROMENLAB : energy label on buildings, IEE SAVE 2004
• BIOPROM : biomass energy promotion in urban areas, IEE ALTENER 2007.

- With FLAME, our national local energy agencies :

• Eco’n’Home : work with citizens on CO₂ reduction at home and in transport, IEE SAVE 2009 ;

- With Energie Cités

• REVE Jura Leman : work on adaptation for France of a German and Swiss climate and energy certification tool, European Energy Award ; Interreg IIIC, 2009.

- And as direct partners :

• AMICA : work on implementation on a local climate action plan, with mitigation and adaptation aspects (Interreg IIIC, 2005)
  More http://www.amica-climate.net/
• Solpool : work on solar use on outdoor swimming pools (IEE Altener 2007) ; http://www.solpool.info/

- For programs are ongoing :

• POLIS : urban solar development, IEE Altener 2009 - More : www.polis-solar.eu/
• BEAM 21 : blended capacity learning on sustainable energy measures for European municipalities, IEE SAVE 2009 -http ://www.beam21.de/web/52.html
• Promotion 3E : Promotion of energy efficient equipments : training on appliances sales personnel focused on energy efficiency issues. (IEE SAVE 2008) - http://www.promotion3e.ips.pt/promotion3e/
• Renaissance : aims to achieve large scale integration of renewable energy sources (RES) into decentralised local energy supplies. (FP6 Concerto 2005) - http://www.renaissance-project.eu/