The Atlantic Challenge team, consisting of students from ten universities of the French Pays de la Loire region were awarded first prize in the “Energy Efficiency” category in July thanks to their project Solar Phileas. The “Energy Efficiency” category is part of the international sustainable building competition: Solar Decathlon Europe 2014, an interuniversity international competition which has gained importance after its first edition in Washington in 2002. In order to develop and design this project, the more than 100 members of the team used CYPECAD MEP to carry out the thermal and acoustic analysis of the building, this being the reason why Atlantic Challenge received the first prize in the “Energy Efficiency” category.
The Atlantic Challenge team carried out, for their Solar Phileas project, the recreation and rehabilitation of Cap 44, an industrial 19th century building, now no longer in use in the island of Nantes (the hinge between the North and South of the city). This zone is surrounded by a vast urban renovation program with the aim to modernise the area using economic solutions and in an efficient manner, accessible to all. As well as winning the first prize in the “Energy Efficiency” category, the project also won second prize in the general classification of this international competition.
The Solar Decathlon Europe competition consists in building a house in ten days, which works on solar energy. The projects that are presented are built within a marked zone and all buildings are open to the general public during 15 days. In this year’s edition, 19 teams composed of university students from 16 countries from 4 continents have participated.
CYPE software, energy efficiency leader
The software for architecture, engineering and construction, CYPE has, in recent years, become an international reference tool to improve the energy efficiency of professional construction projects. Specifically, the construction software company has developed programs such as thed Price Generator (which provides, amongst other calculations, CO2 emissions analyses and waste management) and has upgraded CYPECAD MEP with which project designers can improve the thermal behaviour of buildings, as well as the air conditioning, lighting and electricity supply efficiency. All these programs are of an international character and are already used by professionals in 64 countries worldwide.
