Press Kit

Schneider Electric, partners with Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 in Versailles to build city of the future Launched in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and supported by Schneider Electric since 2007, the Solar Decathlon is an international competition that aims to challenge students from universities across the globe as part of a 2-year project to design, build, and operate energy efficient solar-powered houses. From June 27th to July 14th in a solar village open to the public, the final will welcome 600 competitors, 200 faculty advisors, 41 universities, and 20 teams from 16 countries. Twenty houses will be assessed in 10 consecutive contests during a 10-day period. The settlement of the 2014 edition focuses on 6 main challenges - density, mobility, efficiency, innovation, affordability, and contextualization.

As a “Diamond” partner in this 2014 European event, which is expecting some 200,000 visitors, Schneider Electric is supporting the competition organizers by installing the smart grid that will connect the entire solar village. All data will be available in real time on a new dedicated application “Smart City Live” available for smart phones and tablets for the duration of the competition. Schneider Electric will also be presenting their most innovative home energy management solutions in the booth: Schneider Electric@Home.

Press Kit “To consume less and consume more efficiently, and to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce their environmental impact are the key challenges currently facing Schneider Electric, in parallel with the need to transfer knowledge and expertise through education and training. So it's a natural fit for Schneider Electric to be involved in this human and technological adventure,” say Luc Rémont, President of Schneider Electric France. As one of the leading stakeholders in the Solar Decathlon, Schneider Electric, through its Foundation, will present a world exclusive –a new concept in sustainable social housing blending comfort and energy efficiency. This concept, which is backed by the La Varappe social inclusion Group, is in keeping with the Schneider Electric Foundation’s programme to combat fuel poverty.

Press Kit Welcoming talented newcomers in order to improve energy management In addition to this global event partnership, Schneider Electric is also assisting several of the competing teams, providing technical support and expertise as in previous editions of the competition. Schneider Electric was the leading private-sector partner of Canopea, the winning French team of Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 held in Madrid, Spain.

For this Solar Decathlon Europe 2014, the company has provided support to 13 of the 20 competing housing projects through the donation of an array of innovative solutions - some of which are still being developed - designed to optimize and manage energy consumption, improve comfort, generate power through solar photovoltaic, charge an electric vehicle, etc.

The 13 projects supported by Schneider Electric The RESSO Project in Spain Ressò is a project inspired by observing the consequences of the speculative property bubble at the beginning of the 21st Century. The architectural project offers accommodation grouped around a shared area, and aims to take root in the San Cugat del Vallès districts in North-West Barcelona, which are currently being renovated. The EFDEN Project in Romania The Bucharest EFDEN team came up with the idea of building an envelope that behaves like a cell: it can then be divided and multiplied in order to provide a consistent area with easy access to urban services, in order to re-establish nature’s role in the city, while responding to lifestyle changes.

Press Kit The RenailHouse Project in Japan The Japanese team at Chiba University is working on a project that is directly related to the local natural environment, i.e. the sea, the mountains, and a very high population density. The aim of the project is to reach a solution that enables the inhabitants to live in a safe and sustainable way in an environment that may be vulnerable. The Embrace Project in Denmark The Embrace Project is intended to be incorporated into the City of Copenhagen in order to protect the attractiveness, viability and sustainability of the Danish capital. The concept is based on combining a semi-public covered area with a private heated area, which forms a minimalist core at the centre of the thermal envelope. A bad weather protection system improves the local climate around the thermal envelope, and limits heat loss while enabling a large number of alternative interior designs. Chile and France, the Casa FENIX – For Emergency Natural Impact eXtreme Project The Chilean Team FENIX’s project is a response to the threat of earthquakes. The prototype is a scalable solution built in the form of an emergency shelter, which then turns into permanent housing. The project extends the issue of family housing to that of community housing, and puts forward solutions at the village level. USA and Germany, the TechStyle Haus The TechStyle Haus is based on a building built from high-tech textile materials that are able to regulate all the home’s features on a passive basis. The textiles enable scalable design, and customisable areas. The international US-German team is applying this innovation to student housing in the exceptional setting of the Bois-Buchet Domain in Lessac, in South-Western France. The Adaptive House Project in Thailand The KMUTT Team is putting forward a prototype that can withstand the small earthquakes, storms and flooding that affect low-lying areas of Bangkok. The project includes an environmentally-friendly amphibious transport solution that is capable of using land routes and water channels. The planned urban complex is divided into groups of several houses that share a common area – including a power generation facility, a water retention basin, and various public services. The CASA Project in Mexico The Independent National University of Mexico team is focusing on an urban area in the Mexico Valley, which is the 3rd most densely populated area in the world. The team has designed a toolbox that enables temporary buildings to be turned into sustainable housing. To reclassify such housing, which uses very little land, and make it sustainable, the system fills in residual areas in the city – cavity areas and interstitial spaces, as well as the roofs and terraces of existing housing. The SymbCity Project in Spain The Spanish team’s SymbCity Project focuses on the unused areas on the roofs of social housing buildings in the outskirts of Madrid. The outline of the residential prototype put forward offers a large number of functionalities, including a Trombe wall and a greenhouse, in order to achieve optimal thermal regulation. Rome for Dencity, Italy The team’s project is integrated with Rome’s urban fabric, and deals with the challenges of population density, climate change, protecting the environment and saving energy, by working on a sustainable

Press Kit transportation solution for the entire urban area. The prototype presented is in keeping with the creation of an eco-district that consists of collective housing. The Tropika Project in Costa Rica The TEC Team’s Tropika Project is based on five key concepts: easy duplication, access, efficiency, multi-functionality, and sustainability. To deal with the ageing of the population, the TEC Team has chosen to work on a housing solution intended for senior citizens, which combines private areas with certain communal areas, incorporated within a 10-storey tower block. The French projects (see below)

Press Kit Two French teams are being sponsored Schneider Electric France is the main private partner for the two French teams in the competition, the Paris Team and its Liv Lib independent collective housing project, and the Atlantic Challenge Team and its Phileas Project. Schneider Electric France is making all its electricity supply and energy management solutions intended for the housing market available to the teams, including: - Protection and control devices; - Solar power generation (Conext inverter and charger); - Installation management systems (KNX, Wiser, etc.), for managing all installations from lighting to heating; - EVlink charging stations for electric vehicles. The Schneider Electric France experts are also supporting both French teams in the competition from a technical standpoint, which enables the projects to draw the best from the solution that is made available to them.

The Team Paris and its self-sufficient collective housing project Liv-Lib The team Paris unites students from École Nationale Supérieure d'architecture de Paris-Malaquais, École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Electrotechnique et Electronique de Paris, École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du Bâtiment et de l'Industrie de l’Université Paris-Est , Chimie Paristech and École Nationale des Sciences Géographiques.

The team presents defends Liv Lib Project, a residential building composed by two element: the “hub” and the “capsules”, designed to address the population density issues of the Île-de-France area while contributing to the development of a sustainable city. The “hub” is essentially a multifunctional tower containing systems such as energy production, ventilation, equipment, waste and rainwater management, as well as vertical access. Each hub will have several ports able to receive a “capsule” of habitation. . The capsule plug serves as the center of all the energetic and physical exchange. .

Press Kit The Team Atlantic challenge and its Phileas project Phileas is a project realized by more than hundred students from École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nantes, École Supérieure du Bois de Nantes, l’Institut Supérieur de Santé et des Bioproduits de l’Université d’Angers, and from École de Design” de Nantes Atlantique and de Sciences com.

The project would answer the new challenges of the “Fertile City” and is based on three axes: reinvesting the existing, reintroducing agriculture in the city and developing the local networks. The 150 square meters prototype presented in Versailles is built on the retrofitting of the Cap 44 building located in Nantes. The apartment is composed of a living space, a loggia and a greenhouse.

Press Kit Schneider Electric, a leader in the innovation field Smart Grid technology for a new-generation electrical grid Schneider Electric is supplying the entire electrical grid infrastructure that provides the solar village with power throughout the competition period. This grid also enables the information arising from the home monitoring process (consumption, generation, faults, etc.) to be fed back to a central system. It relies on four supply points with a total installed capacity of 4,000 kVA, which turned the grid’s 15,000 volt high-tension current into a low tension current intended to supply the various districts of this replica city. Around 30 low-tension power supply panels enable the houses in the competition to be connected. They are equipped with a meter, table header protection systems, a measurement and energy metering station, and an inverter that provides a secure supply to the monitoring section of the houses. All the other buildings (stands, conference rooms, agora, brasserie, etc.) are also supplied by this Schneider Electric Smart Grid. The Solar Decathlon data centre, which protects all the competition’s data, is also supplied and protected by Schneider Electric solutions. Thanks to this smart grid, the Group is demonstrating its ability to develop equipment aimed at designing, implementing and operating this type of grid, which enables an effective dialogue between all the power generation and consumption sources, regardless of their size.

The Schneider Electric mobility area Schneider Electric is offering visitors the opportunity to discover a genuine electric vehicle charging station at the Versailles Solar Decathlon: the Schneider Electric Transportation Area includes two kinds of stations that rank among Schneider Electric’s latest innovations: - The EVlink Parking 22 kW stations, which provide “accelerated” charging, i.e. “filling up in one hour”; - The EVlink City stations: a new station intended for charging vehicles in public areas. A “cluster” panel, which is the brain of the system, manages the charging process, and protects the stations. It optimises the uses of each charge, monitors any potential operating faults, measures the energy consumed and communications with external monitoring and management software (fleet management, billing systems, etc.). A portion of this information is accessible to the general public via an application that can be downloaded to smartphones and tablets free of charge.

Vehicles from various automotive manufacturers will also be exhibited, and will drive around the City.

Press Kit The Schneider Electric Smart City Live application The temporary Solar City in Versailles will provide Schneider Electric with an opportunity to demonstrate its innovative Vivez la Ville en Direct application. This application is a new urban digital layer intended for the districts of the future, at the crossroads between eco-district and urban diversity issues. This solution, which has been designed to serve the city and its inhabitants, aggregates all the data generated by the district in real time, and returns them in the form of services. The Vivez la Ville en Direct application enables the district’s managers, business operators and residents to review all the data relating to energy, transportation – public or alternative transport – and local life in real time. It combines all the available services on a single interface, from the weather forecast to parking spaces with charging stations for electric vehicles. Initially designed as a digital service for smartphones and tablets, its rapid handling and user-friendly design make it appropriate for both professionals and residents in the districts of the future. The energy and grid components of the Schneider Electric Vivez la Ville en Direct application were developed in partnership with ERDF. The application aims to make local grid consumption and power generation issues, which are one of the main themes of the transition to a low-carbon economy, understandable to the greatest possible number of people. Schneider Electric wants to share its experience with individual and professional visitors at the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 event. The company’s aim is to ensure longterm use of the application by rolling it out in pilot districts over the next few months.

The application can be accessed from the Schneider Electric public website, at my.schneider-electric.com, and via QR Code on the event posters; it is also available for downloading to smartphones and tablets from the Google Play and Apple Store platforms free of charge.

Press Kit The Schneider Electric @home stand Most people in France are unaware of the amount – and breakdown – of their energy bill. What home appliances consume most power? When do they consume it? It is hard for them to tell. Nonetheless, lowering their energy bill while achieving the same level of comfort is part of their concerns. Smart installation management is one of the cornerstones of energy-efficiency, and has a relatively short return on investment of around four years. During the Solar Decathlon, Schneider Electric is offering visitors the opportunity to come and find out about these home consumption management and steering solutions that may enable them to make substantial savings at the Schneider Electric @home stand.

Among the solutions and products on display, they can find out about Wiser, a practical solution for managing energy on a day-today basis. Wiser, which consists of a box and modules that communicate via a wireless network, enables the measurement of a home’s energy consumption, the management of its heating on a room-by-room basis, and provides a simple way of controlling appliances that are connected to smart sockets. The solution is perfectly suited to renovations, thanks to its wireless technology, and offers many advantages, including works that are simple to perform and not intrusive for the building, limited installation costs, and energy savings that can amount to up to 30%. Other ranges are also on display: - Odace: designer appliances that help to improve comfort and save energy thanks to light dimmers, motion detectors, temperature thermostats, timers, etc. Among these appliances, Odace You places particular emphasis on interior design, thanks to a wide variety of switches and sockets that can be customised in an infinite number of ways; - DuoLine: a range of protection and control appliances intended for home electrical installations; - Opale: scalable interior cabinets for connections, supply and communications in the residential and small business sectors. The Schneider Electric @home competition The Schneider Electric @home stand is organising a competition where the prizes include a Renault Zoé and a large number of Wiser and Odace packs, as well as iPads for visitors to Solar Decathlon throughout the event. Visitors to the solar village will have the opportunity to answer an energy-related question asked on the Schneider Electric website, via the Schneider Electric Vivez la Ville en Direct application, or at the Schneider Electric @home stand, where answer forms will be available, every day for a chance to win.

Press Kit Volunteer ambassadors Around 100 Schneider Electric employee volunteers will be involved throughout the event in order to welcome visitors, lead guided tours of the solar village, and demonstrate the solutions exhibited by Schneider Electric. These ambassadors, who come from all the company’s business lines and businesses, reflect the collaboration and know-how transmission values embodied by Schneider Electric.

Develop Schneider Electric employee brading Schneider Electric has also considerably expanded its geographical footprint in recent years, becoming one of the French groups with the strongest international presence. Now with operations in more than 100 countries around the world, the company employs people of more than 90 different nationalities. This great cultural diversity is considered an asset. The company’s managers nurture it daily, encouraging bottom-up initiatives driven by the belief that no one is better placed than those closest to the ground to provide innovative responses to the challenges that face the organization each day. In order to attract the new profiles required for its growth, Schneider Electric must venture beyond its usual target audience and address new groups, making contact with students who are not yet used to being approached by an industrial company. In addition to the traditional target groups from engineering schools are new potential candidates from business schools, and so on. Now that it is competing with more numerous and diverse companies and organizations, Schneider Electric must step up its initiatives to attract the best talent.

Through the Solar Decathlon, Schneider Electric put students and graduates in direct contact with the reality of the energy sector. By exploiting new technologies creatively and surprisingly, the company shows students that it is in tune with the times. Accompanying the teams over a 2 years period Schneider Electric should help them to discover a part of its business in a practical and playful way, to ensure a good understanding of industry issues, and promotes the interest of these further talents to energy world.

Press Kit The Schneider Electric Foundation is making a commitment to socially inclusive social housing To deal with the energy divide that is apparent throughout the world, Schneider Electric is committing to access to energy and to combating fuel poverty in both new economies and developed countries. To respond to these problems, and provide a tangible solution to the issue of housing during transitional periods, Schneider Electric and its partners have worked on developing a dedicated offering that is appropriate for people in fuel poverty. The Solar Decathlon provides an opportunity for the Schneider Electric Foundation, which was founded in 1998 under the leadership of Fondation de France, to present its “Emergency Housing for All” project backed by the La Varappe social inclusion organisation, as a world exclusive. The aim of this project is to show that it is possible to offer comfortable, scalable, transportable, low-cost and energy-efficient housing while contributing to the development of the circular economy. The housing unit, which was completed within a record timeframe of three months thanks to the work of 10 people on a work-based inclusion program, was designed and built using an end-of-life shipping container. This innovative housing, which is fully recyclable, was built with bio-sourced materials, and complies with RT 2012 standards. It is also 40% less expensive than traditional housing. At the end of the Solar Decathlon, the housing unit will be taken down, and then set up in Lyon, in order to house underprivileged families that are currently housed by the Habitat Humanisme organisation. This innovative project, which combines the themes of social inclusion, fuel poverty and innovation, is fully in keeping with the development of the circular economy, and provides a practical solution to the housing problem.

Press Kit

To now more : www.solardecathlon2014.fr About Schneider Electric As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric offers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in Utilities & Infrastructure, Industries & Machines Manufacturers, Non-residential Buildings, Data Centres & Networks and in Residential. Focused on making energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green, the Group's 150,000 plus employees achieved sales of 24 billion euros in 2013, through an active commitment to help individuals and organizations make the most of their energy. www.schneider-electric.com

Media Contact Schneider Electric Sophie Souquet Tél. : +33 (0)1 41 29 84 18 [email protected] Jean-Pierre Gherardi Tél. : +33 (0) 4 76 60 50 24 [email protected]

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