Tackling Energy Poverty in the Bois d’Olives Sustainable District project

Every year, the French Federation of Local Public Enterprises (EPL) rewards innovative contributions to the challenges of sustainable development. This year again, Spl Horizon Reunion has been selected in the “Sustainable Building” category.

Spl Horizon Réunion supports the municipality of Saint Pierre and the “Intercommunal Community of Cohesive Cities” (Communauté intercommunale des Villes Solidaires – CIVIS) in the framework of the Future Investment Programme “Sustainable Cities and Territories” for the Bois d’Olives district. The priority district of Bois d’Olives is mainly composed of individual houses in a rural area with a rich agricultural past.

In this context, the Saint-Pierre municipality has defined an action programme with five levers, including one on an energy management which is carried out through the energy and thermal renovation of 50 housing units:

• Energy and thermal renovation of dwellings (insulation, air vents);
• Replacement of the main energy-intensive equipment (household appliances, lighting etc.);
• Erasing of the basic day consumption thanks to photovoltaic production kits in pure self-consumption;
• Supplying/Replacing domestic hot water systems with solar ones.

Some results are already visible. Energy assessments have been carried out with 90 households, together with the replacement of lighting and the installation of their solar water heaters. The energy savings already generated represent on average 1800 kWh per year and per household (i.e. around 250€ per year and per household).

Supporting the energy transition of these modest homeowners in order to save some of their revenues is a priority and could constitute a reference in terms of technical intervention, but also on solidarity initiatives, health, pooling of equipment and resources, etc.

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