Nhood : Energy sobriety

Energy sobriety: Nhood steps up its efforts

Nhood is stepping up the efforts it has been making since 2010 to reduce energy consumption in all its French business assets, in support of the government's energy sobriety plan .

Ready and supportive for the 2022–2023 winter: a public utility issue

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the diplomatic and economic crises, here comes the energy crisis. Nhood supports the government’s plan and is committed to reducing the electricity consumption of the centres it manages by 10%. These actions are part of our desire to have a ‘triple positive impact’:

An economic impact, by lowering our shopkeepers’ energy bills and thus avoiding that they impact the sales prices, while consumers are already suffering a loss of purchasing power due to inflation.
A social impact, by not using more energy than we need, to ensure that we avoid moments of high tension and allow households to heat, feed, and light themselves properly.
An ecological impact, by reducing our carbon footprint to meet the climate challenges and follow the IPCC recommendations.

For all these reasons, we have already implemented a course of actions in the 82 shopping centres we manage by:

Switching off illuminated signs, billboards, and car park lighting as soon as the shop closes
Systematically lowering the lighting intensity before the customers arrive
Lowering the setpoint temperature by 1°C (- 1°C accounts for 7% energy savings)
Optimising the control of energy consumption through building management systems (BMS)
Raising awareness on the best practices when it comes to protecting the environment (switching off office equipment, lights, and air conditioning when leaving a room, etc.)

In the event of a critical situation and an alert from the public authorities, we are already prepared to implement a new set of measures:

Setting all setpoints to 17°C
Switching off illuminated signs, permanent or seasonal decorative lighting
Suspension of all electrical appliances’ charging
Switching off the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Charging Stations), mechanical circulation areas (except translators for trolley traffic and lifts for mobility-impaired persons), and the hot water tanks of the sanitary facilities in common areas
Switching off the warm air curtains

If we are ready to react quickly this winter, it is because this work has already been initiated for a long time. Our employees, partners, and service providers have long been trained in this area: good IT practice, eco-driving training, reminders to turn off the heating and electricity when leaving the office… At Nhood, ecology is a lot of small habits that have become part of our daily routine. And when you add them all up, they add up to a lot.

Energy sobriety: after the winter, we keep going for the Earth

2010 is the launch date of the energy efficiency plan introduced in the shopping centres we manage, namely on behalf of Ceetrus. 2030 is the date by which our energy consumption will have been reduced by 40% and our carbon footprint by 70%. This highlights the fact that the actions we have taken for this winter are not new and will still be there tomorrow.

All the assets we manage follow a path defined by a strategy of positive impact for the planet and its inhabitants. Behind this strategy, there is an investment policy that concerns both the building and the management of all equipment’s consumption. These actions account for 20% of our annual investments, i.e. 7 to 10 million euros per year over the last 5 years. They are based on:

The installation of LED lighting in shopping centres and car parks
The renovation of the insulation and waterproofing of some sites

The replacement of heatingventilation-air conditioning systems
Reducing the light intensity before the shops are opened and when the customers are inside the shops
Reducing energy consumption regarding room temperature depending on the space
The installation of energy meters and an energy manager contract for each site to monitor and control consumption
The installation of revolving doors to limit draughts

Our sobriety plan has already proven to be effective

To ensure the effectiveness of our actions, a periodic assessment process measures the constant reduction in our energy consumption. More than 10 years after its implementation, we have some hindsight to say that this resilient strategy is already successful!

These efforts have reduced our carbon footprint by 50%, from 40kg/m2 in 2013 to 20kg/m2 in 2019. One third of the shopping centres have reduced their electricity consumption by more than 30% and some sites by 60%. 35% of our shopping centres already comply with the ‘tertiary’ decree of the Elan law.

Nhood’s energy performance in France

13% reduction in our carbon footprint from 2019 to 2021 (scopes 1 and 2), i.e. 5386tco²
82% of assets powered by renewable energy
1368 mWh produced at the 5 Immochan plants, including 2 new ones (Aubagne & Annecy), accounting for 2% of our consumption
522 kWh/m2 of energy consumption in all shopping centres, i.e. 3% compared to 2021.