It’s official: Origins Earth, an innovative subsidiary of SUEZ specializing in greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring, has settled into the AEROLAB premises at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA). This strategic alliance promises to be a true asset in the fight against climate change. This collaboration reflects URCA's attractiveness to private companies.

A Natural Collaboration for a Low-Carbon Transition

Origins Earth stands out for its expertise in GHG monitoring, providing valuable tools to local and national stakeholders in their transition to a low-carbon economy. The mission of this SUEZ subsidiary is crucial: to provide reliable and accurate data on GHG emissions, enabling the creation of carbon inventories essential for informed decision-making.

On its side, AEROLAB excels in designing efficient and cost-effective GHG sensors. By combining their strengths, Origins Earth and AEROLAB will measure human-caused greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change, thanks to the development of decision-support tools based on high-quality data, essential for environmental policies.

A Measurement Challenge

Let’s take the concrete example of a major city like Reims. To calculate its carbon impact, two methods are possible.

The most common method is inventory. This approach involves collecting data on emission sources, such as industries, transportation, and buildings, and converting them into CO2 equivalents. Although this method is comprehensive, it presents challenges: it is time-consuming, costly, and often subject to approximations due to the complexity of data sources.

The second method, adopted by Origins Earth, relies on direct measurement of GHG emissions using sensors. This technique allows for real-time measurement of emissions and precise identification of pollution sources. However, to obtain a complete and detailed picture of emissions, a dense network of sensors is needed, which can quickly become expensive with current sensors, often exceeding 100,000 euros.

Efficient and Cost-Effective Sensors Thanks to AEROLAB

This is where AEROLAB comes into play, providing an innovative and affordable solution. The goal of this partnership is to develop GHG sensors that are both efficient, mobile, and low-cost. To achieve this, AEROLAB leverages all of URCA's resources, including the theoretical and technical knowledge from research units like GMSA (Molecular and Atmospheric Spectrometry Group – UMR CNRS 7331), as well as the computing power of the ROMEO supercomputer to model the measurements.

A Winning Alliance for URCA and Companies

This strategic partnership combines technological expertise and academic research, allowing for the development of innovative and accessible solutions essential for the low-carbon transition. With such projects, URCA reaffirms its role as a leader in environmental research and its commitment to sustainable initiatives, while increasingly attracting private companies in search of innovation and performance.

To learn more:

Article in The Conversation

Scientific Contact (Lilian JOLY)