In urban development, there are fundamental questions at stake which will structure the future of our children. If we take a project into consideration upstream in the early stages, we have better control over margins of manoeuvre influencing environmental impacts. And such impacts are considerable. Queries which planners could ask may be:

 How can we guarantee a project orientation from the very beginning up until the operational phase?
 How can we optimise the pooling of fluids and services?
 How can we limit mobility induced by the project?

Énergies Demain developed a whole series of analysis tools which enables us to accompany the Main Contractors on all these points and – more generally – on orientations of a project in terms of sustainable development. The procedure adopted is a pragmatic question. And Énergies Demain has a pragmatic approach to deal with this kind of problematic:

 Modelling the project
 Calculating impacts on all fluids and on mobility
 Possibilities to act on:
 Programming,
 Constructive principles and implantation,
 Modal offer, infrastructures and networks,
 Repairing artificialised surfaces,
 Waste management.

Impacts can then be quantified according to a series of parameters, independently of the extent to which the project has advanced. The analysis can be prolonged on the life cycle of the neighbourhood in order to obtain the broadest possible vision. The impacts – which can be measured and on which it will be possible to orient choices – are:

 For the environment: life cycle of the materials used and the pollution generated throughout the life of the project, reversibility of the choices, volume of leaks, water consumption.

 For the occupants: noise pollution, operational costs, overall costs of lifespan, winter and summer comfort, exposure to price fluctuations in the energy field.

Énergies Demain has benefited from training on Town Planning Environmental Analysis and has “refined” this concept. Over and above mere quantifications, Énergies Demain accompanies those involved in order to guarantee that instructions are taken into consideration, including in the operational phase.