Smart Impulse: innovative building energy consumption analysis solutions

What are the origins of Smart Impulse?

Dorian Tourin-Lebret: We created Smart Impulse while my partners (Charles Gourio and Henri Colas) and I were students at Ecole Centrale Paris. In my freshman year, in 2008, I worked on technological innovation solutions for the energy market. I was mostly interested in production, storage and consumption reduction issues. In 2011, Charles Gourio and Henri Nicolas came on-board this project. The three of us majored in entrepreneurship, in parallel with our technical specializations.

At which development phase of Smart Impulse was the Smart Analyzer® born?

Dorian Tourin-Lebret: it was the Smart Analyzer®that originated Smart Impulse. We started selling it as soon as 2012. At the time, we were in Centrale’s incubator. The Smart Analyzer® is a new-generation power meter. It gives power consumption measures for each use within a building. The idea is that better understanding leads to better and lower energy consumption. Before the Smart Analyzer®, to know the energy consumption of a building, one had to fit hundreds of sensors and wait for several months before being able to analyze the data. It was both tedious and expensive. The Smart Analyzer®is a single, reliable and fast meter. It enables our customers to save between 15 and 30% on their energy bills.

What are the practical applications of the Smart Analyzer®?

Dorian Tourin-Lebret: we can discuss the case of one of our customers, managing an office building in La Défense, who wanted to optimize his energy consumption. The Smart Analyzer® revealed that, in spite of the precautions taken, heating and ventilation worked also at night and on week-ends. The Smart Analyzer® was the only device capable of detecting this autopilot problem. Smart Impulse recommended new configuration solutions, which enabled the customer to save a considerable amount of energy without any investment.

What are the innovative projects currently underway?

Smart Impulse recently joined the GDF SUEZ / Paris&Co incubator. Thanks to a first year of partnership with GDF SUEZ, we have developed a new product, the Smart Tag, a wireless sensor that measures consumption in the different areas of a building. Smart Impulse has been working jointly with COFELY for a year and a half. Together, we have equipped about fifty buildings owned or managed by COFELY customers. The auspices of GDF SUEZ reinforce our credibility. They also give us more visibility. The 150,000 employees of GDF SUEZ but also their customers are now in a position to benefit from the Smart Impulse solutions. We are now part of the worldwide energy ecosystem. Thanks to the coaching and monitoring of the Group, we foresee a significant acceleration of our development in 2015.