Eco-conception: de nouveaux critères de conception en électrotechnique pour le développement durable

Power electric systems (production, transportation, consumption) are contributing massively to environmental perturbation of humanity. They need energetically costly raw materials, and despite their high efficiency, they have energy losses. First, the authors make a quick point about the environmental impact of electrical activities, then they highlight some of the effects of the limits of raw material resources. Next they clarify the concepts of life cycle assessment and eco-design, which can help to minimize the environmental impacts of the concerned devices. Eco-design is to optimize the design of components or systems, or service, in order to minimize their environmental impacts, so optimizations are multicriteria. In the context of electrical systems, the criterion of energy requirement overall life cycle is held. The authors present two examples which are the subject of research : electromagnetic transformers and autonomous photovoltaic systems (with energy storage). These two examples highlight the broader issue of eco-design.