Blois, an Ecological Town

Energy saving, “zero pesticide”, friendly transport, organic urban farming… Blois has taken one initiative after another and become a positive energy territory dedicated to promotion green growth.

Agenda 21: “Think Locally, Act Globally”

Sustainable development in Blois is guided by an “Agenda 21”. The different agendas are concrete 21st-cenutry action plans favoring sustained development. They are addressed to all international, national and local organizations.

Agenda 21 for the town of Blois was adopted following thoroughgoing consultation. It enumerates ten objectives, each of them being associated with concrete actions and yearly appraisal indicators. You may consult a summary of the ten objectives:

  1. To reduce our buildings’ energy consumption (to preserve resources, to limit carbon dioxide emissions and to economize);
  2. To encourage the return of families to the town, thereby avoiding urban sprawl, which intrudes on natural spaces and necessitates additional infrastructures;
  3. To pursue “zero pesticide” throughout the town (objective achieved since 2012, except for the cemeteries, where efforts are being pursued;
  4. To turn off public lighting (instituted in 2015 to respect nocturnal animals, to enjoy starlight and to economize);
  5. To place culture and sport in the heart of everyone’s everyday life (healthy for the body and the mind…);
  6. To encourage shared gardens and participatory citizenship (to draw upon people’s knowledge as users);
  7. To favor access to employment (by favoring vocational integration via local communities);
  8. To get around with or without a car (for smoother and friendlier travel);
  9. To improve the cleanliness of the streets, squares and markets (to take better advantage of public space and to economize);
  10. To closely involve youngsters through their schools (particularly as regards school snacks and lunch programs).

Limiting digital pollution

Did you know? Notwithstanding its virtual nature, a website can be polluting. Excessively heavy images, superfluous functionalities and non-optimized software generate considerable electrical activity, from your device to the technical installations enabling the site to function.

Blois.fr is hosted on premises powered by 100% renewable energy. Equipment has been designed in view of limiting energy consumption; with this in mind, the site incorporates several different mechanisms: delayed image loading, video quality varying according to streaming rates, weight limits for downloaded files… While room for improvement remains, the approach has been launched, with the objective of respecting a checklist of best eco-conception practices.