Medtronic ranked No. 2 on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2023.
The Medtronic Switzerland campus uses water from Lake Geneva to help heat and cool the buildings, reducing C02 emissions by 80%.
The hydrothermal energy project, called ENERLAC, pulls water from Lake Geneva through underground pipes to a nearby site where heat pumps convert energy from the water temperature to warm or cool the air in campus buildings. The water is then returned to the lake with no impact on the local ecosystem while simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions.
“We studied this project with one ambition, that the cost of this investment must not exceed the cost of using fossil fuels over the next few years,” said François Monory, who introduced the concept. “I underestimated the complexity of dealing with various state entities. Fortunately, I was surrounded by some talented people who helped make this very cool idea a reality.”
In the summer of 2020, crews began the three-year process of bringing ENERLAC to life.
ENERLAC eliminated dependence on fossil fuels, thus reducing and stabilizing energy costs and decreasing C02 emissions by more than 80%.
“Today with hindsight we can say this project was the right thing to do, but 10 years ago there weren’t many people who thought like that,” said Dr. Stéphane Genoud, Head of Energy Management at HES-SO Valais-Wallis University in Switzerland. “To have a company that decides over ten years to carry out a project like this means they really have a long-term vision, and that’s quite original.”
