From January 9 to 18, 2020, the Youth Olympic Games were held in Lausanne, and among the various gold medals, a very special one went to the Canton of Vaud! In this case, sports performance had nothing to do with it; it was an ecological medal! In fact, not everyone knows that the flame of the Olympic torch, on this occasion, and for the first time, was fueled by pellets!
The Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games had set a goal to serve as a model on a social and ecological level, which is precisely why the organizing committee was immediately enthusiastic about the idea of Philippe Nicollier, president of Lignum Vaud, in proposing an Olympic torch, fueled with environmentally friendly and local fuel.
Providing a fully autonomous flame that would burn continuously was no child's play at all! The challenge resulted in the design and construction of a revolutionary burner, developed by a team of local researchers and industry partners. The burner was then housed in an enclosure, designed by François Lafortune, a student at theÉcole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne (ECAL), and made by apprentices from C-For! andÉcole de la Construction.
The pellets that fueled the Olympic flame were supplied by the largest producer in French-speaking Switzerland, which guarantees its wood origin from sustainable Swiss forestry with the "Swiss Wood" label. The short transport distances to the venue of the Youth Olympic Games also ensured its very small carbon footprint.
This case demonstrates the great versatility of pellet use and underscores its importance in the energy turnaround!
