On Thursday, October 9, GDF SUEZ and Electrabel signed a cooperation agreement with KU LEUVEN (University of Leuven) to support the unique SpaceBillboard project that aims to fund the design and space launch of a new type of satellite called a CubeSat.

Four aerospace researchers had the simple but so-far unique idea of funding their researches using a miniaturized satellite that will be the first advertising billboard in space on which companies can pay to display their logo or a message. «It should allow us to raise around €100,000, which would be enough to fund the construction of a base station to monitor this CubeSat here at KUL,» explains university professor Dirk Vandepitte.

GDF SUEZ and Electrabel are the original and lead sponsors of this world first, whose main mission will be to measure the heat emitted and absorbed by the Earth in order to analyze and gain a better understanding of climate change as the basis for combatting greenhouse gas emissions more effectively.

Having been committed proactively to these issues for many years, GDF SUEZ has set itself the target of cutting its own CO2 emissions by 10% between now and 2020. Electrabel's «IWorking Together for Less CO2» plan has already reduced CO2 emissions from its power generating facilities by 6.1 million metric tons.

«It's part of our commitment to aerospace and to achieving our targets in terms of limiting CO2 emissions,» explains Kristof Schelderman, Communication Manager for GDF SUEZ in Belgium. Working via its energy services subsidiaries - Cofely Endel, for example - the Group has a presence at the Kourou satellite launch base in French Guiana, where it provides transportation, handling, personnel transit, energy, air conditioning and infrastructure maintenance services.

The company has also developed a Research and Innovation program in conjunction with the top Belgian universities, one aspect of which focuses on research and innovation in non-polluting technologies.

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