“I check the weather four or five times a day. I have observed that it is often warmer at home than outside”… After having saved for more than twenty years to buy a one-bedroom apartment in a residence in the 19th arrondissement in Paris, Bertille* did not expect not to suffer such excesses of temperature at home. As she speaks to us, it is 23°C outside and a gentle breeze is cooling the air. But at home, her thermostat is already showing 27°C at the end of the morning. His dream ? Install blinds or shutters, or even “motivate the syndic” to obtain a global energy renovation of your home, classified E. The last category before switching to thermal sieves, classified F and G.
But in her condominium of just over 300 inhabitants, obtaining permission to do work quickly turns into a headache: “I don’t have the energy at the moment,” explains this single mother. Last summer, she tested the ventilator, with blocks of ice: “but it didn’t change much”. This weekend, she wanted to take some free time to try and hang some emergency blankets over her windows, hoping this might help her situation a bit.
“My son was barely six months old, I was afraid for his health”
Worried about climate change, she “can’t bear” to see the air conditioning on: “it pollutes and it’s a huge waste of energy, except in hospitals and nursing homes”. Yet last summer, for the first time in her life, she considered installing one. Not for her. For her son: “During the hot weather, he was barely six months old, I was afraid for his health,” she says, with a voice in which the anxiety of living through another complicated summer shines through.
Bertille is far from the only one to fear the return of the heat wave in unsuitable accommodation. According to the Energy Ombudsman’s barometer59% of French people say they suffered from it at home in the summer of 2022, eight points more than in 2021. And during this same summer, the heat waves caused excess mortality estimated at 11,000 deaths, according to INSEE.
To what extent do you suffer more from the heat when your home is poorly insulated, or even a thermal sieve? “Difficult to quantify, concedes Manuel Domergue, director of studies of the Abbé-Pierre Foundation, who publishes one this Monday on summer fuel poverty. All the opinion polls show that feelings are increasing. What is complicated is that the data we have does not allow us to assess the seriousness of the situation, between people who are “a little” hot and cases that can endanger health. The feeling of cold, in winter, is better documented…”
54% of 18-24 year olds suffer in their home
However, some figures stand out. Still according to the barometer of the Energy Ombudsman, tenants are slightly more likely to suffer from excess heat (63% against 59% overall). And, according to an OpinionWay survey in 2021, 37% of respondents said they suffered from heat in their home systematically (5%) or often (32%). 54% of 18-24 year olds would be affected, a proportion which drops to 23% for those over 65, who are on the other hand the most vulnerable to heat waves.
Aged 22, Nathan pays 560 euros per month to live in a studio in the 18th arrondissement in Paris, under the roof, infested with cockroaches and bed bugs. After spending the winter sleeping bundled up under his duvet, in jeans and a hat, he skips meals as the heat takes away his appetite. “I can’t sleep when it’s not even very hot yet. What worries me is how it will be during the big heat waves…” Its owner did not communicate the energy performance diagnosis to it. And with his fight to eradicate pests, he did not see himself, in addition, asking him to carry out work. So, to write his master’s thesis, he often takes refuge with friends, in search of fresh air. And next year, if he finds a work-study program, he will try to move. But the state of the studio worries him for the future inhabitants: “with climate change, it will get hotter and hotter, and the problem will not go away…”
“I know I’m not the most to be pitied, but…”
Louise is a little embarrassed to testify. She keeps repeating: “I know I’m not the most to be pitied, but…” Aged 25, this research assistant lives with a roommate in Montpellier, in a “very mineralized” district. Last summer, the thermometer reached 35 ° C several days in a row, at home, without coming down. “It was unbearable, we couldn’t sleep. Fortunately, neighbors welcomed us from time to time. “His accommodation is “only” classified in category E, but mentions “unsatisfactory” summer comfort, with recommendations for work… That his owner “refuses to carry out”.
In the meantime, Louise is tinkering. She bought second-hand curtains on Leboncoin, she finds out about arrangements that wouldn’t cost too much, she looks for plants… The heat enters through a poorly insulated veranda, and it would take several emergency blankets to cover it entirely, which would cost just over a hundred euros, according to his calculations. Here again, the owner “refuses to invest”.
Despite this, she does not blame him: “I am aware that it may not be easy for him either. And I think that we should provide a systemic response in terms of the development of cities that need to be greened and our public policies, so that we are not alone in struggling with our problems…”
“The government’s summer sobriety plan must better integrate this issue”
A political response at several levels is precisely what the Abbé-Pierre Foundation is calling for. “The government’s summer sobriety plan needs to better integrate this issue. We are asking for the implementation of a major “component plan”, which allows everyone to equip themselves, with costs covered for the most modest households, exhibits Manuel Domergue. Social landlords must also install blinds on their facades and secure the opening of windows. And it will be necessary to make compulsory the drafting of instructions concerning the installation of solar protections and shutters in each regulation of co-ownership and to simplify the rules, in the zones subject to the appreciation of the French Building Architects (ABF), who sometimes oppose the installation of shutters for aesthetic reasons. »
At the city level, the Foundation insists, like Louise, on the need to “vegetate cities”. Another avenue is to repaint the roofs with white paint, because this color reflects the sun’s rays better. Finally, all these devices should not overshadow a longer-term response: “the overall energy renovation of the five million thermal sieves as a priority, but also, no doubt, in the long term, of all housing. Work that can cost 30,000 to 40,000 euros”, with various financing mechanisms, sometimes complex to understand, and a remainder to be paid which sometimes dissuades the owners from taking action.
Air conditioning, a maladaptation to climate change
The risk if we don’t act now? To see the proliferation of air conditioning, while they constitute a maladjustment in the face of climate change, because of the hot air and refrigerants they reject, in addition to being a marker of social inequalities. 37% of the upper categories own one, twice as many as unemployed or inactive households, according to a study by Ademe.