Under the sunlights of the tropics. Last week, the city of Lille presented a package of economic measures aimed at dealing with the energy crisis. Among these measures, Audrey Linkenheld, the elected official in charge of ecological transition and sustainable development, mentioned a “study” to stop heating the equatorial greenhouse of the Jardin des Plantes, considered “very energy-intensive”. The end of an adventure of fifty years which does not only make people happy. The question then arises of the relevance of maintaining such equipment at a time of climate emergency.
Built in 1970 by architect Jean-Pierre Secq, the municipal equatorial greenhouse contains a whole host of plants that have no place in our latitudes. And this is what constitutes its main interest, in addition to the building itself. Except that the use of this same remarkable building should quickly change, sacrificed on the altar of energy savings. According to the city, heating this structure to a tropical temperature represents 1.2 million kWh each year, representing a budget of 225,000 euros. “A real energy gulf” for the deputy mayor Audrey Linkenheld who plans to cut the heating “as soon as we have found a solution for relocating the plants”. Then, the building should be rehabilitated to make it… We don’t know what.
“The relevance of such equipment is questioned”
Faced with this announcement, the municipal opposition cringes for various reasons. The only one that makes everyone agree concerns the state of the greenhouse. “We are paying today for not having maintained the building for many years”, gets carried away Stéphane Baly, elected ecologist. “The city left it to rot and now tells us that it’s too expensive,” adds Vanessa Duhamel, Modem city councilor. Moreover, the latter does not believe in the rehabilitation of the place, just like Stéphane Baly who has seen “no project” in this direction.
If the town hall seems to have recorded that the equatorial greenhouse will no longer be an equatorial greenhouse, its future is divided. The Association of Friends of the Jardin des Plantes is campaigning to keep this function in the building. The elected Modem, she recognizes that in these times of climate emergency, “we must consider things differently” and “think about ways to get free electricity” to keep the greenhouse. The ecologist is more embarrassed: “It is true that the relevance of such equipment is questioned. But what do we do afterwards? There is no project for this building. »
Should we resolve to no longer eat avocados from Chile or to no longer have an equatorial greenhouse in the north of France to fight against global warming? For Stéphane Baly, it is first necessary to “reason in terms of public service” for such subjects. Not for avocados, but for the greenhouse. “It is imperative to preserve the plant heritage,” insists the elected Modem. “If we remove everything that costs a little, what will our cities be like tomorrow,” she wonders.