Between August 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023, France reduced its gas consumption by 14.3% compared to the same period in 2018-2019, taken as a reference. Electricity consumption followed the same trend, with a drop of 7.4% still between August 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023, but compared this time to the period 2014-2019.
We could say that the winter was particularly mild, thus greatly favoring these energy savings. But the figures communicated GRTgaz, manager of the French gas networkAnd RTEits equivalent on electricity, are corrected for climate. Weather effects have been removed from the calculations.
A first step towards the end of 2024 objective
These reductions are therefore the result of French efforts to save energy. Just a year ago, the issue was on everyone’s mind. The drastic drop in Russian gas deliveries to Europe, and a significant number of shut down nuclear reactors, affected by corrosion problems, foreshadowed a very complicated winter of 2022-2023.
On October 6, 2022, Elisabeth Borne presented an “energy sobriety” plan calling for general mobilization, from manufacturers to individuals including the State and communities. The objective: to achieve a 10% reduction in our final energy consumption by the end of 2024, all based on fifteen measures relying on the goodwill of all. Do not heat a building (offices or homes) to more than 19°C, reduce the heating of swimming pools and other sports facilities, optimize public lighting, etc.
Sobriety suffered or chosen?
Nice success? “The government was the first to launch a sobriety plan last year, which produced results that no one imagined,” they said, a year later, in the office of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Health. Energy Transition, which is organizing a conference this Thursday morning to mark this first anniversary. The researcherr François Gemennepresident of the scientific council of the Foundation for Nature and Man (FNH), will be at one of the round tables. And appears less rave. “These declines are significant, but it is not easy to determine the causes,” he points out. Our citizenship, or the increase in energy prices? »
“There was inevitably a part of sobriety suffered, particularly in industry, with factories which had to temporarily close in the face of soaring prices », Begins Nicolas Goldberg. The energy manager of the think tank Terra Nova nevertheless recalls that the government made the political choice to establish ultra-protective price shields for everyone. Certainly, the French’s electricity and gas bills have increased since the war in Ukraine, “but significantly less than it could have been and than it has been for some of our European neighbors,” insists Nicolas Goldberg. This is a sign that the sobriety plan has had positive effects: despite these price shields, gas and electricity consumption has fallen significantly. “.
A concept finally in the public debate?
The success of the “sobriety” plan is also not only measured by reductions in consumption, but also by the change in mentality to which it has contributed in our relationship to energy, which is less abundant than we tend to think. believe. “Unfortunately, it took this war in Ukraine for this lever of sobriety to finally find its place in the debate,” notes Stéphane Chatelin, director of thenegaWatt association, which has been pushing in this direction since its creation in 2001. On this point, we have made a lot of progress in one year. “Even Medef spoke with us on the subject, and even Emmanuel Macron spoke of the end of abundance, breaking with the optimistic line he had held until then,” continues Stéphane Chatelin.
Nicolas Goldberg is convinced that this sobriety plan has made it possible to anchor certain reflexes among the French “Typically, limiting heating to 19°C, and air conditioning to no less than 26°C,” he illustrates. This plan only recalled a law that many were unaware of. However, it is the action that led to the most energy savings last winter. »
Go further or avoid slackening?
How can we go further now? This is the question as a new winter approaches (if it ends up arriving!). “We have only scratched the surface of the energy saving potential to be found with sobriety,” assures Stéphane Chatelin, while négaWatt estimates that this single lever would make it possible to reduce our consumption by a third, without necessarily embrace the Amish way of life. Last fall, the association listed 55 actions applicable in the short term and allowing significant savings. “A certain number was very little applied,” continues Stéphane Chatelin. Turn off ventilation in unoccupied buildings, for example. Or insulate water heaters. It doesn’t cost very much, and we can reduce electricity consumption linked to the production of hot water (the second largest source of energy consumption in a home) by around 15%. Not anecdotal. »
But more than amplifying the reductions in consumption, the challenge would be much more to avoid a slackening of efforts. Winter 2023-2024 promises to be less complicated than last year, GRTgaz and RTE recently communicated. And if they insist that this improvement depends in part on our ability to control our consumption, François Gemmene fears that this is the first part of the message that we remember. “Even more so if the winter is harsh and the prices of gas and electricity continue to stabilize or even fall,” he specifies.
“Moving from emergency sobriety to structural sobriety”
It’s up to the government to (re)call the general mobilization? Stéphane Chatelin is waiting to see what will come out of this morning of the conference this Thursday, but is not having too many illusions. “We have already talked much less about act 2 of the sobriety plan, presented at the end of June and focused on energy consumption in summer,” he notes.
François Gemmene sees this as a sign that we still have too little understanding of what is at stake. “We are in urgent sobriety when we should be moving towards structural sobriety designed primarily to respond to the climate crisis,” he analyzes. This will be my message this Thursday. »
What about fuels then?
This is a major weakness in the sobriety plan, both for Nicolas Goldberg, François Gemenne and Stéphane Chatelain. The focus has mainly been on gas and electricity, far too little on road fuels. “Overall, the government has simply asked officials to limit their speed to 110 km/h on the highway. It’s far too little,” regrets the Terra Nova energy manager. It didn’t go amiss: fuel consumption had “only” dropped by 1.7% the first seven months of the year. “This too small reduction could cause us, in itself, to miss the objective of -10% on our final energy consumption by the end of 2024 set by Elisabeth Borne,” continues Nicolas Goldberg.
If there is an update to the sobriety plan, it would have to focus on transport, invites Stéphane Chatelain, recalling that it is the first sector emitting greenhouse gases in France, “and of which we struggling to reduce emissions. Here again, négaWatt identifies effective levers in the short term. “Like the penalty on the weight of vehicles,” illustrates Stéphane Chatelain. It currently only applies to vehicles over 1.8 tonnes. In its finance bill, the presidential majority recommends moving to 1.6 tonnes. It’s very shy. The Citizens’ Climate Convention proposed 1.4. We 1,2. »