The plan announced by Emmanuel Macron on Thursday must be made public at the end of September, after the work of five sectoral working groups.
With the threat of a total disruption of Russian gas deliveries, which endangers France’s energy supply for next winter, Emmanuel Macron sounded the general mobilization on Thursday. During his July 14 interview, broadcast on TF1 and France 2, the Head of State announced a “sobriety plan» energy. “I am going to ask public administrations, our major groups, and all those who can, to prepare a plan this summer, so that we can put ourselves in a position to consume less“, declared the President of the Republic.
In fact, work on the subject has already started. This plan “energy sobrietywas announced on June 23 by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. To meet the short-term challenge of the war in Ukraine, and the longer-term challenge of phasing out fossil fuels by 2050. Objective of this sobriety plan: to reduce our energy consumption by 10% by two years from now, compared to 2019.
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To do this, five working groups have been created, each dedicated to a sector: public administrations, companies, establishments open to the public and supermarkets, housing and local authorities. For the first three, a first meeting has already taken place. The working group on housing is to be launched on July 25, and probably in the same waters for that on local authorities. The results of these consultations, and the proposed measures that will emerge, must be announced at the end of September, we inform the cabinet of Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“Switching off businesses” at night
Many avenues are already being explored. During his interview on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron mentioned the lighting. “We will try to collectively pay attention to the lights in the evening, when they are useless“, he said, adding that “a load shedding plan [..] with our companieswas going to be implemented. Although she acknowledged that “this is not necessarily what will do most of our energy saving“, Agnès Pannier-Runacher hammered Wednesday on BFM Business that it was necessary “turn off businessesat night, speaking of high-rise offices and storefronts. Let them turn on”is prohibited by law“, she pointed out. Indeed, a decree of 2018 requires that the lighting of shop windows “are switched off at 1 a.m. at the latest or 1 hour after the end of the activity“, specifies the ministry.
Efforts can also be made on heating and air conditioning, according to the Minister for Energy Transition. “Put the heating at 19 degrees and not at 20, it is a saving of 7% of your energy consumption“, she said on BFM Business. As for air conditioning,in the regulations it must not be triggered below 26 degrees“, she had pointed to RTL last week, the minister also attacking the air conditioning of stores with open doors.
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The levers for reducing energy consumption therefore already exist in part. The work undertaken as part of the sobriety plan aims on the one hand toenforce what is in the law, what is regulatory, and to publicize these provisions“, we explain in the entourage of Agnès Pannier-Runacher. A strengthening of controls and sanctions is being studied, indicates a source within a ministerial cabinet.
Energy renovation of buildings
The first meetings of the sectoral working groups also made it possible to identify ways to go further. In particular, the future sobriety plan should include provisions relating to “the energy renovation of buildings, particularly in the administration“, we say to the Ministry of Energy Transition.
Reducing the noise level in stores and other large surfaces is mentioned, as is the installation of people detection systems in car parks to allow the brightness to be adapted. The “common sense measures“what are the measures on lighting and air conditioning could make it possible to make “electricity or gas savings of around 10 or 20%“said Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
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Carrefour has already taken the lead. The brand will sign a charter on Monday with RTE, the manager of the electricity transmission network. It will commit to reducing the energy consumption of its stores and will specify its actions. The Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, for his part called on Friday on Franceinfo the transport operators (SNCF, airlines, etc.) to reflect on the “additional measures that can be taken in stations or offices to speed up in terms of lighting, daily consumption».
Reduced speed of company cars on the motorway
Labor mobility should be another big piece of the future plan. Reinforcement of carpooling, increased use of teleworking, lowering the speed of company cars on the motorway… So many avenues already revealed by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, on BFM Business. The first meetings of the working groups have also worked on the subject. In business, the executive called on businesses to build “an employer mobility plan or (to) commit to the various support schemes for employees – sustainable mobility package, transport bonus for fuel assistance, car sharing, or even employer pro-cycling label“, according to a government account.
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In the administrations, the extension of the “sustainable mobility package“to other modes of transport”soft– which will already be extended to the start of the 2022 school year – was discussed. In both the public and private sectors, provisions could concern the renewal of vehicle fleets, in order to make them switch to electric or hybrid. A “work on more sober mobility, whether for employees or freight carriersis one of the priority themes for shops and other large surfaces.
The government is also appealing to energy companies, authors of a stand-out column in the Sunday newspaper end of June, calling on the French to consume less. In an interview with Le Figaro, Agnès Pannier-Runacher asked these companies, led by EDF, to offer “tariff offers that promote behaviors and management tools that reduce and smooth energy consumption». «The French must see each month on their invoice, in euros paid less, the result of their efforts“, she added.