Do not abuse the air conditioning, close the doors of the stores when it is on… The Government announced this Tuesday Act II of its sobriety plan to encourage the French to reduce their consumption throughout the year. Although the threat of power cuts in winter seems distant, the government calls on the French not to give up their efforts to sustainably reduce their energy consumption (electricity, gas but also fuel), eight months after the launch with hype and cymbals of his energetic sobriety. plan. The objective is to develop “good energy sense” in everyone, indicated the cabinet of the Minister for the Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
Employees and officials invited to drive at 110 km/h on the highway
Among the 14 “key measures” of this act II, presented on Monday night by Le Parisien, a call to order: in offices and shops in particular, the air conditioning must not drop the temperature below 26 degrees. Mayors are also asked to guarantee the correct application of the October 2022 decree that obliges businesses not to leave their doors open when using air conditioning. A very active sector in the summer, the performing arts are also committed to reducing their energy consumption, greets the ministry, citing the example of the Plaza Mayor festival in Arras that will be powered without generators.
The government intends to see fuel consumption reduced, particularly through companies being encouraged to ask their employees to drive a maximum of 110 km/h on the highway, instead of 130. There they are. 27 companies committed CAC 40. he argues. The same instruction was given to state agents. The measure has the merit of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% while saving 20% of fuel, the government highlights. From then on, the penalty for the purchase of vehicles “the most CO2 emitting and the heaviest” should be increased “very significantly”.
12% decrease in gas and electricity consumption last winter compared to 2018-2019
Act I, launched last fall, was crowned with “success”, estimates the firm of Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Calls for voluntary sobriety launched by the government, but also high energy prices have reduced gas and electricity consumption by 12% (excluding weather effects) compared to 2018-2019, according to the ministry. . The state had set a goal of a 10% reduction in energy consumption by 2024.
Since August 1, 2022, electricity consumption has decreased by 8% and gas consumption by 16.9% compared to the years prior to Covid 2018-2019. These savings made it possible to avoid the dreaded scenario of power outages, at a time when French nuclear power was struggling. The hardest part was done last winter, but after? How to maintain efforts when gas prices have fallen considerably since the beginning of the year?
Fixed teleworking hours
To develop its plan, the government carried out a consultation in which ten large sectors (State, large companies, transport, etc.) participated. The 40 companies of the CAC 40 undertake to adopt quantified objectives for the reduction of energy consumption and make them public. Thirty-seven of them have also committed to reflect on reducing their energy consumption by rationalizing teleworking. “The option of having a fixed day of teleworking during the week makes it possible to close the building”, illustrated the office of the Minister for Energy Transition.
In another area, “as of the 2023-2024 season, the granting of the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 club license, which allows you to benefit from television rights” -an annual bonus of several hundred million euros – “will be subject in particular to energy sobriety criteria” with, in particular, a reduction in consumption of 10%.
According to the operator of the electricity transmission network RTE, sobriety and any form of economy is now “no longer an option”, while the demand for electricity will increase massively.
Source: BFM TV
