Telecommuting has a very low impact on energy consumption when only a few of the employees are away, but allows an overall energy saving of 20-30% when a site is closed during the day, according to a study conducted in public buildings.
This study, carried out by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) and the French Institute for Building Performance (IFPEB), measured energy consumption in offices, in agents’ homes and for their transport, with the aim of evaluating energy savings when offices are closed as well as the possible “rebound effect” of consumption among teleworkers.
The experiment was launched in November 2022 in ten public sites – ministries (Energy Transition, Ecological Transition, Sea), General Directorate of Civil Aviation and Ademe -, involving 100 volunteer agents, in Ile-de-France, Centre-Val- de-Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. According to the first conclusions published on Monday and related to the first two months of the experiment, “the impact of the non-presence of workers on the site on electricity consumption (computer, lighting) is insignificant.”
Energy savings in transport
The energy savings observed in the offices is “attributable to sobriety and not to teleworking”, while the average drop in heating consumption at the end of 2022 was 38%. On the other hand, the tests are “conclusive” when sites are closed for a full day: the overall savings potential is then 20-30%. For buildings alone, the average energy savings on closed days is “25-40%” compared to open days, thanks to savings on heating.
The study, published as a prelude to the meeting this Monday morning at the Ministry of Ecological Transition of a working group from the section of the Energy Sobriety Plan relating to large companies, concludes that “closures of sites in one day present an interesting potential (… .) to manage the tensions in the electrical network”. The buildings that represent the greatest potential are those that combine low energy performance and low occupancy density.
Regarding transportation, the experiment shows that energy savings are 2 to 4 times higher in the regions than in Paris, where the distances between work and home are shorter and where employees use public transport more. L’étude estimates that “l’effet rebond” de la consommation au domicile des télétravailleurs est “de très faible ampleur”, en moyenne de 1.4 kilowattheure per jour de télétravail, sachant que les économies réalisées vont de 5 a 15 kWh das the transports. The average daily consumption of a home is about 20 to 40 kWh.
Source: BFM TV
