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Tag:

France

Energy precarity hits a fifth of the French population

Energy precarity hits a fifth of the French population

written by Edouard Stenger

Winter is coming. And this is a problem as according to the latest official statistics, one French citizen out of five has trouble paying his / her heating bills or is feeling cold at home in winter. And as a French who wrote his Master’s thesis on that topic, this really bugs me.

A white paper published in the second Chirac presidency – 2003 – stated that there were at the time almost 20 million housings to weatherize and insulate in France. 

Over ten years after, these figures are still almost the same as the goal of improving half a million housings per year wasn’t met either by President Jacques Chirac, his successor Nicolas Sarkozy and the incumbent. And this despite, the recent moderate efforts in this domain.

State and local ( from the Région or the Département ) aids have been cut because of the crisis and the resulting austerity. And when they haven’t been cut they are either difficult to obtain or too little to represent any convenience. The French Environment and Energy Management Agency, the ADEME, has seen its budget been cut in 2013 ( by half a billion euros, no less ) and in 2014.

But what really racks my nerves is that very little is done to insulate social housings, which represent four million accommodations and 14 million people out of 65 million.

In an old article I wrote as early as 2007 I noted that these housings are all too often badly insulated and that the tenants don’t have much money to pay gas and oil bills. However, I noted back then that insulating these buildings and changing the heating systems were a very sound investment.

In an example broadcasted by the French/German TV channel Arte the energy needs of two buildings in Germany were more than halved thanks to insulation. Energy conservation efforts were promoted, cutting energy needs by an additional 15 percent.

As a conclusion, the energy now needed there was nearly cut by a factor three. This made it possible to use a renewable energy source to heat the 64 flats. Wood pellets were chosen and a new highly efficient boiler was installed. The new system is so efficient that it can generate some electricity which can be used by the tenants or sold to the grid.

Imagine if all social housings in France, and let’s be ambitious in the European Union , were receiving the same treatment. Dozens of millions of people wouldn’t be cold at home during winter, thousands of jobs would be created for decades and our dependence on Russian natural gas would be cut for ever.

 



December 2, 2014 1 comment
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Can France Succeed its Energy Transition ?

Can France Succeed its Energy Transition ?

written by Edouard Stenger

Recently the incumbent Energy and Environment Minister of France unveiled an ambitious energy transition project. As Euractiv reports, the country should ” increase the proportion of renewable energy to 32% by 2030, reduce CO2 emissions by 40% between 1990 and 2030, and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels by 30% by 2030.” 

The previous conservative government had very ambitious projects on energy and the environment with its Grenelle de l’Environnement. Most of this ambition remained that, just ambition (Granted, there were a few successes on energy use and efficiency).

But the current Socialist government goes even further as Segolène Royal claims that the plan she unveiled is the ” most ambitious in all of the European Union ” and should make this country “the country of environmental excellence”. Given how Germany and the others are years ahead, I am not sure if I got to applause at the ambition… or laugh at the delusion.

Speeches are fine, speeches are great, but ACTS are much better. And until now, France has not been measuring up with is ambitions :

While renewable energy sources have surged in large neighbouring countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain – reaching 31, 37 and 35 percent of the local electricity consumption, respectively – France is behind with “only”  18.6 percent.

Worse, within its European obligations, France needs to have 23 percent of its total energy consumption coming from renewables by 2020. To EU statistics, the country had 9.3 percent of its energy from renewables in 2004, 12.7 percent in 2010 and 13.4 percent in 2012. In eight years this share has increased by 4.1 point. If this trend were to continue the country would miss its 2020 objectives by 5.5 points…

To compare, overall, the 28 members of the European Union have seen this share rise from 8.3 percent in 2004 to 14.1 in 2012. A simple trend continuation shows that reaching 20 percent by 2020 is feasible.

In any case, whether France will succeed or fail its energy transition, be sure that I will keep you updated on the situation.

 



September 18, 2014 0 comment
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European Investment Bank to Provide France 750 Million Euros for Renewables

European Investment Bank to Provide France 750 Million Euros for Renewables

written by Edouard Stenger

Covering European environmental and energy policies for CleanTechies got me thinking  lately how France is lagging behind its neighbours. Indeed, in the last few months I have reported rapid development in Portugal, Spain or the United Kingdom.

If France is not one of the last countries in terms of share of electricity from renewable energy – 15 percent – it is still lagging compared to the EU average of 23.4 percent in 2012.

Solar and wind grew rapidly in France between 2008 and 2011 but as I noted in a previous article, since 2012 these renewables have seen their growth slow down to dismal proportions. The exponential rate witnessed previously is no more.

This could change soon as the European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide up to 750 million Euros – around a billion US Dollars – in loans from 2014 to 2016 to renewable energy projects.

As it noted in its official press release, in 2013 the EIB provided 19 billion euros – 26 billion Dollars – in funds for climate change-related projects. This is equal to 26% of all its loans.

These loans will be allocated to projects in wind, solar PV, hydro and geothermal energies.  The EIB will work with numerous local banks, including Societe Generale, the BPCE Group and Credit Agricole Group.

The banks will have to find and select the right public or private projects. The loans provided by the EIB will represent 50 percent of the financing of the projects. The limit per project is 50 million euros.

Let’s hope these large amounts of money will significantly boost the energy transition and the creation of green jobs as 3.3 million people are unemployed in France.

 



April 14, 2014 0 comment
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Renewable Energy Increased Slowly in France in 2013

written by Edouard Stenger

According to recent data from the French Ministry on Environment, both solar energy and wind power pursue their progression, albeit more slowly than in the past.

Regarding wind power, At the end of September 2013, the total wind power capacity in France was of 7,971 MW. This has to be compared with the 8.4 GW in the United Kingdom, 22.7 GW in Spain or the massive 31.3 GW in Germany (2012 figures from the EWEA, European Wind Energy Association)

The installed capacity in the first three quarters of 2013 were of 348 MW. This represents a 39 percent cut compared to the same period in 2012. In 2012, 815 MW of capacity had been installed. This is below the levels of installed capacity in 2009 ( 1,138 MW), 2010 ( 1,255 MW) and 2011 (830 MW).

Wind power produced in the three first quarters of 2013 10.1 TWh of electricity, a six percent increase over the same period in 2012. This represents a 2.8 percent share of the total electricity consumed in the country.

The installed capacity could double rapidly as around 500 onshore wind farm projects totaling around 5,500 MW and eight offshore projects totaling over 3,000 MW are to be installed within the next few months or years.

Regarding solar PV, the total capacity at the end of September 2013 was of 4,478 MW. This has to be compared with over 7,700 MW in Italy or 32,000 MW in Germany. (IEA data for 2012)

The situation is far from the boom witnessed between 2009 and 2011. In the first three quarters of 2013, only 420 MW of capacity were connected to the grid. This is a 59 percent cut compared to the same period in 2012.

This has to be compared to 300 MW in 2009, 800 MW in 2010, a massive 1,800 MW in 2011 and 1,100 MW in 2012. Over 70 percent of the installed capacity in 2013 comes from large projects of over 250 kW or intermediary-sized ones.

Overall, solar photovoltaic produced 3.7 TWh in the first nine months of 2013, amounting to one percent of the total electricity consumed in France.



January 9, 2014 0 comment
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More and More French Households Burn Wood for Heating

written by Edouard Stenger

According to a recent study from the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), wood burning is being used more and more in the country. Current estimates show that approximately 7.4 million households use this method to heat their homes, compared to 5.9 million in 2009.

This represents an increase of over 100,000 households per year. If this trend continues, by 2020, 9 million households could use this fuel (out of around 27 million households in the country).

An interesting fact reported by Enerzine [Fr] is that despite this important increase, the quantity of burned wood remained stable as the quantity burned by household decreased from 8.6 to 7.5 steres ( cubic meter of wood) per household.

According to Wikipedia [Fr], French forests have been constantly growing in the past century – it grew by six million hectares in the 20th century – and cover now over 29 percent of the Metropolitan area with 16.3 million hectares.

Wood is by far the cheapest energy source on the market, with 3.4 euro cents per kWh, compared to 7 cents for natural gas, 9.9 cents for heating fuel and electricity is the most expensive with 13.3 euro cents.

However, the energy price is not the first reason for choosing wood. The main reason (63 percent of users) is comfort. Price comes second with 52 percent of users and the environment third with 40 percent.

As a result, more and more wood buyers use this energy source as their main or only source. In 1999 only 30 percent of wood burners used it as their main energy source for heating. Nowadays, this share has increased to over 50 percent. Half of these users use solely this to heat their places.

This can be explained by a better efficiency of the stoves and heaters as well as a better insulation of the households. On the former point, the average efficiency have risen from 50 to over 70 percent since the year 2000. Important gains in energy efficiency are still possible.

An important factor in these trends was the Flamme Verte (green flame) label.

Launched by over 60 companies in 2000, this quality label has increased the efficiency of the stoves and heaters and has reduced the pollution induced by wood burning. Particles emissions have been slashed by a factor ten. To date, 70 percent of the sold apparels in France have this label.

To conclude this article, I believe many countries could learn from what takes place in France. Growing forests are used in a sustainable way to heat more and more houses with less and less resources. When renewables meet energy efficiency, everybody wins.



November 5, 2013 0 comment
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France Simply Won’t Give Into Fracking

written by Edouard Stenger

I reported previously here on Cleantechies that in 2011 France was the first country to ban hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of recovering oil and natural gas deposits using large quantities of water and chemicals and sand.

Fracking, as it is more widely known, is fiercely

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October 14, 2013 0 comment
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France Unveils New Efforts to Renovate Buildings

written by Edouard Stenger

This week, the French government unveiled a new series of efforts due to tackle the lack of thermal renovations in French buildings.

As I found out while writing my Master’s Thesis years ago, there are no less than twenty million housings to be weatherized in France. This would lead to

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September 19, 2013 1 comment
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Four Biogas Plants Being Developed in France

written by Walter Wang

Biogas plant manufacturer Weltec Biopower has teamed up with Domaix Energy in Alsace, in the northeast of France to start rolling out four agricultural biogas plant projects in France. Apart from agricultural substrates, the biogas plants, whose construction has already started, will use sludge and food leftovers. This is in line with a trend in French biogas

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September 16, 2013 0 comment
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Over Four Million French Employees Telework

written by Edouard Stenger

According to a new study, 16.7 percent of French employees were teleworking at least once a week in 2012. There has been a sharp increase since 2011, when only 12.7 percent were teleworking.

This comes only a month after Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO, has asked her employees to stop telecommuting. However, as we shall see here, this might not be such a smart move.

This figure represent 4.2 million people, or a bit more than in the United States ( source : TeleworkResearchNetwork.com ). Out of these, 79.2 percent worked at home, 14.8 percent worked from a café or a lounge, 7.9 from a coworking space or a telecentre and 2.5 percent from a business centre.

48 percent of them are wage-earners from the private sector, only 17 percent are from the public one and the remaining 35 percent are independents, freelances and so on.

While these figures are encouraging, there is a huge hurdle as two thirds of this teleworking occurs in a non formalized way.

There still are many perceived hindrances to this practice, namingly :

  • Doubts over the efficiency of the workers ;
  • Perceived incompatibility with the workers’ activity ;
  • incompatibility with the company’s culture ;
  • IT problems.

Forty years after Jack Nilles coined both terms of “telecommuting” and “telework”, most people practicing telework see positive effects on their efficiency and concentration, a decreased fatigue and stress and a better balance between their work and private lives.

This might explain why 73 percent of people who aren’t teleworking yet are willing to do so. However, 53 percent are facing rebuttals from their hierarchy. This clearly shows that educating people on this practice is critical to its development. To learn out more on this, please refer to a previous Cleantechies article : The Importance of Telecommuting in Reducing Carbon Emissions

If you are willing to learn out more on this study, please check out the infographic in pdf as well as the Teleworking White Book. Unfortunately, both are in French.

photo: mccun934.



March 26, 2013 0 comment
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France Unveils Measures to Decrease Energy Use

written by Edouard Stenger

Eiffel tower without its lightsEven after the election of François Hollande as President of France, an energy conservation measure of the previous government will be implemented.

The Sarkozy government wanted to require shops and offices to turn off their unnecessary lights at nights. This will be effective as of July 1, 2013.

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February 26, 2013 1 comment
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The Huge Cost of Traffic Congestion

written by Edouard Stenger

According to a new study carried out by the English Centre of Economics and Business, traffic congestion in the United Kingdom, Germany and France cost each year up to 18,327 billion euros (around $24 billion).

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February 5, 2013 0 comment
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New French President Outlines His Green Policies

written by Edouard Stenger

In September, an environmental conference in France took place setting the policy of the new President, Mr. François Hollande and his government.

This posts present the various points and how they differ or are in the line of the previous government and its Grenelle de l’Environnement.

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November 19, 2012 0 comment
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French Solar PV Capacity Hits 3,000 MW

written by Edouard Stenger

According to the French utility EDF, the French solar PV capacity reached in March 3,000 MW, with over 2,672 MW in mainland France and 339 MW in Corsica and overseas.

According to the data: the total capacity grew by 15 percent this semester in metropolitan France. An additional 1,581 MW are already installed but are waiting to be plugged to the grids.

Not all of this massive capacity may be linked to the grids as most of them have to be connected prior to June to benefit from the local feed-in tariffs. The industry is facing a darker future.

France has seen in recent years a spectacular rise of solar photovoltaic as the capacity grew from 40 MW in 2006 to 81 MW in 2008. Things accelerated afterwards as by the end of 2010 it reached 850 MW.

2011 was an impressive year for solar PV as Enerplan – the local French solar industrial organization – notes in its report. Local capacity in march 2011 was of 1,336 MW, in June it was of 1676 MW, in September 2232 MW.

At the end of the year it had reached 2643 MW. You read that right: the French solar capacity doubled in nine months.

In 2010 I noted in a previous article here that the 5,400 MW objective originally planned for 2020 could be reached in 2013. Given the impressive increase, this well could be the case. However the future for the industry is not that bright:

In 2011, half of the 25,000 jobs that had been created in this industry had been destroyed. The investment bubble created by the high feed in tariffs has boomed and busted as there have been several cuts in FIT since 2010.

What will François Hollande, the new President elected earlier this month, will do about it ? Will the industry be given a sustainable roadmap for the next five years?



May 10, 2012 0 comment
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Which Future for Lorraine, and France?

written by Edouard Stenger

While I was visiting my family in the Region of Lorraine – North Eastern France – I came across two distinct news illustrating the possible future of the region, and in a way, of the whole country.

The first one is about dirty polluting fossil energy as to Elixir Petroleum, an Australian company, there would be massive quantities of shale oil and gas in Lorraine’s soil. To the volumetric estimates, there would be no less than 164.7 billion barrels of shale oil and 649.7 trillion cubic feet of shale gas. Large amounts of more traditional oil and gas has been found as well.

This announcement took place as France has been the first country to ban fracking. As the local newspapers note, this announcement is little credible and is merely done to keep the exploration permits as the law is changing.

The enormous quantities found reminded me that US geologist recently estimated there is FIVE times less shale oil and gas in the American soil as it was previously stated by companies. I have no doubt that the situation in Lorraine will be the same if not worse.

I agree that local populations could benefit from jobs as the worst economic crises of our time is striking. But the countryside and its various cultures and fruits is a wonder we have to keep. Whoever ate mirabelles knows what I am referring to.

Now let’s have a look at something that is already taking place, and which holds a better future: cleantech!

A former military air base near Toul (in the Département of Moselle) will be cleaned up and 400 hectares of solar panels will be installed. The total capacity will be of 143 MW, enough for 62,000 people.

This project is a direct consequence of the new legal background enacted by the French government earlier this summer. See my post for more : France Issues New Regulations for Large Solar PV Installations

A few green jobs will also be created: 150 for the construction and an additional 15 to maintain the plant.

The plant will bring 1.3 million euros per year in revenue to the Région, the Département and the three cities where the air force base is located.

EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN), a subsidiary of the national utilities Electricité De France may work with First Solar, which could provide the solar panels for the plant.

The company plans to invest no less than 434 million euros in the next ten years for this plant alone.

Trees will be planted in the remaining parts of the old air base and a little museum dedicated to renewable energies will be created as local authorities are willing to transform this as  a touristic attraction.

France is moving forward on cleantech. Of course, there has been setbacks, but we can globally be satisfied. Let us hope it will continue doing so whoever will be elected as President in the Presidential elections next year.

Photo: Julien Hillairet, Flickr



October 10, 2011 0 comment
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