France “became aware” of the energy crisis “but it’s a little late”, regretted Friday September 2 on franceinfo Nicolas Goldberg, energy expert at Colombus Consulting and author of a note for the Terra Nova think tank on energy sobriety. Emmanuel Macron convenes a Defense Council on the energy crisis on Friday to examine possible scenarios in order to avoid a shortage of gas and electricity this winter. According to Nicholas Goldberg, “before calling everyone to eco-gestures”the State would have to show “The example” by applying the law. “Enforcing the law already sends a good signal”, he said.
>> Emmanuel Macron convenes a Defense Council on the energy crisis. Follow our live.
franceinfo: Do you think that we have become aware in France of the extent of this energy crisis?
Nicholas Goldberg: We have realized this, but it is a bit late. We’re starting to see the consequences of global warming with what happened this summer, but it’s a bit late. The IPCC reports date from the 1990s. They announced all this. The fact that we are not very wide on the electricity network this winter, it does not date from this year. Already, in 2020-2021, Minister Barbara Pompili had announced the possibility of having targeted power cuts, if it was very cold. We had a lot of nuclear reactors under maintenance to extend them to 50 years. Since then, the situation has deteriorated, because there was the war in Ukraine, but we found corrosion on the nuclear fleet last year. So indeed, we realize that. It’s a little late. I remember in the first quarter of a president who told us that there was no risk of cuts this winter. Indeed, as the risk is imminent, there is no room for manoeuvre.
What should be done immediately?
Enforce the law already! In the law, it is already written that public buildings and buildings welcoming the public must not be heated above 19° and air-conditioned below 26°. Casually, if you do that, you already earn the equivalent of the production of two nuclear reactors over the year. It is enormous ! We can clearly see that enforcing the law already sends a good signal. There is also, more recently, the prohibition of heated terraces which has been put into law. Even in April, in full Ecowatt alert, in security alert on the electricity supply, we saw that these terraces were always lit.
“Before calling everyone to eco-gestures, we must lead by example.”
Nicolas Goldberg, energy expertat franceinfo
We must apply the law because individuals, eco-gestures, they make them provided that they are given the opportunity to do so and that we have an exemplary State and companies that respect the law.
How do we manage to apply this sobriety while preserving the standard of living of the most disadvantaged people?
The most disadvantaged people are already doing what they can to stay sober and are even depriving themselves of certain services provided by energy to keep their bills under control. This is unacceptable. When we set up a price shield or an undifferentiated fuel discount for everyone, it is especially those who already consume a lot who benefit from it. Be careful, do not kill the price signal. The tariff shield was very good when it was intended to be temporary. We see that it is planned to last. Let prices really reflect the cost of energy. On the other hand, we must increase aid, increase energy vouchers, but by targeting. Moreover, that’s good, the energy checks are targeted for the first deciles. Maybe it needs to be widened a bit. By lowering the tariff shield, the State will make savings that it can use to support consumption and the essential consumption of the first deciles.
What should the state announce?
The State can already announce a generalization of telework. It can announce better management of setpoint temperatures in buildings. There are measures that we did not put in place because we thought they were socially explosive. The State can very well say to its agents: “You do not exceed 110 km/h on the highways”. We can also very well say: “Do not buy vehicles beyond a certain weight”. It’s long-term sobriety. We could legislate the weight of vehicles. In French law, there is already a penalty which is very symbolic, but which could be extended to be a little more than symbolic and give impetus at European level to legislate on the weight of vehicles to avoid overconsumption of oil.