Faced with fears of shortages in gas and electricity supply in France, Emmanuel Macron is convening a Defense Council devoted to the subject this Friday morning, from 10 a.m. The objective is to “to take stock of the situation as well as the scenarios envisaged to prepare for all scenarios this fall and winter”. But some communities and companies are already organizing to try to reduce the cost of the energy bill.
The call for energy sobriety launched by the government at the end of July was quickly heard by many municipalities, which often decided to turn off or reduce their use of public lighting at night. In the Somme department, this is particularly the case in Talmas and Ailly-sur-Somme, with electricity bills that could be halved, from 18,000 euros to 9,000 euros, by completely turning off the streetlights every the nights. Many towns in the Manche have also adopted this solution, while in the Loiret, the extinction is done later.
The Eurometropolis of Strasbourg “goes to the sprint”
While its energy bill is about to be multiplied by five, from 12 million euros to 61 million euros per year, the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg is considering more measures. “We were already engaged in this race, so we will have to accelerate and switch to sprint“, explains the mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian. Many avenues are therefore being considered, from the reduction of this heating to average temperatures of 19 degrees in the buildings of the town hall and the Eurometropolis to the partial or complete closure of certain energy-intensive buildings such as swimming pools, ice rinks or media libraries.
The objective is to reduce energy consumption by 10%, explains the town hall, which also plans to reduce the illuminations of its traditional Christmas tree, by not illuminating it “not every day, all the time and at any hour”. The Alsatian town hall considers more generally that its Christmas market will have to be “more sober”, after having first affirmed, the day before, that it “will not touch it[it] not”.
Long-term measures
Many are wondering about the implementation of energy sobriety that is now essential, and some town halls are choosing to finance measures that will reduce their energy bills in the long term. In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the town hall of Pertuis has just launched a renovation plan for its municipal buildings at 600,000 euros, in particular to isolate the premises. LED bulbs are also installed, as are anti-UV blinds and double glazing.
On the roof terrace of a city school, reflective white paint has been covered to lower temperatures at the end of the school year. The results are stunning, testifies the works assistant at France Bleu Vaucluse, noting a drop of 10 to 15 degrees on this roof and 5 degrees in the classrooms.
In the Landes, the mayor of Villeneuve-de-Marsan is thinking about install photovoltaic panels on a building being acquired for the same purpose of “reduce the energy bill.” The measure, already in place in Seine-Maritime, in Malaunay, with 1,700 square meters of photovoltaic installations throughout the city, makes it possible to cover 30% of the municipality’s electricity bill. The town hall now wants to go further, she explains to France Bleu Normandie, by setting up a citizen energy community.
Companies did not “wait to act”
They are also largely affected by the increases in electricity and gas prices, companies have been trying to reduce their consumption for many weeks. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, has officially encouraged them since Monday August 29, calling on them to establish a sobriety plan from September. In Haute-Saône, “small gestures” have already been carried out for a few years according to the CEO of Sahgev, a company specializing in the production of hydraulic cylinders, based in Gevigney.
“We changed 2,000 neon lights, we switched to LEDs, we set up automatic shutdown systems for machines, an automatic lighting system with detection of people or machinery. We also do prevention and we encourage and support carpooling between employees”, he explains, while lamenting a still very high bill of 30,000 euros.
In Corsica too, many companies have committed to energy savings, such as the Leroy Merlin brand, which has reduces its bills by 15% by equipping itself entirely with LED bulbs. The smallest companies also practice energy sobriety, as is the case with a roaster in Strasbourg which, with its burner, recovers the heat and reinjects it into the circuit for “avoid burning too much gas unnecessarily”. The director, Thomas Riegert, also tries to transport more goods for the same quantity of trucks transported, or to recycle everything he can.