Environmental transition, energy transition, global warming...
Nobody (or almost nobody) disputes global warming or man’s responsibility for it any more. But perhaps we still don’t fully appreciate the challenges we face. So, during this heatwave, let’s imagine what our children could be exposed to in thirty years’ time.
French researchers have produced the maps below based on the IPCC’s pessimistic scenario. They give an idea of the maximum temperatures we could see during a heatwave in France from 2050 onwards… If nothing is done to reduce our CO2 emissions between now and then.
Source: study by 7 French researchers (from Cerfacs, CNRS, and Météo France) published on 19/07/2017 in Environmental Research Letters
So it is certain that we and future generations will suffer the effects of global warming. The question now is how to limit the damage.
Changing our energy mix with more Renewable Energies will not be enough. We need to reduce our energy consumption.
The graph below speaks for itself. Despite the growth in renewable energies in recent years, fossil fuel consumption continues to rise. The challenge is to drastically reduce our consumption of fossil fuels in order to cut CO2 emissions. Clearly, this cannot be achieved without a clear and rapid reduction in our energy consumption.
The real estate sector: the biggest energy consumer
In France, over 40% of energy consumption and 20% of CO2 emissions are linked to the property sector.
Source: French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning
The real estate sector is at the heart of the global warming issue
This has been a “given” by our governments for over ten years now. In 2007, the Grenelle Environment Forum set a target of reducing the energy consumption of France’s building stock by 38% by 2020 (compared with 1990 levels).
The 2015 Law on Energy Transition for Green Growth (LTECV) reinforced this objective. It set a new target of reducing tertiary building consumption by 60% by 2050 (compared with 2010).
Finally, the ELAN law (Evolution du Logement, de l’Aménagement et du Numérique) of 24 November 2018 and its article 55 imposes (like the two previous laws) a reduction in the energy consumption of the French tertiary sector, with the aim of reducing the energy consumption of tertiary buildings by -40% in 2030, -50% in 2040 and -60% in 2050 compared with 2010.
COP21 also placed buildings at the heart of the climate challenge, with the creation of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction in 2015.
And yet, even if the path mapped out seems to be the right one, there is still a long way to go… It was only in 2014 that France managed to reverse the growth curve in the overall energy consumption of its buildings (Source: “Plan Bâtiment Durable”). This is still a long way off the initial target of a 38% reduction by 2020… (which will obviously not be achieved by a long chalk).
How to reduce your energy consumption ?
Despite the proliferation of regulations, environmental labels and other ‘green’ certifications, the road ahead is still long and full of pitfalls.
I worked in the commercial property sector for around fifteen years. Two things have always surprised me about policies to reduce energy consumption in buildings:
- When we talk about reducing consumption, we often talk about equipment that consumes less energy, better insulation, self-consumption, etc.; more rarely do we talk about changing behaviour and optimising the management of existing premises and equipment
- When a plan to reduce consumption is launched, the initial level of consumption is often poorly known, if not unknown. To make matters worse, there are usually no really reliable measures in place to monitor the results of the measures taken, or to control changes in energy consumption.
So we engage in vast and costly energy renovation plans without even checking the results.
Why do you ask? There are two reasons:
- The cost of energy is negligible compared with the other operating and construction costs of a building (1 to 2% for a building in Paris), and the financial impact of reducing energy consumption is too insignificant to be a real financial issue;
- In the final analysis, the aim of renovation plans is more to comply with regulatory standards and “green” labels than to achieve real, tangible results.
To put it in less politically correct terms, the whole thing lacks pragmatism and we’re just pretending. It’s a shame, because with all the financial and human resources devoted to these energy renovation plans, it seems to me that we could be doing much better.
To do that, I’m convinced that we need to go back to simpler, less “standardised” approaches and, above all, that the results of these initiatives need to be seriously and sustainably measured.
What if, before we thought about reducing our energy consumption, we thought about understanding it?
There can be no credible policy for reducing energy consumption without reliable measurement and monitoring of such consumption.
Can you imagine a company without accounting? Of course not! So in a world where reducing our energy consumption and CO2 emissions is a fundamental issue, how can we imagine not knowing what that consumption is?
Before taking any steps to reduce a building’s energy consumption, it is essential to put in place a system that provides a reliable, exhaustive and long-term view of the building’s consumption.
Those who have tried this approach out can confirm that simply installing such a system has the almost immediate effect of reducing the building’s energy consumption.
And this is simply because it allows :
- Make the various parties involved (from tenants to owners, including technical and administrative managers) aware of their responsibilities;
- Identify glaring anomalies
- Compare similar buildings;
- Identify concrete areas for improvement.
With new technologies, such a system is now quick and easy to set up. And the cost of installation and operation is more than offset by the savings made. This is the service offered by the eco-innovative company iQspot.
iQspot’s mission is to provide exhaustive, reliable, long-term, simple and instant access to all building energy data. The aim is to enable you to work effectively on reducing energy consumption.
So if you really want to improve the energy performance of your buildings, think again: reducing energy consumption starts with knowing what you’re doing!
