Despite the reconstruction of stocks, on the right track for this winter, the president deems it necessary to carry out an energy savings plan. He calls for everyone’s “responsibility”.
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The French will be able to spend an a priori calm summer, even if, already, they are warned: the start of the school year promises to be under the sign of the “hunt for waste of energy”. While the war in Ukraine left to “last”, and the shortage of gas is watching in Europe, the state will tackle this summer to the preparation of an “energy sobriety plan”, warned Emmanuel Macron During his speech in July 14, in order to “pass the winter peak”.
“Russia uses energy as a weapon of war,” he warned, adding that, in this context, France, although less dependent than some of its European neighbors, had to, From now on, to “prepare for a scenario where we must do without Russian gas”. If the country has already undertaken to increase its supplies to other business partners – Norway, Qatar, Algeria and the United States in particular – and that stocks are on the way to achieve a 100 % target Autumn, this diversification cannot be enough to ensure peaceful winters, without power cuts.
In order to reduce the needs of gas and electricity, Emmanuel Macron therefore calls for the first time to an evolution of behavior. How ? By passing both “by exemplarity and responsibility”, he insisted, inviting public administrations and all the companies that can consume less, by doing for example “attention to lighting in the evening” . “I believe in collective responsibility”, hammered the president – remained vague on the constraints which could accompany these incentives to consume less. Before clarifying that this plan will require “organize our lives differently and [to promote a smoothing of consumption peaks which put the energy networks under tension”.
These comments made a July 14 sounding both as a call for general mobilization and as a way of preparing the spirits. Already, on June 23, Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister of Energy Transition, revealed the procedure to follow. It involves “reducing energy consumption by 10 % by two years compared to 2019”. To this end, the government has launched three working groups in the administration, companies and establishments open to the public in order to establish the measures to achieve this objective. >
Despite climate emergency, France is not ahead in its consideration of the subject. In Germany, for example, the Bundestag recently voted in favor of an savings plan, involving, among other concrete measures to limit heating to 20 ° C in winter in individual offices. In his speech, Emmanuel Macron justified this discrepancy by a lesser hexagonal dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Within oppositions, however, as well as in the sphere of companies, impatience is already felt.
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