First of all, we must distinguish betweenenergy efficiency and energy sobriety.
Energy efficiency is the changes you can make to optimize your energy consumption (for example, choosing LED light bulbs). Energy sobriety is the change of one's daily behavior to reduce one's carbon footprint (e.g. going to get one's bread on foot instead of taking the car for 2km).
We have all had a mother who would shout "this is not Versailles" when we left a room light on. That phrase makes sense today.
After two centuries of opulence on all levels, Nature is calling us today to strongly reduce our consumption and our needs. More than just a trend, energy sobriety is becoming a major issue for our environment. We can guarantee ourselves a more serene future by adopting a few changes in our behavior, individually and collectively.
Let's start by embellishing a somewhat sanctimonious term: sobriety. We could talk about Energy Moderation.
Spend only what you really need.
The least polluting energy is the one we do not consume. By accepting to moderate our daily behavior, we can make a difference.
Energy sobriety does notmean going back to the Stone Age. It means consuming energy more reasonably, more moderately.
Agrid offers managers of tertiary buildings to support them in their efforts to reduce energy consumption, but what can be done on a day-to-day basis?
Energy sobriety can be implemented in different ways, partly conceptualized by theassociation NegaWatts:
- Sobriety in terms of size: by favouring equipment that is adapted to the need, when choosing a purchase or investment (e.g.: prefer a small surface area, use a vehicle that is adapted to the load and the number of passengers);
- Cooperative Sobriety: by sharing the use of spaces, goods, etc. (e.g.: carpooling, car sharing, roommates, lending equipment between neighbors);
- Sobriety of use: by reasonably managing the use of appliances and goods (e.g.: eco-driving, precautions of use to limit breakage and premature wear of goods, heating regulation);
- Organizational simplicity: by structuring activities differently in space and time (e.g., promotion of telecommuting, land use planning, provision of public transportation);
- Material sobriety: by reducing the consumption of material goods and products (e.g.: reducing the rate of equipment, limiting packaging). These same goods indirectly require energy to be designed, assembled, transported, etc. This is referred to as indirect energy, or grey energy.
Specifically, you can:
- Consume local and seasonal products
- Decrease by 1°C the heating or increase by 1°C the air conditioning (7% energy saving according toADEME)
- Prefer walking or carpooling
- Choosing the right size vehicle or home (avoids over-consumption of energy)
All these small changes in our daily lives make a difference in terms of energy and the environment.
By combining energy efficiency with energy sobriety, we believe that we can move towards a thoughtful and equitable evolution of our energy needs and a reasoned use of technology.