In a country which gets around 75% of its electricity from nuclear power, and billions of euros from exportation of its civil nuclear technology, the call to dump it could appear akin to science fiction. Yet Négawatt, an association of French environmentalist energy specialists, drew a crowd for its recent presentation of a plan for France to pull out of nuclear energy by 2033 while also halving CO2 emissions by 2030 and converting almost entirely to renewables by 2050. The nuclear industry and two ministries sent emissaries, and the plan now looks set to feature in the 2012 presidential election campaign. Jade Lindgaard reports.
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While the rest of Europe bristles with think-tanks on how to make the transition from dependence on carbon-dioxide-producing fossil fuels to sustainable and renewable forms of energy, in France such groups are strangely lacking. Just one single independent association plays that role; Négawatt, a collective of environmentalist energy specialists formed in 2001.
This autumn, Négawatt presented a plan that throws down a gauntlet to the French authorities and main political parties which, for some 30 years, have presented nuclear power as France's only real option, providing energy independence and low-priced electricity and generating less CO2 than fossil fuels.
The association, however, says it is perfectly possible for France to pull out of atomic energy completely by 2033 and also halve its CO2 emissions by 2030. On Négawatt's plan, by 2050 the country could meet nearly all its energy needs from renewable sources and restrict the use of fossil fuels to just a few industries.
The starting point for achieving this, Négawatt said, is not to focus on whether or not to keep nuclear power in the energy mix but to rethink the way energy is used. That means researching all possible energy savings from household and industrial consumption and using the information obtained to define energy policy.
Such a ‘bottom-up' approach reveals a vast mine of potential savings which would allow people to use far less electricity, gas and petrol than now and yet keep the same level of comfort in their daily lives, Thierry Salomon, Négawatt's president, told the presentation on September 29th.
The savings would not only come from individual efforts, like people using their cars less or routinely turning off electronic gadgets rather than leaving them in sleep mode. They would also require technological progress in making appliances more economical, lower speed limits on the roads and setting maximum levels of energy use in housing.
The more demand for energy falls, the more renewables will be able to meet energy demand, Négawatt said.
And France could cut energy consumption by over 600 TWh by 2050 compared with estimates based on current trends, by doing two things: cutting energy use in buildings to an average of 40kWh per m2 a year; and optimising heating systems, Négawatt claimed.
Low-energy buildings and renewable gas supply
Renovation of buildings is one of the plan's key recommendations, as it would produce the biggest energy savings. Négawatt's experts say this would ultimately need to involve 750,000 homes and 3.5% of total office space each year.
Heating systems would change, with electric convection heating, heating oil and butane and propane gas being phased out. Wood, gas via the transmission network, electric heat pumps and solar thermal energy would take their place.
For transport, rather than seeing all-electric cars as the vehicle of the future, as they use a lot of electricity and do not have a very big range, Négawatt advocates natural gas vehicles (NGVs). This solution would be suitable for cars use in urban fringes and rural areas, as well as for buses, it said.
NGVs run either on biogas, which is methane made from fermentation of organic material, or synthetic gas, methane synthesised from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Ultimately, NGVs could represent over 60% of all journeys in cars or buses, it said.
This makes gas a key element in the plan. Négawatt proposes developing production of biogas and synthetic gas in France. Germany already has advanced experiments along these lines.
A major incentive to develop this technology is that it recycles CO2 emissions from industries like metallurgy, paper and electricity. The gas produced would be piped to consumers through the existing distribution network.
Making gas production local would also increase supply security. Piped gas would be used either for heating, or to power cars, or to produce electricity. This would bring stability and flexibility to counterbalance the unpredictability of solar and wind power, Négawatt said.
"It would be the start of a social change that requires thinking about an entire energy transition, not only nuclear power and electricity," said Négawatt's Salomon.
Fukushima prompts new interest
Négawatt borrowed its name from a term coined by environmentalist Amory Lovins in 1989 to denote units of energy saved in conservation or efficiency measures. "It's a great expression that allows us to make visible that which is invisible - the biggest energy source is the one we can save," Salomon said.
When the group last published a 40-year energy outlook in 2006, only 150 people came to listen. But since then, fears over the safety of nuclear plants have grown in the wake of the accident earlier this year at the Fukushima power station in Japan, which prompted Germany, Italy and Switzerland to say they would withdraw from nuclear power.
Nearly 600 people came to the presentation of Négawatt's plan in September, including representatives from French electricity utility EDF, nuclear power plant maker Areva and the ecology and energy ministries.
The French Green party alliance, Europe Écologie-Les Verts, and the Socialist Party have set up joint working groups on the subject. And in September the centre-right government created a commission under industry minister Eric Besson to examine possible energy scenarios out to 2050.
All of which suggests that Négawatt's new energy plan could well become a key reference for debating energy policy in the 2012 presidential election campaign.
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English version: Sue Landau
(Editing by Graham Tearse)