Have the French suddenly become more virtuous?

All opinion polls show that the French, and especially the younger generations, have fears about the future of our world, especially on ecological issues. Indeed, according to a survey by LCI, eco-anxiety is gaining 74% of French people, 85% of them fear the appearance of phenomena related to climate change in their region within 5 years. We should therefore be able to rejoice at the announcements of RTE on the 8.5% decrease in our energy consumption, which the state has widely promoted.

However, can we consider that this decrease is attributable to a collective awareness of the issues and to profound changes in our uses? It is obvious that the impact of regulations that have become stricter in France with the tertiary decree is forcing a certain number of economic actors to take measures in favor of more virtuous practices. However, on a population scale, it is difficult to attribute these results to profound changes in our consumption patterns. The main reason for this decrease is directly linked to the energy crisis and the unprecedented increase in supply prices forcing many individuals and professionals to change their uses, creating operating risks for many small and medium-sized businesses. Government incentives have had little effect, even if public policies aimed at containing the effects of the increase can be seen as a valuable aid.

In France, the new construction standards for several years now have largely contributed to making our buildings less energy consuming. But what about existing buildings, which represent the majority of the stock? The evolution of awareness is a reality but it is slow and the means of action to fight against our energy drifts are still underdeveloped.

Changing our habits will therefore require education and the impact of each individual in this necessarily collective effort.

Beyond this generalized awareness, we are convinced that the modification of our uses must go through a reinforcement of innovation and technologies allowing better consumption. There is a lot of room for improvement and the implementation of more virtuous management rules is an obligation if we want to sustainably transform our approach to the challenge of the century.

The implementation of technologies and services that allow buildings to be less energy intensive is one of the keys. Some of the answers are already to be found in the ecosystem of innovative companies that are working every day to transform mindsets and habits, in particular through the implementation of tools that are often inexpensive and non-intrusive.

As the song says, “for the young people of the year 2000, it’s not the same deal anymore” and the state will have to participate in this democratization and participate even more in the promotion of existing solutions that have proven their worth in order to reach our sobriety objectives.