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The French may light up their monuments at night and use electric trains extensively, but they still use far less electricity, per capita, than Canadians.
July 8, 2009
Raise a glass to the French and energy conservation
Posted by Rob Klovance
The French seem to eat about 14 times as many croissants as we do, 23 times as much cheese and still stay thin. But that's not the so-called French Paradox that's on my mind.
More amazing than the presence of foie gras-eating skinny people is the fact that France, with twice Canada's population, uses less total electricity than we do.
My guess, from a recent trip to the south of that European country, is that the price of electricity in France – well over twice the kilowatt-hour cost of electricity in Canada – is one big reason the French are much further ahead on the path to conservation.
In most of the one- to three-star hotels we stayed in, hallway lighting was either motion-sensor activated or required the visitor to turn the lights on. The lights were on timers, and would go off again within a minute.
In several hotels, our digital suite entry key needed to be inserted into a slot just inside the door to allow for in-suite lights to be turned on. Even though we had two keys, it was a great way to remind us to shut everything off prior to leaving the suite.
Some underground parking lots went dark when there was no movement. Again, motion sensors turned the lights on only when they were needed.
Head to a French supermarket and you'll see that refrigeration is limited to foods which absolutely require refrigeration. More than 97% of milk sold in France is the non-refrigerated, UHT variety (ultra-high temperature) that doesn't require refrigeration until after it's opened. Reducing the chiller capacity at supermarkets and convenience stores through the sale of UHT milk is just one way that the French, per capita, use less than half the electricity we use.
While C02 emissions from power generation are not a great concern – about 80% of French electricity is from nuclear power plants – the high price of electricity really drives conservation. It pays off in the way people use electricity and the design of homes and larger facilities, including a Carrefour supermarket warehouse in Nimes that will feature 30,000 square feet of solar panels on its roof (about 80% of the total area).
Conservation on the road
And then there's car travel and gas consumption. In a country where the price of unleaded gas was about $1.80 Cdn per litre during our visit, driving is convenient, fast and... surprisingly affordable.
The French love their made-in-France cars, with Citroëns, Renaults and Peugeots dominating the market. And the French manufacturers manage to build cars that are both fast and fuel-efficient. They may not be large, but they're comfortable and hardly work up a sweat cruising at the posted maximum of 130 km/h on the nation's major highways.
We rented a manual-gearbox Peugeot 308 diesel that plain blew me away. We crammed it with way too much luggage for a family of three, drove it fast even on country roads, and finished the trip averaging 5.8 litres to 100 kilometres using cheaper diesel fuel that cost about $1.63 Cdn per litre. That's more than 48 miles to the imperial gallon, and made my Subaru Forester's consumption here in Vancouver look like that of a Hummer.
Even with tolls on the largest highways – tolls for a 300-kilometre trip from Antibes to Montpellier add up to about $25 Cdn – we still found the convenience of driving far outweighed the expense. In three weeks of driving, we saw no accidents, although we saw one car in a ditch, and not once were we subjected to an angry honk or glance from another driver. If road rage exists in France, we didn't see it.
Meanwhile, even though the French generate less than half the greenhouse gases per capita than do Canadians, they're still doing what they can to futher reduce their emissions. The Bordeaux wine growers association, for example, has committed to a 20% carbon emission reduction by its members by 2020, and they plan to do this by lightening the weight of their bottles and improving the efficiency of their transport.
So let's drink to the French and conservation, but instead of filling that glass with Bordeaux, make it an Okanagan meritage. It's a similar blend, it's delicious, and given that it's not being shipped from France, you'll be cutting a little carbon in the process.
Rob Klovance is managing editor of bchydro.com. He'll have more on buying local wine and beer in a future Unplug This Blog! post.
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