Faced with rising gas and electricity prices, the metropolis of Dijon presented its plan. We are talking about it this Monday with the vice president of the metropolis of Dijon, responsible for the energy transition and renewable energies, Jean-Patrick Masson.
Can you explain to us what are the main lines of this energy sobriety plan that you presented on Saturday to the elect of the metropolis? What’s inside?
This plan must cover all sectors of activity of the metropolis. But with a fairly simple basic principle: we do not reduce the quality of public service, we do not close public structures. It is, I would say, the first evidence, because obviously afterwards it is a question of working on all the elements. So, for example, we ask ourselves the question about the temperature in gyms, in order to lower it by one or two degrees. This may slightly affect comfort. But we’re going to put on some sweater for a while and then it should be fine. But what I would like to say above all is that we have been working on this issue for ten years and even a little longer. We have isolated the buildings, we continue to do so. We have worked on systems with lower energy consumption. (…) we had foreseen, so obviously we did not know that there would be war, war in Ukraine, etc., but it has been a policy that has been followed for more than a decade.
The goal of the Dijon Métropole climate and energy plan for 2020 was precisely to reduce energy consumption by 20%. Has it already been done? Have we reached the goal?
Not really, I admit it right away. We are around 14%. Which is insufficient. I discussed this with a colleague from another community who will not name the size of Dijon. They are at 4%, so there is a real problem with that, which can only be long-term policies. There, today, we will meet again this winter, next winter, with needs linked both to the availability of energy and to the price. So two things we’re going to have to deal with. We are caught in a march. I said, we will have a little less commitment to do than others. And then everything we put into the climate energy plan for 2030, with new important reduction targets. I would add that the metropolis has been selected by Europe among the 100 sustainable, resilient cities capable of lowering consumption, capable of lowering these very important greenhouse gases in the fight against climate change.
How much does the increase in the price of fossil fuels cost the metropolis? So you understand well then?
Before the crisis, we had around € 6.5 million in energy expenditure in mainland France. We will be around 9 million. And if we hadn’t made the effort, the efforts we have made, we would be about 13 million. We can say that the bill for the communities has at least doubled overall. So this is a good example of the efforts we have made in previous years.
There has also been talk of using 20% renewable energy. Once again, was the bet successful?
The bet is not only a winning one, but largely overcome given that we are close to 40%, thanks to the urban heating network, and this is a very important element that we must keep in mind the fact that we have been working on local energies ever since. We essentially have wood and energy from the Dijon incineration plant. Working on local energies stabilizes the price for the user, i.e. we have long-term visibility. GG20 per 100 of gas on a network. Yes, I get the 20% gas boost but not the rest.
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