FranceCountry InformationHaving approximately 65 million inhabitants, France is the third biggest economy within the EU. A 75% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 sets the framework for the climate target of the French government. Therefore, an annual reduction of 3% of energy consumption is necessary.
Energy consumption decreased from 2005 to 2006 of about 1,2% while energy dependency remained high with 51.4% in 2006, even though it is still lower than in Germany. In 2005, 5% of the total energy consumed in France came from electricity generated from renewable energies.
In the context of its environmental programme (Grenelle de l’environment) France will invest more than € 440 billion in the field of sustainability and CO2 reduction. Corner stones within the programme are the promotion of solar thermal in old and social housing (€ 192 billion), renewable energies (€ 115 billion), conservation of biodiversity and waters (€ 23 billion) and energetic improvements of new buildings (€ 13 billion).
Impact and market potentialBuilding industry is the largest consumer on energy (70 millions tonnes oil equivalent per year) of all industries in France. This represents 43% of total final energy consumption. Against this background, 120 million tonnes of CO2 emissions (25% of France’s national emissions) are produced by construction industry’s energy consumption. These figures are planned to be reduced by 75% by 2050.
The ambitious French energy saving and the current situation of the French building stock constitute a large potential for future market development in the field of sustainable construction.
The current situation of French building stock is characterized by the fact, that 63% of all building did not fit to the applicable regulation on heat insulation in 2007. In contrast to that, in 2012 the regulation for LBC houses will restrict primary energy use on 50 kWh/cbm, in 2020 the restriction will be tightened to zero use of primary energy or even a positive energy balance. From 2020 all public and commercial buildings will have to accord to LBC regulation as well as they will have to use renewable energies.
The best cost-benefit ratio for investments in buildings are identified by experts for heat insulation, improved isolation in the fields of air tightness, quality of windows, ventilation technology. The market for modern building materials as well as new technologies in the field of isolation and craft, engineers and architects performance constitute a fast growing and important industry.
Since January 2008, energy performance diagnostics are a requirement at construction, sale and/or rental stages. Furthermore, designers are also obliged to execute feasibility studies to evaluate the various possibilities of energy supply prior to the planning application submission.
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