Policies for low-carbon and affordable home heating: A French outlook

Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan; Bourgeois, Cyril; Quirion, Philippe

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112140

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…France ranks twentieth in the classification of countries using heating networks for heating needs. According to the 2018 data from the Observatory of Heating and Cooling Networks, three million people are connected to a heating network in the residential sector and three million in the tertiary sector [161]. Heat accounts for almost half of the final energy consumption, i.e., 751 TWh.…”

Section: District Heatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Transition in France

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To address the climate emergency, France is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. It plans to significantly increase the contribution of renewable energy in its energy mix. The share of renewable energy in its electricity production, which amounts to 25.5% in 2020, should reach at least 40% in 2030. This growth poses several new challenges that require policy makers and regulators to act on the technological changes and expanding need for flexibility in power systems. This document presents the main strategies and projects developed in France as well as various recommendations to accompany and support its energy transition policy.

show abstract

Section: District Heatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Transition in France

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In 2016, the government spent over €3 billion on these programmes, including over €1.5 billion on income tax credits alone, benefiting about 1 million households (IGF and CGEDD, 2017). In a related paper, Giraudet et al (2021a) project that, with the carbon tax increasing at the rate assumed in Table 4 and subsidy rates kept at their current levels, carbon tax proceeds will exceed the public cost of subsidy programmes in 2025 and thereafter. The government could therefore take advantage of the pre-existing administrative infrastructure to better connect the two systems.…”

Section: Policy Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a related paper,Giraudet et al (2021a) consider two polar cases, namely myopic and perfect expectation of the tax rate. They find significantly higher uptake of energy efficiency investment in the former case.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lump-sum vs. energy-efficiency subsidy recycling of carbon tax revenue in the residential sector: A French assessment

Bourgeois

Giraudet

Quirion

2021

Ecological Economics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Empirical evidence suggests that carbon taxes are best accepted when their revenue is used to finance abatement measures. This revenue recycling option has however received little attention in modelling assessments. With the aim of filling this gap, we assess the impact of the French carbon tax on energy use for residential heating and compare the cost-effectiveness and distributional impacts of two revenue recycling options: lump-sum payment and subsidies for home energy retrofits. We do so using Res-IRF, an energy-economy model that provides a highly detailed description of housing features (single vs. multi-family, energy efficiency, heating fuel) and key household characteristics (tenancy status, income). We find that the two recycling options offset the regressive impacts of the tax in comparable ways. Lump-sum recycling is particularly effective in reducing inequalities between owner-occupiers and tenants. In turn, subsidy recycling saves energy and increases comfort more cost-effectively. In the discussion, we further point to some advantages of subsidy recycling from both a political and administrative perspective.

show abstract

“…These figures tend to be higher amongst those unsatisfied with their original comfort levels, often related to fuel poverty (Sorrell et al 2009). Where residents are satisfied with comfort levels there is still considered to be a potential rebound effect of around 20% (Aydin et al 2017;Giraudet et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking retrofit of residential heritage buildings

Wise

Moncaster

Jones

2021

Buildings and Cities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What are the opportunities and challenges for upscaling the energy retrofit of heritage buildings? Heritage buildings comprise approximately 20% of the UK building stock and are challenging to retrofit sensitively because of their heritage values and traditional construction. These buildings may therefore be unconducive to standard retrofitting approaches. Twelve case studies in the UK are examined. Three key findings are presented together with their implications for upscaling retrofit. First, heritage residents are found to engage in positive energy behaviours, which differ from standard assumptions and have a significant impact on energy demand. Second, standard energy models are shown to considerably overestimate the energy use within heritage buildings, failing to accurately portray both traditional construction and residents' behaviours. Third, residents consider many common retrofits, such as replacement windows and wall insulation, to be unacceptable to their heritage values. A number of more acceptable and less invasive 'soft retrofits' were modelled and shown to have significant potential for reducing energy and carbon. Therefore, a more holistic approach to heritage building retrofitting needs to be taken, treating the complex interrelationship of buildings and their users as a system, and expanding notions of retrofitting to include soft retrofits and user behaviour. POLICY RELEVANCEThis research identified the importance of appropriately retrofitting heritage buildings, which include around 20% of the UK building stock. Standard solutions such as wall insulation and window replacement are unlikely to be enacted by most heritage residents because they are not acceptable to their heritage values, suggesting the need to prioritise other measures. Standard energy models such as Reduced data Standard Assessment Procedure (RdSAP) were found to be inaccurate for heritage buildings, overestimating energy use by both buildings and occupants, and should not be used to inform retrofit decisions for these buildings. Notions of retrofit should be expanded beyond fabric FREYA WISE ALICE MONCASTER

show abstract

Policies for low-carbon and affordable home heating: A French outlook

Cited by 13 publications

References 32 publications

Energy Transition in France

Energy Transition in France

Lump-sum vs. energy-efficiency subsidy recycling of carbon tax revenue in the residential sector: A French assessment

Rethinking retrofit of residential heritage buildings

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About