The government wants to convince the French of the interest of cutting Wi-Fi before any prolonged departure from home, evoking precious energy savings which could very quickly become useful.
Energy sobriety is on the rise, while we could be on the cusp of energy shortages, planned for this fall by the authorities. So what to do to guard against it and avoid cuts in the coming weeks? The government recommends that all households going on vacation for a few days or even just a weekend to disconnect their local Wi-Fi and therefore simply switch off their internet box, which can consume much more than imagine it.
An internet box accounts for 2% of the annual electricity consumption of the French
At the beginning of July, the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) published various explanatory tables showing us how much household appliances consume, on average. Imagine that an internet box alone consumes no less than 97 kWh/year, i.e. an annual electricity cost estimated at 16 euros.
If you are one of those millions of French triple-play enthusiasts, you also have a TV decoder at home: then count 87 kWh consumed each year, for a budget of around 15 euros. And add to that the average annual consumption of a television estimated by Ademe at 187 kWh/year, which is equivalent to 32 euros of electricity.
But what is interesting is the share of an internet box in the overall consumption of a French household. The agency estimates it at 2%, that is to say as much as a washing machine.
Cut Wi-Fi, but not only!
In France, household electricity consumption represents 33% of national electricity consumption. So, even if the share of Wi-Fi in your consumption is not gigantic, the government said to itself that on a certain scale, the energy savings achieved would not be negligible.
If, obviously, all the French do not have the chance to go on vacation or weekend during the year, the spokesman of the government, Olivier Véran, has in recent days insisted on the interest of this reflex. He has also extended the advice of cutting his Wi-Fi to other electrical devices, as many as possible, based on the recommendations of Ademe.
We may not be aware of it, but 15 to 50 devices are on standby in French homes. And the devices categorized by Ademe as “multimedia and IT” still represent 13.5% of household electricity consumption. They would even weigh for 4.5% of the electricity consumed in France. No, there are no small savings.
Sources: BFM TV, Ademe
54