While the government is preparing an energy sobriety plan, a petition pleads to turn off all illuminated billboards. Would it serve to cut these screens?
To face the energy crisis and the passage of winter, can the extinction of all the billboards in France make the difference? The question does not arise for the signatories of a petition, who plead for a definitive cessation of digital advertising screens, which we meet in shopping centers, stations, airports or in the street.
Posted on September 13, 2022 on the GreenVoice platform, the petition gathered just over 6,300 signatures, including representatives of environmental and civic organizations (GreenPeace, Attac, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, etc.), parliamentarians , an economist, activists and a philosopher. All call on the President of the Republic to intervene in this regard.
This measure, they suggest, would also support the goals of the executive. The petition recalls that in the middle of the summer, the government announced a major sobriety plan in response to the serious energy crisis that Europe is going through. The measures adopted must strengthen our energy independence and reduce our consumption by 10% by 2024. »
It turns out that the government held a press conference on September 14 on the energy crisis. On this occasion, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the extension of the tariff shield in 2023 (with an increase limited to 15% in gas and electricity prices) and the sending of “energy” checks of 100 to 200 euros for 12 million households in 2022.
Nothing specific was said about these digital screens during the update. This could change in October, because the energy sobriety plan, which aims to reduce energy consumption by 10% within two years, will be presented at the beginning of the following month. Announcements on the light boards could take place, especially if the petition gains signatories by then.
What is the consumption of illuminated billboards in France?
However, a question arises: what is the concrete weight of these devices on consumption in France? The answer to this question can be found in a document from RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité, the operator of the electricity transmission network in the country, a subsidiary of EDF). And it turns out that this is not the most spectacular lever to operate.
RTE estimated that the reduction of these screens would have the effect of avoiding 0.5 TWh (terawatt-hour). In comparison, a year of consumption in France represented 475 TWh in 2019 – an altogether normal year, excluding the health crisis and the war in Ukraine. In sum, such an action would influence barely 0.1% of the total.
This is very low compared to other more effective levers (recourse to telecommuting, lengthening the lifespan of equipment, increased use of carpooling, reduction in traffic speed, consumption of less processed food, etc.), the activation of which would produce more massive gains. But they are not always easy to operate.
It turns out that the extinction of these light panels is one of the measures that are fairly easy to implement, on which the resistance is low, or even zero. RTE, moreover, classifies these screens among “superfluous” consumption, in the same way as storefront lighting, in a document concerning winter 2020-2021. The manager pleads to limit these panels.
The number of light panels installed in France is significant, and on the rise (there were 3,000 in 2013). According to the Environment and Energy Management Agency, in a report dated 2020, a 2 m² screen consumes 2,000 kWh per year. In comparison, the average electricity consumption of a household, excluding heating and hot water, is 2,700 kWh per year.
Taken in isolation, the lever of turning off the illuminated billboards will not be enough to achieve the objective of a 10% reduction in two years. But not using it, when it is one of the most accessible, could add difficulty. Other levers are more efficient, of course, but their use could generate much more resistance in the population.
This problem must be part of an overall reflection, at all levels, from the highest (the use of the individual car, the consumption of meat) to the lowest (advertising screens). This, all the more so if you want to drive this sobriety and not suffer it. A situation which would then materialize by rationing, even cuts.
