Energy scenario modelling has been a common exercise for several decades within companies, international organisations, national public bodies and the scientific community. These exercises have become much more popular in recent years, particularly since the 2015 Paris Agreement, which made the goal of carbon neutrality central to the political objectives of many countries. A number of studies, both in France and internationally, have sought to explain plausible and contrasting trajectories for achieving carbon neutrality in the energy system. The results of this work have led to a consensus around three essential levers for achieving carbon neutrality: the decarbonation of energy, energy efficiency and sobriety.
Définitions
Definitions
– The decarbonation of energy refers to the replacement of a fossil fuel energy source with an energy source that emits low levels of greenhouse gases (known as low-carbon energy). This applies to both energy production (e.g. replacing a coal-fired power station with a wind farm) and demand-side technologies (e.g. using an electric car instead of a heat-powered one, or a heat pump instead of a gas boiler).
– Energy efficiency refers to all the techniques that make it possible to reduce the energy consumption required to satisfy a given need, without changing user behaviour. In more technical terms, it refers to the reduction in primary and final energy consumption required to satisfy a need expressed in terms of “useful” energy. Energy efficiency refers to the performance of equipment and infrastructure: insulation in housing, energy consumption of a car, energy class of a household appliance etc. It is also linked to the sustainability, reuse and recycling of products. Designing objects with a longer lifespan makes it possible to limit renewal cycles, and therefore the energy consumption linked to their manufacture and end-of-life.
– Sobriety refers to the reduction of energy consumption at the source of the need, by reducing its nature or intensity of a spec
