Point Renovation Info Service, France Energy Efficiency Information Centres & One Stop Shops Context France is heavily reliant in its energy mix on nuclear energy, which makes up around 80% of electricity provision, but only around 18% of final energy. The building sector represents 44.5% of France s final energy consumption and is the largest consumption sector, ahead of transport and industry. Heat is provided through a mix of natural gas (supplied to around 44% of homes), electricity (31%), and oil (20%). Renewables are a growing source representing around 20% of the final energy consumption in the residential sector, mostly wood biomass. The residential sector accounts for around 40% of France s natural gas use and together with commercial and public services sector accounts for 60%. Over 50% of France s residential buildings were built before the first thermal regulations were introduced in 1975. Energy efficiency enjoys a relatively high profile in the French population, with 84% seeing it as a quite or very important criterion when choosing a home to buy or rent. 1 The recently introduced Energy Transition Bill restated France s commitments to cut GHG emissions by 40% by 2030 and 75% by 2050 (on 1990), halve the country s energy use by 2050 and reduce the share of fossil fuels in energy production, cap nuclear production and increase the share of renewables. Important measures in the Bill include the increase of the French carbon tax to Euro 100/tonne by 2030. Separately, the buildings sector has a 38% energy consumption reduction target by 2020, on 2005 baseline (introduced by the Grenelle Law in 2009). The housing energy efficiency improvement plan (plan de re novation e nerge tique de l habitat PREH) was introduced in 2013. It sets out a range of measures to deliver against the aim to increase the rate of residential energy refurbishment from 150,000 dwellings per year in 2012 to 500,000 per year by 2017. The Point Renovation Info Service (PRIS) one stop shop initiative is a key element of, and is driven by, the PREH. The PRIS is a network of one stop shop advice centres, which have evolved from a pre-existing national network in place since 2001, named Espaces Info Energie. One stop shops are one part of a relatively comprehensive policy landscape to promote energy efficiency in buildings which includes building codes for existing buildings, retrofit labelling, tax credits and exemptions, zero interest loans and energy supplier obligations as well as R&D and training investment. Objective To increase the number of housing energy renovations from 150,000 per year to 500,000 per year in 2017 in line with the Housing Energy Renovation Strategy (PREH). 1 Fawcett et al eceee 2013
Programme description Main characteristics Organisation: PRIS network was established by merging of existing networks: Espaces Info Energie (EIE), local energy information centres created by ADEME (French Energy Agency) and local authorities in 2001 to provide advice to households on energy efficiency; Local information centres of ANAH (the National Agency for Housing which addresses fuel poverty through its Habiter mieux Living better programme); Local information centres of ADIL (Local Agency for Information on Housing). The services offered by each of these organisations and networks have been brought under the umbrella of the new national network to provide a route to assistance for all stakeholders, combining specialist services and subsidies for low income households (ANAH, ADIL) with the one stop shop provision for all others (EIE). These organisations delivering the services in the EIE network are largely not for profits or local authorities. Although a national network, each information centre has its own communication plan to reach clients and these vary from one locality to another. Length of establishment: under the current form the network has been established for 2 years, but the current incarnation is a development on, and consolidation of, previous local advice networks that have been in place since 2001 and which had already seen significant expansion. Target audience(s): Owner-occupiers, co-owners, landlords, tenants and social housing providers where the tenant is in fuel poverty. Scope: National coverage through a large network of local centres, with some regional organisation of centres. The centres offer an end-to-end information and assistance service for home renovation and behavioural change. Funding/financing model: Funding from central Government through Ademe, supplemented by local partnerships established with local authorities (regional and local). Delivery model: The advice centres are supported by a national programme which delivers two main services: a national telephone number and a national website (http://renovation-info-service.gouv.fr/). The website provides standardised first point of contact legal, technical and financial advice on energy refurbishment projects. It allows the individual to identify the local advice centre, contact an advisor by phone or to request a call back. The website also allows the individual to find a professional to undertake works or provide a quote. Clients are referred to a national network of 450 information centres which give objective, free advice on energy renovation projects for the home. Referrals are made to the relevant advice centre, based on criteria such as location and household income, to access the most relevant information and service. The EIE advice centres provide advice by phone/post/email and face to face by appointment, at surgeries or in the client s home or through mobile roadshows. They also perform outreach activities (for example stands at local fairs and conferences) to raise awareness and reach clients. The provision is locally defined, not nationally standardised.
Impact/evaluation Key expertise required (delivery organisation): Each energy advice centre applies its own training and recruitment policy. However, advisors typically have studied energy or environment issues for between 2 to 5 years (Serenade 2007). Ademe provides 2-3 days of free training on technical issues. Demand creation model: A national media campaign (TV, radio web and press) - J'éco-rénove, j'économise run by Ministry of Housing and Territorial Equality and the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, promotes home renovation to save money and directs the public to the national telephone number and website. Following this campaign (Oct 2013- Feb 2014) 60,000 contacts were made to the EIE network, a 78% increase on the same period in the previous year. The outreach activities undertaken by the EIE network also serve to create demand. Early surveys asking how PRIS one stop shop clients heard about the service show that the website was the most commonly identified source (19%), with word of mouth (15%), Ademe (13%), municipality/local authority (12%), local fairs (12%) and local/regional press (9%) all being significant additional sources. Quality Assurance & Control: Each local advice centre can impose its own quality control standard, but a national energy advice code of practice, which sets rules on issues of confidentiality and data protection, is used by all centres. Ademe undertakes national or regional evaluations. Monitoring/evaluation schedule An automated running evaluation of individual clients experience is in place for the PRIS network. Email surveys are sent to everyone who has contacted a PRIS 15 days after the contact to evaluate satisfaction with the service, and 1 year after the contact to evaluate the uptake rate of refurbishment and to capture the types of works that have been carried out. An evaluation last year (Ademe 2014) saw return rates of this survey at 26.5% (almost 10,000 responses) for the user satisfaction survey and 16% for the one year follow up. Satisfaction with the service was also evaluated to be very high, at 93%, and 75% of respondents would recommend the service. 63% of those who received advice went on to undertake significant works. 60% reported that the advice had contributed to their ability to undertake the works (29% of those surveyed said that the advice centre contributed significantly to the project a further 31% said it contributed partly). 55% reported that the advice received allowed them to go further with the works, and 59% reported the advice enabled them to specify their project to a contractor. The average value of works undertaken (based on analysis of 2 regions) was 12,000 Euro. In a separate study (Chedin, 2014) the most popularly reported work was installation of home insulation (78%) followed by installation of a new heating system (37.5%). Micro renewable installations were less popular with between 2% and 5.5% of respondents reporting undertaking solar of heat pump installations.
Market transformation Recent evaluation by Ademe (2014) reveals that detailed advice was provided to 194,478 clients in a year (Oct 2013-Oct 2014). The economic impact of the EIE network in this time has been estimated at 1 billion Euro. (Based on 63% of total clients undertaking works, 60% of which report that EIE contributed to the works, the average value of which was 12,000 Euro.) Based on this evaluation, CLER estimates that for those projects in which the advice network contributed significantly: 468 GWh and 75,000 tco2 are saved every year 728million Euro of works were generated which created 11,654 jobs (based on 16 jobs per million Euro) Energy savings The latest assessment of the direct environmental impact of EIE was carried out in 2011 by the ADEME and led to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 134,000 tonnes CO 2 equivalent. (NEEAP 2014)
Lessons Learned (Problems/ adaptations) France s national network of local centres is a model that appears effective in providing householders with a highly accessible and personalised service that encourages significant retrofit works to be undertaken. The recent changes, taking the previous EIE network into the new PRIS model, responded to an identified need to reduce duplication and create a one stop service that can respond to a large proportion of the population, bringing together provision for lower income households (from ANAH) with the more general public provision of EIE. The network achieves very high levels of user satisfaction. An evaluation from the Bourgogne region indicates that neutrality, technical skill and relevance of advice given are all valued very highly. This indicates that the highly usercentred service, able to provide information and advice on a range of issues, is a key factor in the network s success. The independence of the advice and its delivery through publicly funded services is another key strength. The very personalised service has also been credited with being effective at encouraging deeper retrofits (for example 55% of clients noted that the advice service allowed them to go further than they would have done otherwise), balancing the national financial incentive system (particularly tax credits) tends to encourage a focus on single measures. The PRIS case study raises some interesting questions around the value of independence of each local centre to deliver to local objectives versus a more standardised national approach. The need to share experiences and expertise more effectively to achieve a productive level of coordination has been identified by an evaluation of the EIE network outreach services (Tillerson). Overall coordination and governance of such a large network is a challenge. In the creation of demand, the use of a national campaign has been a key success factor creating significant traffic to the local services. However, a key challenge to the network will be how to ramp up this demand from the c. 200,000 enquiries per year currently generated to the target of 500,000 renovations completed per year by 2017. Linked to the creation of demand to meet the ambitious targets is the capacity of the network to respond to this demand. Much earlier evaluations of the EIE network (Tillerson 2007) indicated that central funding does not cover the entire cost of the service so local sources are relied upon. If the PRIS network is to have a driving role in reaching the target of 500,000 renovations a year by 2017, it could be assumed that the resources will need to be significantly increased to generate and meet the demand. There does not appear to be a long term funding plan in place to ramp up the services. Furthermore, concern has been raised around the reliance on numerous sources of funding (Ademe, regional and local authorities) which increases the risk of failure if any one source is discontinued (interviews and SErENADE 2007). A challenge identified by the advice providers themselves is the breadth of enquiries received from renewable energy to energy efficiency to transport and the complexity of issues which takes time to deal with (SErENADE 2007). This raises the question of how feasible is the delivery of a very personalised and resource-intensive service to very large numbers of clients? Linked to the cost of the advice service is the heavy reliance on the landscape of tax credits, subsidies and loans to incentivise individuals to take action. Survey data shows that governmental financial help was critical to 28% of energy renovations. (Fawcett et al 2013). There is a question about how much demand could be sustained in the absence of this generous landscape of funding and financing. (NB the experience of the Habiter mieux low income refurbishment programme, which suffered from lack of funding in light of huge demand, is relevant here [Dubois 2015]).
Accompanying measures France has had innovative financing products for the buildings sector since 2007, with low-interest loans for energy saving projects delivered through partnerships with banks, tax credits and sustainable development loans. The financial aid provided (zero interest loans and tax credits) are subject to the use by the householder of an accredited professional under the Reconnu Grenelle de l Environnement (RGE) scheme. This is in order to ensure the quality of the works and therefore the reliability of the energy savings from the projects receiving assistance. High energy performance renovation label for buildings that use less than 150 kwh/m2/year (for heating, hot water, lighting cooling and auxiliary utilities) and a Low-energy consumption building renovation label for buildings that achieve a primary energy consumption of less than 80kwh/m2/year. Perspectives Program potential-drawn from evaluations or other perspectives (studies)? References Ademe (2014) Dispositif d e valuation du programme EIE (2014) Chedin, Gregory. Ademe (2014) One stop shop for energy efficiency in buildings in France. Presentation to the second meeting of the Project monitoring of energy efficiency in the EU 30-31 January 2014 Dubois, Ute (2015) Alleviating poverty through energy efficiency measures: the French Programme Habiter mieux. ECEEE Summer study: First fuel now 2015. Fawcett, Tina; Killip, Gavin and Janda, Katy (2013) Building expertise: identifying policy gaps and new ideas in housing eco-renovation in the UK and France. ECEEE Summer study: rethink, renew, restart, 2013. International Energy Agency (2009) Energy policies of IEA countries: France Metreau, Elaine and Tillerson, Kenya (2007) Local energy advice centres in France: quite active but how effective? An evaluation of local energy actions in France. ECEEE Summer Study Energy Saving Just di it! 2007 Ministry of ecology, sustainable development and energy (2014) Energy Efficiency action plan for France 2014 SErENADE Partnership (2007) Energy advice in Europe Synthesis of Bourgogne Region EIE results for Ademe (2010-2012)