July 2017
abstract
Responsabilité & Environnement
Transition numérique et transition écologique
Issue 87
1 - Digital and environmental, two domains in transition
How to make the digital and environmental transitions converge?
By Damien DEMAILLY
Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI)
Renaud FRANCOU
Fondation Internet Nouvelle génération (Fing)
Daniel KAPLAN
Fondation Internet Nouvelle génération (Fing)
and Mathieu SAUJOT
Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI)
Damien Demailly , Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI); Renaud Francou , Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération (FING), Daniel Kaplan , Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération (FING), and Mathieu Saujot , Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI) The environmental transition sets an inevitable time frame for our societies while the digital transition is the driving force of our times. The environmental transition has a clear goal but is straining to find a way, while the digital transition is affecting everyday life and impelling change but without any clear collective goal. The one has a goal to reach; the other, a way to go. They need each other! However the agents in these two domains usually move in separate spheres without fully realizing the power for transformation that their convergence would bring. How to make these two major contemporary transitions converge?
How are the digital and environmental transitions interconnected?
By Patrice GEOFFRON
Université Paris-Dauphine, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, Laboratoire d’économie de Dauphine (LEDa), EA 4404, UMR IRD 225
Through complex relations, the digital and environmental transitions are shaping socioeconomic trends during the first half of this new century. The digital transition leaves environmental footprints, directly (owing, in particular, to the consumption of energy) and indirectly (via the stimulus imparted to social practices, such as tourism). But digitization is a necessary condition for realizing the environmental transition, in particular for managing ever more complex energy systems. Plans for “smart cities” give us a glimpse of the huge potential for innovation at the convergence of these two transitions and, too, of the disruptions in organizations. Methods of a “blockchain” type will stimulate peer-to-peer transactions that tend to decentralize the energy sector and conduce to the emergence of “carbon (or energy) currencies”.
Smart electric grids, a market on the edge of energy and domotics
By Ivan FAUCHEUX
Directeur du programme « Énergie-Économie circulaire », Commissariat général à l’Investissement
“Intelligence” ‒ a word derived from intelligentia in Latin, made up of the prefix inte- (“between”) and the root legere (“choose, pick”) or ligare (“link”) ‒ refers to all thought processes that enable a living being to adapt to new situations, to learn or understand and, above all, to act. Intelligence without action is futile. Artificial intelligence is now being installed on everyday objects. Everything is becoming “smart”: homes, buildings, grids… and, above all, the energy sector. Using the example of smart electric grids, this article establishes a few links between information and communication technology and the environmental transition in order to show that, if these two trends converge. A new type of economy ‒ perhaps a smart economy ‒ could emerge.
The digital society: A scenario for the energy transition by 2072
By Nadia MAÏZI
Directrice du Centre de mathématiques appliquées, Mines ParisTech, PSL Research University
Edi ASSOUMOU
Chargé de recherche au Centre de mathématiques appliquées de Mines ParisTech, PSL Research University
and Thomas LE GALLIC
Doctorant au Centre de mathématiques appliquées de Mines ParisTech, PSL Research University
Nadia Maïzi , director of the Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées, Mines ParisTech–Institut Mines-Télécom, PSL Research University; Edi Assoumou , junior researcher at the Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées de Mines ParisTech–Institut Mines-Télécom, PSL Research University; and Thomas Le Gallic , doctoral student at the Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées de Mines ParisTech–Institut Mines-Télécom, PSL Research University This forward-looking exercise focuses on the energy transition and the compatibility of a society where digital technology has been deployed with France’s goal of “carbon neutrality” by 2072. If we are not careful, climate programs might be compromised owing to the energy needed for information and communications technology. On the supply side, what digital techniques and objects are being designed to address climate problems? On the demand side, what lifestyle trends will this technology trigger in a “digital society”, and what impact will they have on energy consumption? Beyond the results of the scenario imagined herein, it is worthwhile examining a range of decision-making tools for laying out the pathways we would like to take.
2 - Digital technology, an accelerator of the energy transition?
Digital technology and energy: Between dreams and reality
By Alain BOURDIN
Professeur des universités, directeur de la Revue Internationale d’Urbanisme
Action needs to have grounds in the imagination if it is to be socially acceptable and move persons and users. The imagination has been tapped very little for the energy transition. “Technicist” visions have won out over those that arouse a positive imagination; there have been no words to soothe concerns about the accelerated impact of information and communications technology on everyday life. The few existing wisps of imagination are incapable of endowing changes in usages and behaviors with meaning, while the results obtained through pressure are not satisfying.
Digital technology and the energy transition
By Laurent MICHEL
Directeur général de l’énergie et du climat au ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire
and Guillaume MEHEUT
En charge des sujets de coordination interne et du suivi de la R&D et de l’innovation à la direction générale de l’énergie et du climat, en tant que directeur de cabinet
Laurent Michel , executive director of Energy and the Climate, Ministry of the Environmental Transition and Solidarity; and Guillaume Meheut , cabinet director in charge of internal coordination of R&D at the Directorate of Energy and Climate The energy and digital transitions under way are fundamentally different. The first leads toward a desirable goal (a low-carbon economy and society), while the second should serve economic, social or environmental objectives. Nonetheless, the convergence of these two transitions opens tremendous opportunities. Information and communications technology provides new possibilities to everyone (consumers, groups, firms) thanks to the access to data and the emergence of more interactive, flexible and decentralized “energy models”. Several problems must be addressed to profit from this technology’s full potential: control the consumption of energy by digital machines, ensure the security of information systems, set up new services for creating economic value, and redefine public and private stakeholders’ roles.
The issues and opportunities arising from open public data in the energy sector
By Sylvain MOREAU
Chef du Service de la donnée et des études statistiques (SDES), Commissariat général du Développement durable (CGDD), ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire
As the Internet has grown, gigantic data files on consumption by households and firms have become potentially fertile sources for processing. Using them for statistics is not all that different from the work that public offices of statistics are used to doing with administrative files ‒ apart from the wealth of time series and geographic information at an unprecedented level of detail that can be used to design ever more detailed indicators. Following the adoption of a new act on energy in France, public statisticians have a key role to play in making the information transmitted by producers and distributors available.
The electricity fairy’s digital wand
By Patrick MORILHAT
ED
and Thomas BLADIER
EDF,
Patrick Morilhat , head of a research program on improving the performance of nuclear power stations, Department of R&D, Électricité de France (EdF); and Thomas Bladier , head of the research program on customer relations, smart homes and digital technology for sales and energy services, Department of R&D, Électricité de France (EdF) Électricité de France (EdF) is accelerating its digital transformation in order to provide a sure, competitive and lasting supply of low-carbon energy, to offer the services expected by customers and to reinforce its position among world leaders in the energy sector. The digitization of internal processes and of customer relations, the development of smart grids, and the recourse to virtual reality and artificial intelligence to simplify the design and operation of production processes: these innovations bring productivity gains but, too, lastingly change jobs in the company and, thus, modify the needed skills and qualifications. What advances to expect from the digital transformation under way at EdF? What questions will arise? How to involve the actors affected by this transformation at all levels? What are the keys to success, and the risk factors?
Energy producers in the XXIst century: Digital technology at the service of consumers and the energy transition
By Fabien CHONÉ
Directeur général délégué de Direct Énergie
Direct Energie, a major player in France and Belgium, has compelled recognition as a well-balanced operator in the production and supply of electricity and natural gas. Having made innovation one of the major axes of its development, this firm is using digital technology for the energy transition and in response to consumer needs. Direct Energie, a supplier of “energy 4.0”, is seeking to position itself as a leader in “orchestrating” the consumption of energy by its customers. Given this strong position as the single supplier of energy to its customers, the regulatory framework for data transmission must be reviewed to make it compatible with the “single contract”, which binds a customer to a firm that both supplies and transports energy.
The digital revolution at the core of Engie’s transformation
By Gilles BOURGAIN
Directeur adjoint de la Stratégie du groupe ENGIE
Philippe SAINTES
Direction de la Stratégie du groupe ENGIE, en charge des études prospectives dans le domaine de l’électricité
V
incenzo GIORDANO
Observatoire des technologies digitales d’ENGIE
Étienne GÉHAIN
Chargé des programmes de R&D Corporate d’ENGIE sur les technologies digitales et de stockage d’énergie
and Maxime WEISS
Analyste à la direction de la Stratégie du groupe ENGIE
Gilles Bourgain , assistant manager of Strategy at the Engie Group; Philippe Saintes, in charge of futurological studies of electricity, Department of Strategy, Engie; Vincenzo Giordano, Observatoire des Technologies Digitales, Engie; Étienne Géhain, in charge of R&D programs on digital technology and storing energy at Engie; and Maxime Weiss, analyst in the Department of Strategy, Engie More than two billion people on the planet do not have access to a reliable supply of electricity, even as greenhouse gas emissions are to approach zero in the long term. It is urgent to invent an energy system by drawing on current trends in technology and galvanizing political and industrial actors. The digital revolution is a tool for accelerating the energy revolution, a catalyst for changes in the energy sector. In 2016, Engie underwent a thoroughgoing transformation in order to become the world leader in the energy revolution. Digital technology lies at the core of this transformation. It provides powerful leverage for cementing relations between the Engie Group and its stakeholders, making the group more operationally efficient, developing new business activities and improving agility.
Using the lever of innovation to make the energy transition successful
By Jérôme SCHMITT
Directeur de l'innovation et de l'efficacité énergétique de la nouvelle branche Gas, Renewable and Power de Total
From one major source of energy to the next, the energy sector has always been, and is still, undergoing changes, now at a buoyant rhythm. Classical business models sometimes have trouble keeping apace. The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP21, is not irrelevant, nor the accelerated digitization of our societies, the rapidly falling costs of energy from renewable sources or natural gas’s increased competitiveness with coal. Customer expectations are evolving too. As consumers, we do not pay any less attention to prices, but we are also reckoning more with our uses of energy and with the societal and environmental impact of our actions. Digital technology and artificial intelligence will help us foresee changes and steer a course. Thanks to leap-frogging, major technological solutions are now available (sometimes in simplified versions) on all continents. Some of the major players in energy will manage to adust and turn restrictions into opportunities. Initially promoters of big projects or salesmen, they must also design integrated solutions for customers, private persons or firms, who are demanding an optimized consumption. More customer-oriented business models will take account of efficiency as well as the optimization of energy sources and of product life cycles; and if need be, will provide compensation. They will better foresee lower costs and technological trends. All these changes are a fertile ground for innovation. To profit from these opportunities, Total has not stopped evolving…
Digitization and the open management of data: New prospects for electricity distributors
By Michel DERDEVET
Secrétaire général d’Enedis (anciennement ERDF)
At the core of both the energy transition and the digital revolution are the grids for distributing electricity during this era of big data. The electricity grid is becoming smarter and smarter, as it is equipped with sensors capable of providing information and data ‒ the leading example being the 35 million smart electricity meters to be installed in French households by 2021. Backed by recent legislation, the trend toward open data is, for distributors, both a requirement and a lever: an economic, social and environmental requirement for enabling localities to prove their sense of responsibility and for developing innovative services for citizens; but also a lever for distributors to become operators who, processing dynamic data, are open to their ecosystem ‒ a lever for making new business models emerge for the local management of energy.
The first neighborhood microgrid of shared energy, RennesGrid: A harbinger of the energy transition at the local level
By Thierry DJAHEL
Directeur développement et prospective, Schneider Electric
To develop a concrete policy for saving energy and for the energy transition, the Rennes metropolitan area and Schneider Electric have launched RennesGrid, a 20-year experiment with managing energy consumption at Ker Lann, an urban development zone located in Bruz township, 12 kilometers southwest of Rennes, France. Covering more than 160 hectares, Ker Lann groups: approximately sixty companies specialized in high technology; seventeen establishments of higher education, research and training; and residential units and dormitories for students. RennesGrid will make it less dependent on carbon energy thanks to the production of local, renewable sources using photovoltaic installations. For consumers, the objective is to reduce their energy needs and consume a renewable form of energy produced locally. Planned for operation at the end of 2017 and endowed with a global investment budget of €5.8 million, this experiment is a private business with a hold over three hectares of land under a 20-year concession. Its business model is, however, mainly based on a cooperative approach (in particular with residents of the zone) and on innovative arrangements for participatory funding.
Controlling the energy footprints of corporate information services and networks
By Laurent BENATAR
Directeur technique d’Orange France en charge des réseaux et des systèmes d’information
Telecommunications is the backbone of the digital revolution. Thanks to rapid technological progress, everyone now has permanent, inexpensive access to the Internet available everywhere at ever higher connection speeds. This availability is a real opportunity for sustainable development. For a telecommunications operator certified ISO 14001, like Orange, controlling the resulting environmental impact is a real issue. This control starts with the design of products and networks in a sector with a high turnover of material objects and considerable funds available for investment. A major concern is the everyday management of wastes from electronic equipment and from the consumption of electricity. Thanks to its ongoing efforts, Orange has obtained promising results, for example a significant reduction of energy consumption per usage.
The place of digital technology on the IEA’s energy roadmaps
By Kamel BEN-NACEUR
Agence Internationale de l’Énergie (Paris)
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has drafted roadmaps for the next four decades in collaboration with public and private producers and consumers of energy. For each type of energy, these roadmaps indicate the key elements for compliance with the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. They emphasize the role of digital technology, in particular smart grids, in the transition toward a more digital and more intelligent energy system. The conditions necessary for successfully transforming this sector are mapped out, while attention is called to the risks inherent in this transition.
3 - Beyond energy: Digital technology and the environment
Digital technology and the environment
By Françoise BERTHOUD
Directrice du GDS EcoInfo, LPMMC, UMR 5493, CNRS/UJF
Juxtaposing in a single sentence “digital” and “environmental” does not leave us indifferent. In our societies, a belief prevails in the quasi magical power of information and communications technology to find solutions for environmental problems. True, we are more or less aware that we should not turn a blind eye to the consumption of energy by digital objects, nor to the related wastes. However this does not change one iota our collective belief, nor our actions. Between a fuzzy vocabulary, bits of utterly simplified information, “alternative facts” and fixed ideas, it is hard to form an accurate idea about the state of current knowledge on digital technology’s environmental impact. For this reason, let us return to the facts and avoid rushing into a new environmental catastrophe. We should see digital technology as a tool assisting the environmental transition but should also remain aware of the problems that will crop up in a digitized world. A critique of four false ideas provides the opportunity to review critical pieces of information about information and communications technology’s negative effects…
Digital technology and environmental research: Which direction?
By François JACQ
Président de l’alliance de recherche AllEnvi
and Benoît FAUCONNEAU
Secrétaire exécutif d'AllEnvi
Research issues in ecology are all the more important insofar as the various scenarios for an environmental transition call for a systemic approach and for special attention to interfaces and coupling effects. The digital sciences offer a form of understanding that increasingly relies on model-building, simulations and a control over data and algorithms. The digital and environmental transitions raise questions for each other, and they share approaches. The issues and opportunities in the coming years are threefold: how to control complex systems and models of them on several scales (of time and space)? How to handle the proliferation of data that, though hard to process and control, opens new prospects? And how to equip public policy with instruments for interventions?
Photonics (the control of light) at the core of the environmental transition
By Karl GEDDAMUDROV
Directeur général d’Opticsvalley, accélérateur de business et d’innovation de la hightech
At the core of the environmental transition, photonics is reinventing our lives: smart, sustainable cities (the production of renewable energy and optimization of energy consumption, above all by the telecommunications infrastructure), factories of the future (precise and cleaner processes that consume fewer raw materials), etc. Photonic inventions (enhanced virtual reality and optical sensors) push in the same direction ‒ toward the production of ecofriendly products in environmentally friendly factories. However they might go farther and be disruptive as they replace methods of mass production with individualized methods of production.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS): A digital revolution at the service of the environment
By Laurence ROUÏL
Responsable du pôle Modélisation environnementale et Décision de l’Institut national de l'environnement industriel et des risques (Ineris)
After nearly ten years of exploratory research funded through European Commission programs, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) became operational at the end of 2015: https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/. In November 2014, the European Commission placed the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in charge of steering and managing these operational services. CAMS proposes forecasts, maps and data about: the chemical composition of the atmosphere on a global scale, ozone in the stratosphere, ultraviolet radiation and the quality of air in Europe. These services have come out of the research that, conducted by approximately fifty teams in Europe, uses all sorts of tools (digital models) or data (in situ and via satellite) to make analyses and forecasts on different scales of space and time. A new era has opened with the availability of products for free that, with unparalleled quality and exhaustiveness, target users’ needs and focus on topics as sensitive as the ecology of the atmosphere.
Digital technology and precision agriculture
By Jean-Paul BORDES
Directeur Recherche et Développement, Arvalis – Institut du végétal
The concept of precision agriculture emerged in France at the turn of the XXIst century, its objective being to provide the “right dose, at the right place, at the right time”. Its underpinnings are still solid: a plot of farmland is a heterogeneous living environment. For want of adapted materials and spatially specific agronomic advice, this heterogeneity has long been a handicap, since farmers could only adopt “average” practices for their fields. Reinforced by the progress made in digital technology, precision agriculture is turning this handicap into an opportunity. The digital revolution is now expanding into all branches of economic activity, including agriculture, and opening new perspectives thanks to the coming generations of sensors and of computationally intense information systems.
An environmental NGO’s viewpoint
By Morgane CRÉACH
Directrice du Réseau Action Climat France (RAC-F)
Beyond positive examples, the relations between the digital and environmental transitions are far from natural. Not only does the digital transition have a major impact on the environment, but also many of the new uses and practices resulting from it fall far short of a better conservation of our planet. The reason is simple: that is not the reason for being of digital technology. Should we continue thinking about these two transitions separately? Might certain innovations not be necessary for a revolution in the production and consumption of energy and in the means of transportation ‒ especially if this revolution is to be conducted at a level and pace sufficient for shielding us from irreversible climate changes? Far from being the only instrument for the environmental transition, the digital transition has a role to play under certain conditions…
Accelerating Energy & Environmental Transition in Europe through digital
By Julia REINAUD, Nicolas CLINCKX, Paul FARAGGI
Director I24C
Digitalization is becoming ubiquitous in the energy sector, enabling a more decentralized energy system and blurring the traditional energy sector boundaries, with more integration with buildings, mobility solutions and industry. Digitalization is accelerating the pace of the energy transition, mainly thanks to three levers: 1) enhancing customer interaction with the energy system, 2) optimizing operations, and 3) enabling new business models for traditional energy actors as well as opening up space for new entrants from other sectors and energy startups. Digital technologies are also facilitating a cost-effective, clean energy transition, mainly by increasing energy efficiency and flexibility, as well as enabling the integration of renewable electricity into smart(er) grids and developing low-carbon solutions. This article gives a brief overview of the digitally-enabled innovations in Europe’s energy markets and how various players are positioning themselves to take advantage of these opportunities. It concludes by highlighting some of the policy issues this transformation raises and the challenges ahead for European businesses to reap the benefits.
Can we believe in a “green” information and communications technology?
By Fabrice FLIPO
Philosophe des sciences et des techniques, Mines-Télécom/TEM, Laboratoire LCSP
Information and communications technology seems to have come at the right time in response to the issues related to sustainable development. It allows for a “control of control”, for which the philosopher Michel Serres has called in The Natural Contract. Nowadays however, it seems to be at the service of economic growth alone.
Miscellany
Water policy governance
By Aziza AKHMOUCH
Responsable du programme sur la gouvernance de l’eau de l’OCDE
and Delphine CLAVREUL
Analyste des politiques se rattachant au programme sur la gouvernance de l’eau de l’OCDE
For decision-makers everywhere around the world, climate change, demographic pressure and intense urbanization are major factors for managing the water supply. Owing to both the inherent characteristics (multiscale, multiactor, multitemporal) of water management and its very heavy externalites in essential fields (such as public health, agriculture, energy and rural and urban planning), the governance of the water supply is essential to successfully drafting and implementing public water policies conducive to: local economic development, conservation of the environment and the well-being of citizens. Since 2010 (especially since its adoption of a set of water governance principles), the OECD has been advising governments, at all levels, about drafting and implementing water policies. The goal is to improve systems of governance for managing water resources that are too abundant or too scarce, or that are of poor quality, in a way that is sustainable, integrated and inclusive.
Water boards: Prospective retrospection
By Bernard BARRAQUÉ
Directeur de recherche émérite au CNRS (Centre international de recherche sur l’environnement et le développement – CIRED)
and Patrick LAIGNEAU
Consultant indépendant
To fund water boards, a minimal principle of subsidiarity might be accepted in order to move toward managing water resources as a common good. According to their charters, water boards are neither state establishments, which levy taxes, nor “water markets”, which have difficulty operating (even in the United States, due to transaction costs). They are public establishments at the service of users; their official assignment is to protect the environment as effectively as possible through agreements between boards (as in the Ruhr).