Can energy savings certificates help in boiler scrappage programs? Exploring the market agencing of a detachment policy

ABSTRACT

Decreasing our use of energy resources constitutes a major detachment challenge for contemporary society. This article investigates the involvement in this challenge of a recent public policy instrument, the Energy Savings Certificates (ESC) system. It focuses on a particular application in the impledementation of boiler scrappage schemes, through which consumers are invited to replace an old heating appliance with a new, more virtuous one in exchange for a premium paid by the State. 3 scrappage programs conducted in France between 2011 and 2017 are examined. Using the perspective of market agencing, the article sheds light on the entanglement of scrappage programs and ESC infrastructure and on the specific role of the State in this public policy context.

KEYWORDS:

• Detachment
• energy savings certificates
• heating
• sociology of energy
• public policy
• market studies

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the constructive comments received from the reviewers, from the participants to the Economies of Detachment workshop held in Toulouse in September 2018, as well as from the participants to the EGOS Session 56 in Edinburgh in July 2019. I am particularly indebted to Mandy De Wilde for her comments on the role of installers and to Phil Roscoe for attracting my attention on the fact that “a boiler” in English slang may designate “an older unattractive women who is only good for the pot” – I hope this double meaning doesn’t bring any confusion in the argument of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ESCs are also known by other names in scholarly literature or in public policy, including Energy Efficiency Credits (EECs) and Tradable White Certificates (TWCs).

2 Economics and policy research have quite well qualified the implications of this kind of intervention in the market dynamics, questioning notably the modality of determination of premiums allowing to maximise the incentive effect (Alberini, Harrington, and McConnell 1995), the capacity of this policy to really generate positive environmental effects (Van Wee, De Jong, and Nijland 2011), the potential deadweight loss effects generated, its relationship with inspection and maintenance policies or other public policy approaches (Hahn 1995). The scholarship on this topic doesn’t study the interaction of scrappage programs with policy tools such as the Energy Saving Certificates scheme.

3 In the ESC system, the accounting unit for energy savings is the kilowatt-heure CUMulé et ACtualisé (cumulated and discounted), hence the abbreviation “kWh Cumac”. For the period 2011–2013 the French State had set an overall energy saving objective of 345 Terawatt-hours Cumac to be achieved by energy suppliers and distributors.

4 The amount of kWhCumac collected depends on a series of technical parameters, like for instance the region where the boiler is installed, considered from the angle of a “climatic zone”. See “Arrêté du 19 juin 2006 définissant les opérations standardisées d’économies d’énergie.” Journal Officiel de la Répulique Française n°156 du 7 juillet 2006 page 10178.

5 See UFC Que Choisir (2018).

6 Compared to conventional boilers, condensing boilers reuse the water vapour contained in the flue gas, and condense it to recover heat, thus consuming 10% to 25% less gas for the same amount of heat produced.

7 The collection was carried out on the Europress database, using the words prime, casse, chaudière (the French equivalent for “scrapping premium for boilers”) in the full text of the articles.

8 Callon, Méadel, and Rabeharisoa (2002) use the term “hybrid forum” to point to the various public spaces where the organization of market is nowadays the object of a reflexive activity, and where various actors intervene: professional economists, industrialists, consumer associations, social movements, experts in management techniques, etc.

9 Please note that this article deals with boilers installed in private homes. The issue of infrastructure is indeed present but it is very different from the case of district heating networks (Webb 2014), and I approach boilers here mainly from the perspective of market commodities.

10 “Chauffage: à chaque besoin sa solution,” Côté maison, 9 October 2011.

11 Frédéric Plan, Delegate of the Fédération Française des Combustibles, Carburants et Chauffage (FF3C), cited in “La prime à la casse des vieilles chaudières: un four,” l’Est Républicain, 3 March 2011.

12 “Chaudières: le grand flou de la prime à la casse,” Ouest France, 10 October 2011.

13 “Comment bien choisir une chaudière à condensation,” Le Progrès, Informations-Services, 11 December 2011.

14 “Des aides financières pour se chauffer écolo,” La république du Centre Ouest, 23 September 2017; “Plan climat: Nicolas Hulot dévoile ses quatre mesures phares,” 20 min, 18 September 2017.

15 The company was created in 2008 by the merger of Suez and the incumbent gas supply operator “Gaz de France”. Despite the gradual opening to competition, it still supplied 81% of French households in 2013.

16 “GDF Suez paiera la prime à la casse des chaudières à gaz,” Agence France Presse, 3 March 2011.

17 “A qui profite la prime à la casse des chaudières,” L’UsineNouvelle.com, 3 May 2011.

18 lesechos.fr, 2 March 2011.

19 “Mise en place d’aides à la modernisation du parc des chaudières fioul domestique,” Press release FF3C, 21 April 2011.

20 “Les fioulistes ensemble pour économiser l’énergie,” Environnement magazine, 1^er novembre 2006.

21 “Les fabricants de chaudière paieront aussi la prime à la casse,” L’UsineNouvelle.com, 15 septembre 2011.

22 “Chaudières: le grand flou de la prime à la casse,” Ouest France, 10 October 2011.

23 “L’an dernier, mon fournisseur de gaz … ” La nouvelle république du Centre Ouest, 20 September 2012.

24 “Economies d’énergie: des aides bien réelles pour financer vos travaux,” Le particulier pratique, 1 May 2017.

25 https://www.quechoisir.org/actualite-chaudiere-au-fioul-prime-a-la-casse-doublee-n9323/, accessed on 14 April 2020.

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Alexandre Mallard

Alexandre Mallard is Director of the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation at MINES ParisTech, PSL Research University. Originally trained as a sociologist of science and technology, he now works in the field of economic sociology. He has conducted research on sales activity, on very small businesses and on the rise of network interactions in the corporate environment. His current research projects investigate the social inscription of innovation, at the crossroads between economic sociology and political science.