2023-08-08 05:10:00
Almost ten years ago, Damien Ernst, professor at ULiège, appeared in the Belgian media landscape. Since then, he has become a very present character, what is called a “good client” for journalists. Climate, energy and artificial intelligence are his favorite subjects. But he sometimes strays from his area of expertise to comment on various topics, such as handling the coronavirus pandemic.
But who is Damien Ernst? Our colleagues from La Libre Belgique paint a portrait of the engineer. “I lived in a fairly modest environment, with a teaching dad and a stay-at-home mother, he explains to us. My parents were very academically oriented. For them, it was a social lift”. With his brother and sister, he lived a “very simple and very happy” childhood and adolescence.
Fan of Star Wars
Fan of science fiction, especially Star Wars, the Liégeois always knew he wanted to be an engineer. During his studies at ULiège, he crossed paths with Professor Mania Pavella, who was to give an important direction to his career. “At the end of the fourth year, she suggested that I do research on electrical networks, he recalls. At first, I did not see myself in this field. I didn’t even know they were doing research on that. For me it was just power lines. I discovered, at that time, that this field is fascinating”.
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Alongside energetic matter, Damien Ernst very quickly became interested in artificial intelligence (AI). He also did his doctoral thesis on reinforcement learning strategies.
From 27 to 35 years old, his research work focuses on artificial intelligence. “I was disappointed with the performance of the AI applied to electrical networks, he explains. So I invented new algorithms, to try to solve problems related to the management of electrical networks”.
At 35, Damien Ernst takes the head of the EDF Luminus chair at ULiège. If he returns, on this occasion, in the field of energy, AI remains his “favorite tool” to manage the problems of the electrical networks. In 2013, he made his first notable media appearance.
In an interview with Le Soir, he denounces the “great illusion” of wind power in Wallonia. According to him, the Walloon political ambitions in terms of wind energy are unrealistic, given the permit blockages that affect the majority of projects. “I was not at all prepared to find myself in Une du Soir, he confides. I was also summoned by the office of Jean-Marc Nollet. And Edora, the renewable federation, wanted to grill me”.
Contrary to what one might think, the professor had a hard time dealing with these moments of high tension. “Every time I do this kind of A, there is an incredible level of stress, I’m afraid of the fallout, he says. I’m naturally very stressed”.
Denunciation of the load shedding plan
A year later comes an feat of arms that definitively launches his media career. In 2014, Belgium is preparing a load shedding plan in the event of a power shortage. But the plan is unbalanced: Wallonia is much more affected than Flanders. After denouncing this community imbalance in the press, Damien Ernst wins his case: the load shedding plan is modified
According to the professor, “the violence of the critics” towards him has changed over the years. “Before, we were aiming for the expert,” he explains. Now I know I have a target on my back. At the slightest slip, I take a shit storm. I can’t tweet like I used to. It happens that the rector of the university gets letters asking to kill me. So I pay a lot more attention”.
In the sights of “environmental activists”
Damien Ernst believes he was targeted by “decreasing environmental activists. I exposed myself a lot by defending a technological vision of ecology, he develops. I think the climate problem can be solved by machines. This is not the dominant vision of ecology, where degrowth dominates. These groups have identified me as a person to be killed. It’s very violent, I have to be careful”.
When it is pointed out to him that many experts, outside environmental circles (in particular the International Energy Agency), plead in favor of behavioral changes, he replies this: “The IEA is not the Holy Grail, he explains. It was seriously mistaken in its forecasts for photovoltaics. Here again, she does not see the arrival of technologies such as the capture of CO2 in the air. And she does not see the arrival of energy hubs, where we could produce electricity at very low cost with photovoltaics and wind power”.
He has sometimes “gone too far”
Now is the time to bring out some controversial tweets. Like the time he warned of the imminent release of water in France, in the midst of a critical period of flooding. “These are tweets published in a very particular context, he defends himself. Very close to my home, the neighborhood was devastated by the floods, I experienced that very closely. I relayed the news live, like a journalist covering an event. If the info is not accurate, I delete it, I do not find it shocking. Again, this tweet was taken out of context, to put the man down.”
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And give another example. “I gave an interview to the Polish national press agency, he explains. It was taken up by a very right-wing Polish journalist. I was accused of being far right because the info was taken up. It just doesn’t make sense”.
But does he have any regrets? “I sometimes regret the consequences of my messages, he nuances. When we use the message to give it another meaning, I regret not being careful enough. Now I try that my tweets can no longer be hijacked”.
However, he admits that he has sometimes “gone too far”. “It was often inappropriate or dark humor, but nothing more,” he says.
What does he think of the qualification of allologist, addressed by certain critics? “During the first part of my media life, I gave my opinion on everything, he admits. I am very curious, I am interested in many subjects. But for me it was just an opinion. I didn’t take him any more seriously than anyone else. Politicians, editorial writers give their opinion on everything…”.
”In favor of a carbon tax”
If Damien Ernst pays more attention to what he posts on the networks, we feel that he still likes to provoke. When he goes to eat with Corentin de Salle, the controversial theoretician of the MR, he takes pleasure in posting a photo on social networks, accompanied by a text qualifying him as “a great Belgian philosopher”. “It makes us laugh,” he explains. I know that writing ‘great Belgian philosopher’ will upset some people. But I do not risk anything with this kind of messages”.
”I don’t like what Jean-Marc Jancovici advocates”
What does Damien Ernst think of the MR label that sticks to his skin? “Even if I get on well with parliamentarians from all parties, I was put in the MR box, he replies. I recognize that I appreciate the position of the MR in terms of ecology”.
A liberal and technological vision of ecology, then. The Liégeois is however in favor of the introduction of a carbon tax, unlike the liberals. “Yes it’s true, he replies. But I think the MR could carry this fight”.
According to the professor, by taxing carbon at 200 euros per tonne, the climate problem could solve itself. “We would then see the emergence of technologies such as CO2 capture,” he says. We risk missing our 2030 targets but, with this kind of technology, we could be ahead of the 2040 targets”.
Isn’t a tax of 200 euros per ton of CO2 likely to affect only the less fortunate? Therefore, wouldn’t it be fairer to set up carbon quotas for citizens, as proposed by Jean-Marc Jancovici for air travel?
“I don’t like what Jancovici is advocating at all,” Damien Ernst answers tit for tat. It is a liberticide. I don’t like people who use ecology to restrict freedoms. I prefer a carbon tax whose revenue would be entirely returned via a reduction in labor taxes”.
Moreover, if he is linked to certain MR proxies, the professor appreciates the ideas of other parties. “I like the positioning of ecologists at the level of migration policy, he explains. At the social level, I find myself in what the PS offers. I don’t want the unemployed to be punished, I am aware of the social realities”.
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