Teleworking has only a very low impact on energy consumption when only some of the employees are absent but allows overall energy savings of 20 to 30% when a site is closed for the day, according to a study carried out in public buildings.
This study, conducted by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) and the French Institute for Building Performance (IFPEB), measured energy consumption on office sites, at the homes of agents and for their transport, with the aim of evaluating energy savings when offices are closed as well as the possible “rebound effect” of consumption among teleworkers.
The experiment was launched in November 2022 on ten public sites – ministries (Energy Transition, Ecological Transition, Sea), Directorate General for Civil Aviation and Ademe -, involving 100 volunteer agents, in Ile-de-France, Center- Val-de-Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.
According to the first conclusions published on Monday and relating to the first two months of the experiment, “the impact of the non-presence of workers on site on electricity consumption (computer, lighting) is negligible”.
The energy savings observed in offices are “attributable to sobriety and not to teleworking”, while the average drop in heating consumption at the end of 2022 was 38%.
On the other hand, the tests are “conclusive” when the sites are closed for a whole day: the overall potential for savings is then 20 to 30%.
For buildings alone, the average energy saving on closing days is “25 to 40%” compared to open days, thanks to heating savings.
The study, published as a prelude to the meeting on Monday morning at the Ministry of Ecological Transition of a working group on the part of the Energy Sobriety Plan concerning large companies, concludes that “one-day site closures present a potential interesting (…) to manage the tensions on the electrical network”.
The buildings that represent the greatest potential are those that combine low energy performance and low occupation density.
With regard to transport, the experiment shows that energy savings are 2 to 4 times greater in the regions than in Paris, where work-home distances are shorter and where employees use public transport more.
The study estimates that the “rebound effect” of consumption at home by teleworkers is “very small”, on average 1.4 kilowatt hours per day of telework, knowing that the savings made range from 5 to 15 kWh in transportation. The average daily consumption of a household is around 20 to 40 kWh.