France: Improve Energy Efficiency and Encourage the Development of Renewable Energy

Like some other countries in Western Europe, France is a large oil consumer and at the same time an oil-poor country. France's oil resources are very limited. Less than 2 million tons of crude oil are mined in the country every year, but its demand reaches about 100 million tons. The oil it needs basically relies on imports. In 2004, France's oil consumption was 94 million tons and natural gas consumption was 48.2 billion cubic meters. The rising crude oil prices in the international market have had a serious impact on the French economy. The French government has introduced a number of "fuel consumption reduction measures" to deal with high oil prices.

1. Political aspects

France actively carries out energy diplomacy, establishes regional cooperation organizations, and strengthens bilateral cooperation plans with primary product producing and consuming countries. The first is to strengthen energy cooperation with Iran, and secondly, it is committed to investment and development in Gulf oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Oman. France's Total has negotiated with Saudi Arabia on natural gas field development projects and has passed Saudi Arabia's investment qualifications. Pretrial. The third is to establish a strategic partnership with Russia. In 2002, France, Germany, Italy and Russia invested a total of US$2 billion to build natural gas pipelines to jointly combat risks in resource supply.

2. Economic aspects

The government implements preferential energy policies through legislation, taxation, finance and other economic means to speed up the process of replacing conventional energy with renewable energy. The first is to launch a "clean car tax exemption policy", that is, French citizens who purchase "clean cars" with low energy consumption and low pollution can enjoy a tax exemption of 1,525 to 2,000 euros. At the same time, in order to limit the use of highly polluting large vehicles, the French government will double the driving license fee for 8% of vehicles, while the driving license fees for other vehicles will remain unchanged. The second is to encourage the use of biofuels. In 1976, the French government made the decision to develop nuclear power on a large scale. Nuclear energy has now become one of the main sources of energy in France. The electricity produced by the country's 59 nuclear power units accounts for 75% of France's total power generation. The nuclear power industry has greatly reduced France's dependence on oil. However, due to safety and environmental considerations, the French government is preparing to phase out its nuclear power plan in phases and support the development of biofuels. Using biofuels to replace traditional energy sources such as petroleum and coal can save France 11 million tons of crude oil imports every year. The French government strives to increase the proportion of biofuels in total fuel consumption to 5.75% in 2008 and become the world's largest biofuel. Fuel country.

3. Energy imports

Paying attention to the multiple channels and diversification of sources of oil and natural gas imports is also one of France's important measures to deal with high oil prices. France's natural gas supply mainly comes from four channels, namely the North Sea, the Netherlands, Russia and Algeria. Oil is mainly imported from the North Sea, the Middle East, Africa and other places, reducing overreliance on a single energy variety and moving the energy structure distribution towards a more balanced direction.