The ALVÉOLE program
January 20, 2017
Sareco advises landlords on parking... including bicycles.
The French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB) organised a presentation of the ALVÉOLE programme on 18 January 2017 to about twenty social landlords.
Thierry Delvaux participated on behalf of Sareco to reiterate the technical recommendations for transforming a space into a functional and ergonomic bicycle garage, encouraging residents to use their bicycles daily. Sareco's support for this program is voluntary.
But what is the ALVÉOLE program?
To understand this fully, we need to go back to the creation of Energy Savings Certificates (CEE) : since 2005, the government has required energy suppliers, known as "obligated parties" (electricity, gas, LPG, heating and cooling, heating oil, and automotive fuels), to achieve energy savings in exchange for CEEs. These certificates are obtained:
- following actions undertaken independently by the obligated parties,
- by purchasing Energy Savings Certificates (CEE) from other actors who have carried out energy saving operations,
- or through financial contributions to support programs.
The unit of measurement for Energy Savings Certificates is the cumulative discounted final energy kWh over the product's lifetime (cumac final energy kWh). This represents the amount of energy that will have been saved thanks to the energy-saving measures implemented.
In our case, the Alvéole program falls under the Energy Savings Certificates (CEE) scheme for addressing energy poverty. As such, social housing providers who build or develop secure bicycle parking areas receive 1 MWh cumac of CEEs for every €8 spent. These providers then resell these CEEs to obligated parties at a rate of approximately €5/MWh cumac (depending on the market price). This therefore represents a subsidy of around 60%.
However, to qualify, landlords must comply with the program's requirements and the FUB's specifications . These requirements relate to associated measures such as providing support to households through an association that offers a cycling school for adults. The specifications primarily focus on garage quality criteria. The aim is to empower residents to save energy , particularly by reducing their car use.
Attention all enthusiasts, but be warned: the ALVÉOLE program ends on December 31, 2018.
During this information day, several speakers (FUB, specialized consulting firms, landlords' associations, landlords, etc.) took turns presenting, among other things:
- the context of energy insecurity, its impacts and consequences on household mobility,
- the operation of the program and the administrative procedures for its implementation,
- the quantitative and qualitative criteria to be integrated into the projects,
- feedback on the three-year program for developing bicycle facilities in a Parisian social housing complex.
Finally, three concrete examples of projects applying to the Alvéole program were presented by participants and then discussed in working groups in order to define the best ways to bring them to fruition.
To learn more:
The Alvéole program, on the FUB website
Energy Savings Certificates, on the website of the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea
Bicycle parking, on the sareco site
