ABSTRACT
The French Agency for Energy Management is a decentralized organization with regional divisions throughout France. It plays a fundamental role in implementing French energy policy and is an active partner in a wide range of initiatives designed to reduce energy expenditure and consumption and to promote renewable energy sources. French city authorities have no direct responsibility for such matters, and conventional energy sources are distributed exclusively by the national energy utilities. But city authorities are actively involved in the management of their own buildings and facilities; they are directly responsible for certain public services; and urban planning is part of their basic mandate. Besancon’s city authorities commissioned a full audit of heating quality, heat production and distribution equipment in more than 400 public buildings. The city authority’s efforts to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings and facilities have halved CO2 emissions and brought a tenfold reduction in SO2 emissions in ten years.
