Tempêtes, inondations, érosion : la France au bord du désastre climatique ? | Documentaire AMP

Des villages engloutis, des familles déplacées, des villes menacées par la mer. La météo devient incontrôlable, les tempêtes se multiplient et les côtes reculent chaque année. La France entre dans une ère de dérèglements sans précédent. 👉 Les meilleurs documentaires ? Ils sont ICI 👉 https://bit.ly/2zfgboK 👈 Abonnez-vous !

00:00 Introduction – Quand la météo devient incontrôlable
04:00 Érosion et inondations : la France en première ligne
10:00 Soulac-sur-Mer : les premiers réfugiés climatiques
18:00 Villes côtières menacées, digues et budgets en crise
26:00 Inondations dans le sud : les erreurs humaines
38:00 Urbanisation, béton et ruissellement incontrôlé
46:00 Les maires face à l’urgence climatique
58:00 Solutions et innovations pour un futur soutenable

Inondations, tempêtes et ouragans semblent être de plus en plus fréquents.
Ce film dresse un état des lieux de la situation et listent les moyens d’agir contre cette météo qui se détraque.
Ainsi, l’érosion des côtes s’aggrave chaque mois et plusieurs millions de Français vivent encore dans des zones inondables tandis que le pays accueille ses premiers réfugiés climatiques, chassés de chez eux par la montée des eaux ou la salinisation des terres agricoles.

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LA METEO DEVIENT FOLLE
Erosion, inondations, salinisation
Réalisation : Stéphanie Rathscheck , Aurélia Braud
Production: Bénédicte Perrot, Murielle Baralonga, Fabien Giurgiu
©Ampersand

#Documentaire #Environnement #Climat #Inondations #Érosion #RéchauffementClimatique #France #CatastrophesNaturelles #NotreTerre

There are corners of France
that exude the sweetness of life. In the Var, Fréjus has the appearance
of an idyllic postcard. However, this haven of peace can become
hellish during certain months of the year. To see for yourself,
head to the city’s economic heartland, more precisely to its
industrial zone, where there are unmistakable signs. One by one, companies are
fleeing this place. Christian Colinelli is a trader there. For several months now, he has seen
all his neighbors gradually lower their curtains. You have at least a good twenty
companies that had to leave. Because
this is what this area transforms into on a regular basis. A lake. The feeling of déjà vu in this
industrial zone of the marsh, the economic lung of Fréjus,
like last year, is completely flooded. In ten years, there have been five floods,
including two in 2014. A curse that has already cost
millions of euros and each time puts 2,000 employees out of work for several days. Christian Colinelli,
the king of disguise, has transformed himself into the king
of flood control. He bought this store in 2004 in this
area, which had been uneventful until then. And then the water started to rise, regularly. Do you know how much
the suit, the coat, rents for? It must be 30. Come on, 30 is good. So he devised a strategy
to save all his merchandise in a few minutes as a precaution,
before the next disaster. For example, we have lots and
lots of costumes. We are in disguises. Well, for example, on the ceiling,
all over the store, we put bars. And so before,
we were running like crazy all over the store, we took the mezzanine,
we went up, thing. Now, there, we just have to do that. So we take the costumes,
hop, we put them there. And there they are, safe. This is how he has managed
to limit the damage so far when the water rises. But not all of his neighbors resisted. So there you had
a great gym. And the guy, after the third
flood, he preferred to leave. In the background, he had a squash court. So these are things that cost
a fortune and you have to do them again every time.
And there he was, fed up. All this, look. You see, these are all bars that were
added, that were put in place to try to fight against flooding. On the side they made walls. All these walls are all things
that were added to try to keep the water out. But in the end,
they decided to leave anyway. He also ended up closing
one of his two stores. With each flood, Christian is
closed for several days. He is losing customers and
turnover by the thousands of euros. We had to close it. With all the flooding,
unfortunately, turnover has gone down, down, down. We could no longer pay the bills, we
could no longer pay anything at all. So we had no choice. Two people were laid off. Employees laid off,
his business weakened. Like thousands of French people,
Christian Colinelli is seeing his daily life deteriorate because of weather that seems to have
gone completely crazy. Storms, tornadoes,
torrential rains. For the past few years,
the weather seems to be going haywire. Twelve departments in the northwest
are leaving this evening. The strongest storm of the winter,
according to Météo France, hit last night. With waves reaching over
5 meters, gusts could reach 140 km/h. France is going to get hotter
and hotter this week. In Paris, 39.7 km/h. This department is on orange alert. It will be 41 tomorrow in Bordeaux. It was therefore necessary to be
inventive in order not to make mistakes. 2014 was a record year. It has not been this
hot since 1880. The average temperature
has risen by 1.2 degrees. One degree can change a lot. There has also never been so much
flooding and marine erosion. Natural disasters that cause
billions of euros of damage in a matter of minutes. Sometimes they even cause victims. Last year in France, 24 people
died in bad weather. The problem is, it’s
not going to stop anytime soon. If the thermometer continues to rise
and the ice cap continues to melt, our oceans will rise and submerge part of our land. One in four inhabitants of France
lives in a threatened territory. And our country already has its
first climate refugees. What were the exchanges? It’s over. Are we really well protected
against weather disasters? To what extent
is climate change disrupting our daily lives? Can we avoid the worst by changing
our consumption patterns and lifestyles? Investigate what’s going wrong and
endangering our safety, our finances, and our future. Today in France,
there are already people whose lives have been turned upside down by the vagaries of the climate
and some have lost a lot. We are in Soulac,
2,500 inhabitants on the Atlantic coast, around a hundred kilometers from Bordeaux. Here, the sea is a real threat,
and the most striking example is this building and the fate of its
owners, like Roselyne and Jean-José Guichet. They never imagined that they would one day
become a hit, and they did not do it with a light heart. The couple has to empty their
holiday apartment, a lovely three- room apartment with a sea view. They have spent every summer there with their family for 30 years
, but today they are forced to leave. That day, the whole family came to help the little children, the children.
How are you ? How are you ? Four generations have
shared their summer here. That’s going away in principle. A hasty move. They gave themselves the day
to empty the place. Is it better this way? Quickly, they pack up their
holiday souvenir. So, you, madam,
have often come here on vacation, I don’t have a one-month supply. I don’t know what it hurts, it’s a… That’s what we’re going to invent. For me, it’s one of the most beautiful coasts you
can have on the Atlantic coast. So where is the car? Wait, I’ll give you the key. Shall I remind you of the seat? Yes, everything is done,
there is some prepared in a van. And if they have to leave the premises,
it’s because of a letter. A few weeks ago,
Mr. Guichet received this letter from the mayor of Soulac
and he left them no choice. Madam, Sir, in application
of the provisions of article 3. In this letter,
the mayor is therefore a little clearer. He urges them to leave the premises as
soon as possible, because in a few weeks, all residents of the building
will receive a final eviction order. Jean-José, again
stuck in the throat. It’s concise and dry. So, the ticket offices are doing well. In a few hours, the job is done. Their vacation spot has
become an empty apartment again. In a few days,
they will be completely banned from access. We’re closing anyway. You still close, yes. Well yes, we are not going to leave everything open. We don’t want it to
be squatted anyway. Well, that’s it… That’s the end. To understand why this family
and 77 other homeowners were forced to move, you have to
leave the building. Look at these aerial images. The building will soon have its
feet in the water. It looks like it’s going to collapse. In front of him, the sea has
dangerously gained ground. Yet in 1968,
when it was built, the ocean was still nearly 300 meters away. 47 years later, the beach
and the sea are less than 20 meters away. Incredible progress. At the origin, there is
a natural mechanism: erosion. Water and wind gradually eat away at
the sand and rock. But the problem
is that since the weather went crazy, the phenomenon has accelerated. Storms, rising waters,
all these factors have reinforced the attacks of the waves. Today, the urgent need for hundreds
of coastal communities in France is to take measures
to protect their towns and residents. Because you will see,
in certain regions like here, in Aquitaine, the situation is already critical. Thousands of people are affected. The challenge is to measure how
quickly the sea is advancing towards the Earth in order to prepare for the future. Come on, let’s go. An issue that
Loïc and his teammates know well. They are engineers and their mission is to
monitor the state of the Atlantic coast. Every year,
they carry out an inspection of the wild beaches of Aquitaine. Beaches where
tourists arrive by the thousands every summer. You go up the dune, you go down and you
look where there are the most cliffs. Every gesture is measured to the millimeter. Using a highly accurate GPS device,
our two surveyors measure exactly where our territory ends
in front of the waves. This is called the shoreline measurement. The coastline is the boundary
between land and sea. And this boundary moves
a little further every year. The measurements we take will allow us
to show everyone on a map, on an aerial photo,
the different coastlines and to gauge, to quantify the retreat,
an average retreat over several years. So to be able to project ourselves into the future
and say in 2020, the coastline will be in such and such a place. By knowing how many meters per year
the Earth is retreating, seaside resorts can prepare and
defend themselves against the ocean. Observation recorded. And every time Loïc comes
here to take measurements, he notices that the sea is advancing with worrying power. It gains on average one to three meters
per year on our land, sometimes much more. In 2014, there
were many violent storms. Erosion has increased. In some places, the ocean has
swallowed up to 25 meters of land. In addition to GPS data,
Loïc takes photos to make this erosion clearly visible. On this beach,
he has a landmark: this bunker. This bunker, it dates back to
the Second World War. When the Germans built it,
it wasn’t on the beach, it was in the dunes. The sand underneath has gone,
and since it is made up of whole blocks, it has sagged. So, that can give an order of magnitude
of the erosion in this place since the 1940s. And there, we are at least 50 meters
nibbled away in around fifty years. For three years,
here is the retreat of the dune. The difference between 2012,
2014 and 2015 is clear. Compared to data collected last year. We know that the dune has retreated
by several dozen centimeters. So here we have an example
of the retreat of the coastline. Last year, storms
wiped out a huge stockpile of sand. In the long term, on this part of the coast,
the trend is clearly towards retreat. A phenomenon with dramatic consequences,
because the entire tourism economy is threatened, and the very existence of
certain cities is called into question. Lacanau-ocean. This tourist village famous for
surfing was created at the beginning of the 20th century. Now there are 4,500
inhabitants here year-round, 80,000 in the summer. But its main asset, its large beach,
could soon disappear. The seafront is in danger. This is what worries Jerome at the office. He is the
resort’s professional photographer. How are you, Jerome? Jérôme’s specialty is
artistic landscape photography. But for some time now,
he has also become the witness of a disaster foretold: a photographer
campaigning for the defense of his city. Because since last year,
certain images have never left him. Footage he shot
himself one night 14 months ago. The beach disappeared at the end
of its stairs, submerged. He had never seen anything like it. Since then, Jérôme knows that he is photographing
a landscape that is about to disappear. This is a follow-up on the evolution
of the coastline. These photos serve as
work for various organizations, archive images for the town
of Lacanau and for the history of Lacanau. It is memory work first and
foremost, which I carry out on a daily basis. Its aim
is to alert public opinion. So he comes to the
same place every day to take his photos. Here is what he observed. It was a few months ago. A raging sea that destroys
everything in its path. Last year there were
28 storms in three months. That’s twice as much as normal. The destructive effects
are visible to the naked eye. I remember, we were right here
and we saw wave after wave, but 50 cm of dunes going away,
a meter of dunes going away, but with a phenomenal swell,
wind, really a full west wind. By taking these photos with a precise reference point
, these beach showers, he obtains a follow-up of the evolution. In three months,
the Dune has retreated by more than 15 meters. Last year, we lost up to
4 meters of sand in height. Jerome saw that nothing could resist the
onslaught of the waves, not even the dike that protected the city. Made up of hundreds of kilos of rock,
it was pulverized like a common house of cards. The problem is that this
dike is essential. It protects the boulevard located just
behind and part of the city. Without it, water would already be at the foot
of shops and apartments. So, it was necessary to rebuild one,
at the expense of the municipality, a significant expense
which the city recovered well. All winter, dozens of trucks
brought here 500,000 tons of rocks, simple pebbles that weigh heavily
on the municipality’s wallet. In the end, 2.7 million euros
is a third of the annual budget. And this is just the beginning of the costs
for the city and its residents, as the erosion problem threatens to worsen. According to some engineers,
within 40 years the sea could advance up to 120 meters. The dike could be submerged and these
buildings, this boulevard so dear to tourists, would be directly threatened. 80 businesses and 1,200 homes
could end up underwater. So, Lacanau has already developed
scenarios worthy of disaster movies. To ensure the city survives the rising
waters, the town hall is already considering the worst-case scenarios. Marta Renard is working on two
very different projects. The first one is this one on this plan. This white rock construction
that surrounds the seafront is an immense dike,
11 meters high and 2 kilometers long. A wall against the Atlantic. The city would thus be protected, but
look closely, something has disappeared. Where is the beach? The beach is underwater. In 50 years, the current central beach
will have disappeared. There will be a gradual disappearance of the central beach, which will
increase every year . And it is obvious that here
we have an image that is from 2050. The beach, even at low tide,
has completely disappeared. A pharaonic work
that would cost 32 million euros. But you’re not
at the end of your surprises. The second project is hardly believable. The neighborhoods along the coast,
that is, dozens of buildings and shops facing the sea. Lacanau is considering
simply razing them. A city retreating to
save itself from rising waters. It would be a world first, but here
we already have very concrete plans. So, we have a perimeter that goes almost
250, 300 meters inside the station. On this level, Lacanau today. The entire front of the city would be
sacrificed to the rising waters. Apartments, shops,
restaurants that would be destroyed to be rebuilt
further inland. In yellow, new
developments are planned. A scenario that would cost a lot, a lot. All these properties on the
seafront are mostly private properties belonging to residents and
traders. So, before deconstructing them, we
must be able to acquire them. So, obviously, that’s
a very significant amount of money. We have an estimate of the value of this
area which is around 330 million euros. 330 million euros,
a crazy price to survive erosion and rising waters. Lacanau is therefore preparing to have to adapt
in order to survive and is considering destroying part of its
town to push back the seafront. However, we
discovered this during our investigation. Some real estate developers are turning a blind
eye to climate risks and continuing their business
as usual. On the beach boulevard,
a sign announces the construction of a charming building with 15 apartments,
terraces, and a splendid view of the sea. The building permit was issued
by the former municipality, and it seems that the rising
waters did not worry it. The new mayor has no
legal weapons to overturn it. Yet the residence is right
in the area that could be destroyed if the worst-case scenario were to be retained. So, is the developer warning future
owners of the threat that erosion poses to this part of the city? Equipped with a hidden camera, we
pretended to be customers. Hello Sir.
So, do you want to see this residence? For a good fifteen minutes,
our interviewer presents the project as a little gem by the sea. And not cheap, either. You’re at 364,000. Okay?
Yes. That’s 63 square meters. Yes, it might be a big budget. Ah, those are big budgets. According to him, it would even be
a good tax operation. Well, you have VAT recovery,
that is to say you have a lease to only sell as a hotel residence. That is to say, it is rented
so that you have a challenge and everything. Our contact never warns us
about the risks of this property having its feet in the water. Is it worth buying on the boulevard
or are there risks in case of a storm? No, the water didn’t show me up. Not a word either on the plans to
relocate the city center. There are people who will say: Well,
we’re going to put concrete things, we’re going to go into the sea
and who will cut the… Journalists and everything
who talk about that. Okay, nice beak.
Three apartments have already been sold.
In about thirty years, future owners risk adding to the list of victims of erosion,
because Lacanau is not the only town threatened by the waters. In total, in France,
140,000 people live within 250 meters of coasts threatened by erosion. And the most surprising thing is that absolutely
nothing is planned to protect them. This is exactly what happened
in Soulac, for the residents of the signal, this evacuated building. Because a year after their eviction,
nothing has changed for the owners. No solution was offered to them. We went back there with Jean-José. Fifteen months after he left,
his door was broken down. Everything is broken, vandalized. So. The entire building was
squatted and vandalized. The windows were broken. Do you see what people are
having fun with at the same time? What’s the point of breaking windows? It’s an abomination when you see that. And this was done
with general indifference. The town hall was not involved at all. Obviously, nobody cares. Since its evacuation,
the building has only been crammed with barriers and signs. No other protective measures have
been put in place. Almost all
the apartments were ransacked. And for the owners,
it’s even more painful. And I had been lucky, until then,
to be one of the only apartments that had n’t been broken into and vandalized. And have you seen how it is now? It still makes you
a little pissed off. Not a feeling of anger,
but it’s out there, nonetheless. Anger coupled with a
feeling of injustice. The massacre. Although deported, Jean-José
received no financial assistance. It may seem hard to believe
, but despite being forced to leave, the 78 owners
did not receive a cent. So they started a fight
to get compensation. In 2012, at the request of the co-owners,
a court had the building valued. Value: 10.9 million euros,
or 140,000 euros per apartment. Today, each resident is
therefore demanding this sum in court. But the request was rejected
by the court and instead of 10 million, the state is only offering one
and a half million euros. The cost of demolishing the building
is ten times less than the estimated value. At their wit’s end,
some owners are attempting a desperate action in the parking lot
of their former residence. Jean-José takes us
to these prefabricated buildings. This is where three of her former
neighbors are on hunger strike. Good morning. They are on their tenth day,
I think today. And it’s starting to get very, very long. And it’s still
pathetic that it has come to this. But in the face of
successive refusals from the administration, we have received no
help from the municipality. You should know that we are the ones
paying for the Algeco, it’s disgusting. We are clean, we
wash well every day. An ultimate solution. Martine, Suzy and Liliane hope to raise
awareness about their case and try to get things moving. Local and national media outlets came out in
force to relay their actions and demands,
but the state remained deaf. What actually made you decide? It is still a serious decision. Justice is forgotten. When, at the end of December, we were
offered to buy back our apartments for 10 percent
of their value, we understood that there were no more options,
that we had to act on our own. And that’s when we
started putting this in place. They give you 10% of your… 10 or 15% of the value of your property,
you know it’s hopeless. It’s serious that it has come to this.
This is serious. We risk a lot, then there we are, we lose everything. Stop, you’re going to make me cry. Three days after our visit,
the residents on hunger strike had to end their protest
for medical reasons. But no elected official offered them
legal or financial assistance. It must be said that today,
nothing obliges the State to intervene and provide money in this type of case. For an owner to be compensated
by the State, his house or apartment must
be threatened by a particularly specific natural disaster. It is written in black and white
in this law. A foreseeable risk of
ground movement or subsidence, a risk of avalanche,
torrential flooding or marine submersion. No word on erosion. Even if the sea advances,
the phenomenon is therefore not considered a natural disaster. The state therefore owes nothing
to the evicted residents. But at least, couldn’t they have
prevented the catastrophe and avoided the expulsion? According to Jean-José, something very
simple could have saved their building. Something that was done very close
to here, just three kilometers away. Here is the Amélie district,
a little further south. Houses, businesses,
a campsite and lots of erosion. So here, the town hall built a dike
which it regularly reinforces to protect the area. Blow, 5 million euros. But not a single euro was
invested in the signal. A decision which, inevitably,
arouses a feeling of injustice and bitterness in Jean-José. There was no equal treatment. Why does it seem to us,
from a strategic point of view, that it is less important than for us
in the heart of Soulac? We asked why, seeing the
sea advancing, why was nothing being done here? What if there were things planned? And we were told very regularly:
We’ll do studies and we’ll see. And that’s it.
We’ll see, that’s it. This is the result. The situation is surprising. Why do certain areas in the same city
benefit from sea protection works? And no others. We asked
the municipality the question. One man knows this case by heart
: Frédéric Boudeau. He is responsible for the fight
against erosion. For him, the answer is very simple. The signal co-ownership,
even if it is 78 co-owners, is a private building. And the law sheds light on this. In this text from 1807,
she explains that it is up to the owner to do this, not the State. When it comes to building sea walls, the cost will be borne by the protected properties. Owners must take
responsibility for the protection of their property themselves, unless they consider
that there is a general interest. And for the town hall, the signal building is
not part of the general interests. Especially since protecting the building
could have harmful effects on the rest of the city. Second thing, Soulac
is here, historically. All the specialists will tell you that
if you do frontal protection here, in front of the signal,
you will dig up this entire area. The question
is: are you protecting private property at the expense
of an entire urban center? Today, the law offers no
solutions to victims of erosion. The residents of the signal have appealed
the court’s decision, but they are losing hope more and more every day. And their story could
well be repeated elsewhere. All these municipalities,
all these individuals, will then not be able to make heavy
investments to protect themselves from this inevitable phenomenon. But weather-related disasters
don’t just affect the coasts. In a moment on D8, a
current affairs investigation will return to the violent floods that
devastated the south of France in 2014. It’s not possible, it’s still rising. Who swept everything away in his path. There, I saw everything passing by, garbage cans,
beams, everything you want. Millions of euros of damage caused
by torrential rains, but not only that. Man also has his
share of responsibility. We hum, we concrete, and then,
when there is a flood, we are surprised. To protect residents from
rising water, mayors have entered into a standoff with
construction companies. We can no longer put
people’s lives in danger. But in other municipalities,
building permits appear to be issued in risk areas. So we knew that this
land was prone to flooding. In 2009, yes. Dangerous constructions that
some elected officials are reluctant to comment on. I’ll put it in your head. Today, the law offers no
solutions to victims of erosion. The residents of the signal have appealed
the court’s decision, but they are losing hope more and more every day. And their story could
well be repeated elsewhere. All these municipalities,
all these individuals, will then not be able to make heavy
investments to protect themselves from this inevitable phenomenon. But weather-related disasters
don’t just affect the coasts. They cause other colossal damage,
terrible floods. In recent years, the South of France
has suffered, suffered a lot. Entire communities were submerged. Houses, businesses and
residents found themselves threatened. Sometimes they have lost everything. Like in the Var. In 2014, the department was hit
by torrential rains in January. Then, several in November. Impressive
and terribly destructive floods. In the department, this man
remembers these events well. Daniel Graal lives in Allon
de les Morts, surrounded by nature. Nature unleashed itself, to the point
of engulfing his land and his house. The water had reached here. It should have been 1.65 meters,
we can have 1.65 meters here. He had never seen anything like it. The water rose to more than 1.60
meters in less than half an hour. Aware that he was experiencing an exceptional moment,
he filmed his hallucinatory images from this balcony. He swept everything away in his path. There, I saw everything passing by, garbage cans,
beams, everything you want. Panicked, Daniel watched helplessly as
his land and his entire neighborhood were submerged.
Foot. In the distance, we can even see a mobilum
carried away by the force of the current. It’s not possible,
it keeps going up. It’s not possible. Once the water recedes,
it’s an apocalyptic spectacle. There was everything everywhere. You arrive here, there were beams
that came from a house, I don’t know which one in which a
car was smashed against the wall, the other was the bullet. The raging torrents of water
devastated his house and garden. So, imagine, when this water rushes
into the streets of villages, it can wreak havoc. It’s hard to imagine when
the good weather returns. You might think the floods
are just a bad memory. And yet, every inhabitant of a municipality
can pay the price for a very long time. The commune of Allon de les Morts
was traumatized last winter. Two floods in ten months and, above all,
five people who died after being swept away by the waters. The Miramard district, near the port,
was one of the worst affected. A drama that hardly surprises: Josette Faye. This Varoise is known in the area. She devotes all her time
to flood prevention. With her association, she is leading a
media campaign to defend those affected. She is trying to mobilize as many
people as possible to make herself heard by the authorities. This morning, she comes to meet Jeanine,
a new recruit for the association. Hello, Josette. Hello, Mrs. Giraud. How nice. So, you were just waiting for me? Absolutely, absolutely. We are in the middle of work. Quite. Well, here we go again. We weren’t completely
finished last time. Well, here we go again. But hey, it’s much better. It’s much better. Jeanine suffered two
massive floods ten months apart. She had never experienced this. And both times
the water rose very quickly. The water was immediately up to our knees. There we saw that through the shower
there was a geyser one meter high. So we said to ourselves: If sewers
get involved, it’s no longer possible. And then we said to ourselves: We have to flee, we
have to save our skin. The most valuable possessions were taken. And then we went out the back.
Okay, so this way. So maybe
half an hour, three quarters of an hour went by and I already had water up to that point. Jeanine had to cross her garden with
water up to her neck to escape the trap and find help.
Yes, yes, here. And there, for the moment… Ah yes, there, you were
lower when you went down. There, for once, I was in a bad way.
With my bags in the air. It was a neighbor living on the first
floor who rescued her at the last minute. Here are the images of the same courtyard,
filmed by a neighbor. The water has reached unimaginable levels. A helicopter flies over the area
to help the victims. If it had been a few minutes before,
Janine might not have made it. All this water comes
from two flooded rivers. Yet, they remained calm for ten years. But then why did they
suddenly turn into torrents when previously the rains did
not cause so much damage? For Josette, there is no doubt,
all of this is the fault of men. She takes us to the heights
of the city, to those hills that you can guess, where we find
the most beautiful villains. Properties that have appeared over
the last 30 years and enjoy exceptional views. The setting here is magnificent. You dominate the entire plain at your
feet with a magical view of the sea. I mean, you understand why we
were built in this place. It’s so beautiful. A rare site, indeed the victim
of a real estate boom. As these satellite images reveal. It is 1955. On the hills of Allon de les Morts,
there is almost no construction. In the early 1980s,
the first villas appeared. Today, there are few plots of land
that are not concreted. For Josette, it is this
excessive urbanization that is responsible for the floods. Here, before, there were olive trees,
it was scrubland vegetation. So, the earth absorbed. When it rained hard,
nature played its part. Now we have built hundreds,
hundreds of villas, hundreds of residences. So, we cannot say that
these constructions have no impact on urban runoff. Before the water penetrated,
now it trickles down. When you have sloping roads,
well listen, if you have, when we say we tarmac, we concrete,
and then, what I say regularly, and afterwards, when there is
a flood, we are surprised. And yes, but there, it’s not surprising. And all the water that is from these hills
goes to only one place, the lowest point. Urbanization has therefore amplified
rain runoff. Look,
on a plot of land without buildings, but with forest crops,
when it rains heavily, some of the water seeps into the ground. In the same area,
covered with houses and roads, concrete waterproofs the ground. Result: the water remains on the surface, it
rises and causes the rivers to overflow. By sowing villas,
man would therefore reap floods. But building here is so lucrative. For a 150 square meter villa with
swimming pool and sea view, it cost around 700,000 euros. This is a little paradise
for real estate. I mean, selling the land here is
worth gold. Over the past 40 years, the population
has doubled in the Var. We went from 500,000
to one million inhabitants. To accommodate them,
it was necessary to build. And today, it is all French people
who are paying the bill for this excessive urbanization. Where communities find
money through our taxes. So, the mistakes that were made
so that some people could get rich from the sale of real estate
or real estate projects, well, at the moment,
it is all the French who are paying the bill, quite simply
for the work that needs to be done. We now have to spend hundreds,
millions of euros, I must say, on flood prevention. So, there you have it. Some
cities know these bills all too well. On the Mediterranean coast, yesterday,
55,000 inhabitants, is one of those municipalities that have to spend a lot. Here, we have found solutions to
protect ourselves, but you have no idea how expensive it is. Isabelle Montfort is a
municipal councilor responsible for water and flooding. She takes us to a
residential area that has been particularly hard hit. There, we have people arriving
in the Oratory district. And these are the areas most at risk
during flooding because they are entirely bordering the Gapot.
We’ll go see. The Gapot, a small river that appears
peaceful, but one that must be wary. There he is completely calm, of course. It brings us freshness, but
in September it turns into a monster. It was yesterday, last January. Here is the Gapot,
the day after a flood. Raw, it looked completely different. The day before, its water had
submerged the entire neighborhood. It had seeped
into the pipes and caused the sewers to overflow, so much so
that residents had to evacuate. To ensure this doesn’t
happen again, Isabelle Montfort will have to get out her checkbook. First, to pay for new
protective walls along the entire subdivision. But the most important thing is
hidden under the asphalt. To make this area safer,
all the underground pipes will have to be redone. Invoice amount: 500,000 euros. The problem is that this is not
the only titanic project that the city will have to finance. A few kilometers from Gapot,
another watercourse also caused problems during the recent floods. It
rose very high and then, above all, it began to attack
the road on this side and on the other side, there is a 63,000 volt,
high-voltage line, which is also in danger of being damaged. Result:
the banks had to be redone and consolidated. Total cost: 450,000 euros. And it’s still not over. Isabelle Montfort is now moving on to another major project. When the hood overflows, the town hall wants to
prevent it from going all the way to the city center. They will therefore create a diversion channel
so that the excess water will flow here,
into these fields which will be transformed into immense retention basins. So here we are at the site of the
future retention basin. So, how are we going to proceed? We will build a dike at the bottom which will be
approximately three meters high. This is the whole upstream part. A very ambitious and very
expensive project, because the city must also purchase land to succeed. We already own the entire
section upstream, above the path,
and we are going to buy the entire section downstream. We estimated it at roughly three million
euros, that is to say the work, the purchase of the land. For the expected gain,
it is truly one of the best cost/protection ratios that can be found
at the moment in flood control methods. The cost of combating
rising water levels is expected to be steep. A problem for this
municipality with a tight budget. Isabelle Montfort has just come to
present the spending forecasts to the mayor, Jean-Pierre Girand. So what are you going to tell me? So, to properly wrap up,
all the budgets planned for flood work for 2015. 2.3 million in total. So, for 2015. The sealing of the oratory,
500,000. In total,
2.3 million euros of work to be financed in 2015, 3 million euros in 2016. Money that the city does not,
for the moment, have in its bank account. Where do you find this
money when you are a municipality? We listened to the taxpayer’s case,
you know, the municipalities have no other income than that,
except for state grants, but which are reduced from year to year. We will lose another four to five
million euros in state funding over the next two years . The rest is self-financing. And self-financing can
only come from the only resources we have, tax resources. Taxes could therefore increase. Ultimately, every resident will have to pay
in the coming years for the work to protect the city from flooding. The other solution to limit costly flood damage is to combat real estate speculation. A major problem for the mayors
of towns in the Var, such as Saint-Maxime. Thank you Barbara, see you later. Vincent Maurice has been mayor since 2008. Ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning. Hello Mr. Mayor. One of his team’s concerns:
limiting urbanization and the errors it produces. He agreed to explain to us how he
controlled the construction sites in his municipality. It uses an
official and regulatory document. We’re going to release the general plan of the PPRI,
Patrick, is that it? This is what he relies on
to make every decision. This is called a
flood risk prevention plan, or PPRI for short. Every municipality must have one. It demarcates plots
where the risks are significant. You have these so-called
red zones which are here in the center. You have some here. These are areas that prohibit any
new construction or new housing. Because the risk is too high. When the area is blue,
it is slightly floodable. The risk is lower. Construction is permitted,
but with special arrangements. And the more you move away from the risk,
the more we will make construction possible, but adapted. Vincent Maurice is
uncompromising on the subject. He goes even further and imposes
stricter rules than this plan, which he considers a little outdated. This plan came out in 1999 and we had
new floods starting in 2009. And so, we tracked
how far the water went. All new constructions
that are requested from us outside the PPRI, but which are still in an area
that has been flooded, we, the town hall, apply a precautionary principle. We are more cautious
than the current PPRI. But this caution has consequences
for real estate developers who have new constraints. Right away, Patrice, we’ll meet
there, I’ll take my car. Demonstration in a
blue zone, therefore liable to flooding. Vincent Maurice agreed to
the construction of this three-story building at the end of the street. But before granting the permit,
he required special arrangements. Hello Sir. We are in a blue zone of the PPRI,
that is to say which authorizes construction,
but with specific requirements, in particular regarding the level
in relation to the zero level. Because water can come here.
Water can come here. Level zero. No houses,
just vehicles. Look, the building is
built on stilts. So, when the water
rises, it will flow under the building without disturbing
anyone’s life. And it will be able to climb up to
a height of one meter. However, in Saint-Maxime,
every square meter is worth a fortune. 4 to 5,000 euros on average. So, the mayor’s caution
sometimes makes some teeth grind. Look, what has
the promoter lost here? An entire level
of apartments. The profitability of the project is not the same
as if it had been able to build all four levels and sell all four levels. Elected officials
and developers must understand, and I believe everyone understands,
that we can no longer put lives in danger. So we say to the promoter: It’s the refusal,
or else, you do what we ask you. For this building here,
it’s at least 2 million euros less to be gained with a
non-habitable ground floor. Imposing less profitability is
not an easy decision, but it is vital. Are all mayors this cautious? Do all municipalities have the courage
to abandon certain real estate projects as a precaution? A few kilometers from Saint-Maxime,
intimate: Le Lavandou. A city also affected
by severe flooding last winter. The water went everywhere,
even to areas considered white, by the prevention plan,
that is to say without risk. One plot in particular
suffered greatly: this white rectangle, surrounded by blue and red zones. For a long time,
these were raised tennis courts , but today they
house a hospital
for dependent elderly people, a population that is particularly difficult
to evacuate in the event of severe weather. Isn’t
there promises too? The problem is how
quickly can he get there? Frankly, I don’t know. Allowing the construction of this
building in this area was a mistake for these two men. They are the opponents of the municipality. On the left, Thierry Sausset,
on the right, Marc Lamazière. They remember
the floods of January 2014 well. The retirement home was
not spared. Here you had,
outside in the whole neighborhood, a meter or sometimes more than a meter of water. A good meter. Here the entire parking lot was not
only flooded, but with a tangle of all
the cars that were there, and therefore a nightmare night. A nightmare night,
according to them, predictable. Although the area was white,
there was a risk that the mayor, they said, could not ignore. Marc Lamazière obtained a
confidential study commissioned by the town hall in 2008. In this study,
he noted that during recent floods, the plot was
covered by water. It should therefore be
considered blue. This is a study that was published
in October 2009, clearly stating that this area which was
white on the Pépery has become sky blue. So, we see that the location
of the retirement home became a flood zone
after the 2008 flood. So, we knew that this
land was floodable. In 2009, yes. Despite the study, a building permit
was issued in 2010, and work began in 2012. Alerted, the Var prefect
then sent a warning. The letter is dated May 22, 2013. The work is already well advanced
and the prefect’s words are very clear. It does not seem appropriate to me to maintain
certain facilities in this way, receiving vulnerable populations
like establishments receiving elderly people. Why were these elements
not taken into account? We tried to find out more from
the group that owns the retirement home. Unable to get answers. Good morning.
Yes, hello, I am a journalist. I’m calling you about a
retirement home in Le Lavandou, which has been flooded.
I called at the beginning of the week. Yes, don’t worry.
THANKS. Yes, hello?
Yes. Good morning. I have an answer to give you,
we do not wish to answer you. So they don’t want to answer. That’s the only answer
you can give me. They do not wish to answer. So. Well, okay. Thank you so much.
Bye. Bye. So we turned to
the town hall to ask the mayor, Gilles Bernardi, the question. But he is a
particularly elusive elected official. Even his secretary has
trouble locating him. I don’t know at all, but I don’t know. In fact, it’s in his habits,
it’s more like that, you’re fine. All right. Did he go on
a beach tour? Did he have
an appointment outside? I don’t know. So we waited for him. Expected. And finally.
Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning. Sir, I am reporting
on the consequences of the floods. I don’t want to do an interview
about this, because it’s something that is systematically negative. Anything that involves flooding
is negative for those who deal with it, for the municipalities,
because we are seaside resorts. It is enough to say again: Come 20
times the flooded lavandou, the flooded lavandou.
It’s not very good. The guy who comes on vacation here,
he’ll be just as relaxed as the guy. So what are you going to do?
Make them worry a lot? No.
We’re not going to make them do it. So I have another subject.
Don’t worry, it’s managed. I was told…
Wait, Mr. Mayor. I was told about a nursing home
that was badly cut by the chief. That’s it because otherwise
I’ll put it in your head. So, one of your opponents
told me about a retirement home. It’s perfect.
You don’t want to talk about it either? Listen, I have to say: He has to
want it, I do what I want. I do my job. I don’t need us to talk about it,
we’ll handle the problem. And if you show us,
you do the work, if you tell us that this
retirement home wasn’t built in a filthy place… I don’t need any salaams,
I tell you my job, I do it, period.
I don’t want to do any stalling. So silence on this
retirement home issue. Flooding seems to
be a taboo subject here. However, in Lavandou, as everywhere
in the Var, they did exist. They have even been classified as
natural disasters by the State. Dozens of municipalities and thousands
of individuals have been affected. For some,
the damage was so extensive that their homes became unsafe. Owners
were left without you. In this case, it is the
state coffers that are called to the rescue. This is the case of Daniel Graard,
at Allon de les Morts. Today, he no
longer lives in his villa. When the water engulfed his land,
it caused irreparable damage. There, here, I had to put out
lights, because it’s the same, it was starting to sag too. The beam didn’t like the water. She’s all… The whole city has moved. There, it’s moldy everywhere. Hundreds of thousands
of euros of work are needed, but Daniel Graard has not asked his insurer for anything. Oh the swimming pool! Because agents from the prefecture
came to the scene. It’s a toad bath. And the diagnosis was quick. I know that’s a phrase I
heard from them, it’s: We can’t leave these people here.
For what ? Because there was a risk. There are houses that have moved. The ones next to it, it rose up,
it came back down on these foundations. If it had happened in the middle of the night,
I’m not sure we’d all be here to talk about it. The prefecture declares
his house uninhabitable. Then, the owner can
appeal to a state system. He has a
special fund for these cases. A sort of fund,
managed by the Ministry of Ecology, and financed by For You, the French. And yes,
a small portion of your home insurance contributions is dedicated to this. 1.4 percent precisely. It was with this money that the State offered
to buy Daniel Grain’s house. Because we weren’t held to
the sword. We say, your house presents
a risk like any other. Would you be willing
to leave with compensation? I think we all had the same
reaction in the neighborhood. We said maybe, but we wanted to
know at what level we were compensated. In the end, the state bought the villa for
700,000 euros, a price that suited Daniel Graard. With this money,
he bought himself a new house on the hills this time. In his neighborhood,
seven owners benefited from the same scheme for a
total amount of 4 million euros. These cases remain very rare. Fewer than a hundred people
benefit from these state buyouts each year. They only work
in the event of a natural disaster. This status is essential
for disaster victims. It is the State that declares it. An official decree that requires
insurance companies to automatically compensate their customers. But sometimes this decree is not declared. And then it becomes very complicated. Especially since in 2014,
the bill was very high at 2.2 billion euros. Faced with these increasing costs,
companies are closely studying each file. In a moment on D8,
many policyholders who thought they were well protected against bad weather will
tell us that they were forced to fight to be reimbursed. With our regrets,
we close this disaster. Well, that made me very
happy, of course. Insurance companies sometimes play on
details to avoid paying their clients anything. I signed, I trusted. Which proves that you should always read. Faced with climate risk,
inventors have developed solutions for consuming
and living differently. You’re the one who’s going to be
able to. That’s good. And more and more French people
have decided to adopt them. Especially since in 2014, the bill
was very high for insurance companies. 2.2 billion euros. Faced with these increasing costs,
companies are closely studying each file. Mr. Besson knows something about it. This resident of Le Lavandou was flooded in November 2014. Where did you put the watering can? But as few local residents were
affected, the mayor had not requested a state of natural disaster. However, the pensioner’s garden and house
had been completely submerged. Mr. Besson, last November there
was water everywhere. You didn’t need
to water your plants. No, unfortunately not. Well, we laugh about it now, but
it wasn’t funny at all back then. So, if you like, at about
table level, we couldn’t see it anymore. So. So that’s roughly
the level of the bench, there, here. The water attacked the
exterior wood of the house. The whole house is made of wood,
so the whole house works. But above all, to go back inside
through the floors, he will have to change everything and check his foundations. It swelled, it warped. And then, as it dries, it flakes off. In all the boards there, which are… All of that, all of that is cracking. All
the floors in the house need to be redone. That is to say the dining room,
the hallway, the two bedrooms, the office. An expert estimated the work
at more than 20,000 euros. Mr. Besson thought he would be
reimbursed this sum without any problem thanks to his so-called comfort housing contract. It is supposed to protect it against
many risks such as floods. He even sent photos to prove
to his insurer the extent of the damage. You can see a little bit in relation to
the level of the table, as I explained to you earlier. When the water has gone back down,
with all that mud and waste that entails. While waiting for the green light
from the insurance company, he received a response that surprised him. There is no support
available for this file. With our regrets,
we close this disaster. Well, I was very pleased,
of course, when I received this letter. And this is how the insurance company
justifies its decision. She points out that a state of
natural disaster has not been declared. In this case, it is their
flood guarantee that applies. However, in his contract, there
is a small line which specifies that this flood guarantee
only applies once every 10 years. And since he already had a problem 11 months
earlier, the insurance doesn’t cover it. Mr. Besson protested
because the previous flood had been classified as a natural disaster. And after three long weeks… And then, one day,
I received a phone call. Mr. Besson, we saw
your file, you were right. And we will therefore send you a first
check based on the expert’s estimate. And that’s what they did
in the next ten days. But the next flood… We just have to hope it
doesn’t come up into the house, that’s all. We will have nothing left to cry about. And we’ll have nothing left
to cry with, that’s all. Fighting for what you’re
entitled to happens more often than you think. And sometimes you do
n’t get your way. Because in the house, right next door,
Mr. Curnillon is still in dispute with his insurer. Yet he has the same company
and the same contract as Mr. Besson. And when he applied
for compensation, he received the exact same letter. His insurer informed him that he had already
declared a claim and that he would not be reimbursed either. Since I had several
floods over the past ten years, I could not get a refund. Like his neighbor,
Mr. Cournillon protests. Logically,
he should have won his case, but instead he received another letter. His insurer found another
argument for not reimbursing him. He mentions a third incident
that dates back two years earlier and which he is accused of not having
reported to their service. We also note that when you
signed your contract, you declared that you had only had one
claim, which is not the case. The company decides
to terminate his contract outright. For Jean-Pascal, there is injustice. He claims to have declared everything. It was his local insurance agent
who made a mistake when drawing up his contract. When he came,
he said to me: Mr. Curnian, I have fulfilled everything with the
general conditions that you gave me and everything. I signed, I trusted. Which proves that you should always read. And in the end,
he only reported one claim. Despite his good faith,
he still has not won his case and has not been able to start
work on his house. He has hired a lawyer and has
not ruled out taking legal action. Between the erosion of our coasts and
increasingly destructive floods, our territory seems increasingly threatened. Ultimately, if the weather continues to be so
unstable on the Atlantic coast, a million French people would be
threatened by erosion and rising waters. In recent years, little by little,
all over the planet, water is advancing inexorably, the Earth is retreating
and habitable zones are shrinking. A phenomenon that is accelerating due to
the rise in ocean levels caused by global warming. The only way to fix this
is to change our lifestyle, because it is extremely energy intensive. We use natural resources
to light our homes, heat our homes, move around and make
the things we consume. We burn enormous amounts
of fossil fuels: oil, coal, gas. This releases heat and that’s
why the thermometer keeps rising. One element in particular in our
daily lives is the source of much of this pollution. This is our home. Our apartments and
houses alone account for 44 percent of the energy consumed in France. To combat
global warming, our homes must therefore
function without increasing temperatures. But now it is possible. There are new ways
to light and heat our homes that are both good
for the planet and good for our wallets. All over France, young
entrepreneurs have understood this well. They are inventing surprising solutions
that are revolutionizing the energy sector. A new commercial battle is being
played out, with everyone trying to be the first to conquer
this market of the future. And some of them have some serious
arguments to convince us. Near Montpellier, in the village of Monbazin, here are Paul and Hélène, in love. It may not be visible,
but they are already living in the future. They are pioneers
of new energies. When they make a coffee,
when they turn on the TV, when they go on the Internet,
when they start a washing machine or the dishwasher,
they have no worries about their EDF bill,
because in the shed of the house, their electricity meter is ticking, yes,
but in a strange way. So we see that the arrow indicates
which way it should turn. If we consume, we see that it
turns completely in the other direction. Is it spinning upside down?
It turns upside down, yes. No, you’re not dreaming,
the meter is indeed running backwards. While all
household appliances are turned on, the Amaurou family spends nothing on electricity. She’s even
making money. The entire part that makes the meter
turn backwards is sold to EDF. It was resold for a little more
than seven cents per kilowatt. But hey, given the quantity,
I think it will bring us around 600 euros in the year. How is this little miracle possible? Firstly, because their house,
in the middle of the countryside, is also a mini power station
thanks to its solar panels. There are 36 of them
and they share them with their neighbors. It initially cost 25,000 euros,
but today they produce so much electricity that Paul and Hélène
can sell it to EDF. Given the economy and resale,
in fact, it will be… We think it will
pay for itself within nine years. And what allows this couple to
have almost no electricity bill is a new system
that they added to their solar panel and which allows them to use them to the maximum. When Paul needs to run his
washing machine, he doesn’t go to his laundry room, but to his computer. There, software is connected to all of his
household appliances: dishes, fridge, water heater and washing machine. To start his machine,
Paul just has to click. The machine is able to
start itself, remotely, when the solar panels
produce a lot of energy. And that’s the whole trick
of this innovation. Because in principle,
solar energy poses a big problem. It is not available
when it is needed most. It is during the day,
when we are often away, that the sun is at its strongest
and the solar panels produce the most energy. But since we are not there
to trigger the devices, the energy is lost. In the evening, once we get to work,
that’s when we turn on our devices. But at the end of the day,
the sun goes down and the panels produce much less energy. We then have to buy electricity
from EDF to operate our household appliances. The system our
couple used solved this problem. Demonstration. When Mr. Amaury clicks on
his washing machine icon, see what happens. The machine does not start
because it is morning and at this time of day the production of the
solar panels is not yet sufficient. It doesn’t start, it waits. He waits until there is enough sun. We turn on the device, but well,
it doesn’t start, then we wait, it will start. We can turn it on at 8am. If it’s sunny, it will start at 11am. And if there is no sun and there is
sun only in the afternoon, it will start at 2:00 p.m. Demonstration with this graph. In green, electricity produced
by solar panels. In red, the consumption curve
of Paul and Hélène’s house. It is clear that the devices
start operating from 11 a.m., when solar energy production
is at its maximum. The system is even able to launch them
not at the same time, but one after the other, so as
not to exceed the capacity of the panels. Of course, lovers can always
trigger their machine manually if they need to. But with this system, the
couple’s bills have dropped considerably. This is our consumption. This is what they consumed
between March and May 2014, when they did not have panels. At the same time this year,
we can clearly see that they consumed much less energy from the network. For the same period,
the bill went from 507 to 237 euros, half as much. They owe this optimized use of their
solar panel to a small, super-intelligent box. This tiny device
is connected to the Internet by a box and by radio waves to all devices. There you go, from a take like that. Thanks to these special color sockets. This little gem of technology, which cost
lovers 1,500 euros, was developed by a
rapidly expanding French company, and it could well become
a real goldmine. A few kilometers away,
in Montpellier, there is a sort of mini-friend of Silicon Valley. We are at Comme What,
a company that, in just two years, has grown from 2 to 14 employees. She has already sold nearly a thousand
little boxes like this one. Its name, Lind box. Have you tried viewing
the user manual that is directly on the Comme What website? At the origin of this success, Grégory Lamotte. It took this engineer three years to
develop this revolutionary little box, which is assembled
on site in premises that are starting to feel a bit cramped. So, I’m going to speak
a little more softly. So here, indeed,
is the part where we assemble the boxes. So, all boxes,
before being shipped, are tested for 24 hours. Inside,
electronic components like in a computer. Their invention is
constantly evolving. And the engineer continues to improve it
constantly to better manage all the electrical appliances in the house. The Internet does indeed go through there. Boxing, she does her math. It communicates wirelessly with
smart objects, which are of different types. And then the training
goes back online. And then, boxing is able to
act on the devices to turn them on and off at the right time. He came up with the idea for this box in 2011. He was working at a large
group specializing in solar energy. At that time, he realized that the sun
produces a lot when people are away from home,
that is, in the middle of the day. Grégory Lamotte then suggested to his
employer that they find a solution to use this lost energy. And so, I talked about it a little bit, to
find out who was interested in working on it.
They said to me: Yes, yes, great. A great idea, it’s brilliant,
it’s the future, we have to do it. But next year. And then I’ll talk about it
again next year. They say to me: Yes, great, next year. I say: Listen, here it is,
it’s now. I don’t want to have to take the train. So, I decided to resign
and create a startup in renewable energy. For months,
he worked alone in his garage to develop a system capable
of triggering devices remotely. And at the beginning of 2014,
the little box was born. Gregory’s invention
quickly won numerous awards. And the little startup takes off. 500 boxes were sold
in the first year. It must be said that at the time,
it was the only company to market a device capable
of improving the use of solar panels. When we started marketing,
we had no competitors a year and a half ago. And there, we start to have three, four
competitors who start to arrive. To protect themselves from competitors,
Grégory Lamotte and André Jean, his collaborator,
rushed to file patents. Dozens of pages describing their
invention and protecting them from copycats. The presentation of diagrams
is the rule for drafting and presenting patents. Figures with these little references,
these little numbers as it was written when everything was done by
hand 50 years ago. A precaution that allowed them to have
a long lead over potential competitors. If someone starts marketing
a product that uses the same technology, you can actually
attack it with a patent, you lock up a market. And if another company ever
wanted to use the technology Gregory developed,
they would have to pay him royalties. Here, in the closet,
next to the checkbook. You see that this
is the heart of society. The problem is that very quickly,
many other companies sensed that there was a commercial opportunity there. Very interesting. For example, on the Internet,
we found a competitor that offers almost the same type
of box connected to all the electrical devices in the house. The promise is the same: to
further optimize self-consumption. And in fact, there
are now many technologies that make
solar more cost-effective than before. Some of them are
particularly ingenious. They promise to double solar energy production. In Isle-sur-la-Sorgue,
at the foot of Mont Ventoux. Jean-mil René is a
qualified solar panel installer. He believes in his product so much that he has
actually installed it at home, on his roof. Are you coming to join me? These new generation panels
of course provide electricity, but above all they possess
revolutionary technology which makes them much more profitable for individuals. This is our showroom. So, customers generally don’t go up
on the roof because there is a safety issue
in going up. They can see them from below. Hello Mrs. Lemal.
Hello Sir. And he intends to convince this
retired couple who came to find out a little more about these new solar panels. So, the signs are installed… Initially, the visit is classic. He shows them his roof. That’s eight panels. And that’s a power of two
kilos and in square meters, we’re at… It must be 16 square meters.
All right. But the visit doesn’t end there. He then brings them to his water heater,
because the trick with Mr. Minet’s photovoltaic panels is that they
also produce hot water stored in this tank. This one is a 400 liter. There are five of us at home. And to help his
customers understand how it works, he even provided this little sample. So, in fact,
here, we enter the liquid which will be cold, which will circulate in the system
with the water table to recover all the calories which have
come out, go to the next panel. We’ll do it like this
up to six panels maximum. That ‘s great. Customers won over in just a few minutes
by signs, Mr. Minier has not always experienced that. It must be said that not so long ago, no
one wanted to hear about solar energy anymore. However, everything had started very well
for photovoltaics in France. In the 2000s,
solar panels flourished on private roofs,
as at the time they benefited from generous tax credits. And what’s more, owners could
sell their electricity back to EDF at a very attractive price. That’s 100 cents per kilowatt hour, or
four times more than market rates. Except that all of this will very
quickly come to a halt. The Ministry of Economy,
which has also made a long- awaited decision on environmental matters,
concerns the photovoltaic sector. Overwhelmed by tens of thousands
of projects, the State has decided to lower the buy-back tariff for future contracts. In 2010, the State considered that the purchase
by EDF of these thousands of kilowatt hours was costing it too much. He then suddenly lowers the price. From now on, individuals no
longer resell at 0.60 cents, but at 0.30 cents per kilowatt hour,
half as much. As a result, the entire
solar industry collapsed. It’s a massacre. Nine out of ten installers in France
close their doors. Mr. Minet, too,
almost drew the curtain. But he held on. We have been in a survival strategy,
like everyone else, of asking ourselves tomorrow, what will become of us? Because everything we have done,
everything we had planned in terms of turnover and activity, disappears. The slowdown in the sector
cost it a year of turnover. Today, his company is doing
much better. Last year, it even doubled its sales
with a turnover of almost 700,000 euros. It must be said that on the ground,
Mr. Minet has unstoppable arguments. Good morning. He must finish convincing the Leumals
to invest in a system for their home.
Hello, Mr. Minet. You have a roof that faces southeast
and a roof that faces southwest. So we have the choice of both
sides in terms of exposure. And to help them decide,
he prepared a little table. We are in the pre-assessment phase. He calls it the pre-assessment. At first glance, it’s a bit complicated,
but everything becomes clear when he approaches the last column, the one on the far right. So, this allows you to know
year by year how much you will earn taking into account the
sunshine coefficient, both by selling and by saving. By producing their own hot water
and reselling the electricity, they can expect to earn 26,000
euros over 20 years thanks to these panels. Since the purchase and installation cost
around 15,000 euros, they will pay for themselves in a dozen years. And beyond that, they will save
money every year. What also appeals to Ms. Le Malle
is that she is no longer dependent on EDF. Having power
over your consumption Well, then. It’s like having power
over the products you buy. You can’t stand them like that. You have the power. That’s good. Thank you for your welcome, sir and madam. And here’s another contract
for Mr. Minet. And if, like him, some installers are
smiling again, it is partly thanks to
genius inventors barely thirty years old. To meet them,
you have to go to Marseille. These buildings are not the premises of a
company, but those of Centrale, a prestigious engineering school. This is where a startup
specializing in renewable energy and energy was born. The little gang has it in spades. Well, it’s not that hot there,
with the wind. Even during their weekly jog,
they have only one idea in mind: to become
key players in solar energy. When you run, I find that you think. Well,
I’m thinking a little bit about it anyway. I’m a little obsessed with the project,
and so I think about it while I’m running. Ah good ?
Yeah, all the time. While sleeping too, but… Jérôme Moutarde is one of the two
founders of Duhlson, the company that manufactures the famous
new generation of panels. Two years ago, he installed his
invention on the roof of this bicycle garage. It was the
young startup’s first showcase. There, it’s our
very first achievement. This allowed us, afterward, to trigger
several among customers, in fact. Electricity supplies
the building next door. Come on, let’s all go in the shower together. And the water, heated by the panels,
allows them all to take a hot shower after each run. And the water is
also heated by the panels. So, by the time it arrives,
what changes is the bill. It is reduced by 60 to 70
percent compared to before. 70 percent?
For water? For water. And then, for the lighting and everything too. So we allow ourselves to stay
in the shower longer. Afterwards, everyone has to go through.
Yeah. The idea came to him during his studies when he was
studying photovoltaic panel technology.
That’s Laetitia. With his partner, Laetitia. They realized that when
operating, the panels did not heat up under the sun. However, this heat was not used. And so, we said to ourselves,
photovoltaic solar panels, in fact, if we can optimize them at all today,
they produce electricity, certainly, but we could,
we could boost them by also recovering thermal energy,
therefore heat. And today, it is only from the loss of
this heat that it is used to warm the small birds. So we thought we might as well
use it to heat the showers. And the concept is zero. And here is one of their first panels. At the front,
classic plastic photovoltaic cells. At the back, a stainless steel plate
through which the water passes. This water will recover the heat
from the panels and therefore allow hot water to be produced free of charge. To get there, it took them four
years of research and testing, months of work and trial and error,
which they kept in a small box.
Oh yeah. There we find the very first prototypes
of the panel that we exploded to maintain pressure. So, it was in… I don’t know if you can
recognize a little bit of the… It’s really the very beginning,
the points that were a little bit thicker. Did that one explode?
Yeah, he exploded. That’s another one
that’s blown up, right? We had the plastic fittings. Once they had developed a good prototype,
Jérôme and Laetitia entered all the innovation competitions. And while they were fresh out
of school, they won dozens of trophies. And also, very large checks. This one was really
a prize that allowed us to reach a very important milestone for the company. Thanks to this, they were finally able to start
production of the first panels, and the first customers arrived. The press then became interested in them, and very
quickly, an article would prove decisive. One of our favorites was… So this is a magazine that is very well
known in the construction industry, Le Moniteur. In this magazine, a file on
solar energy where the invention of young engineers is highlighted. A paper that will attract a customer’s attention
in ways they never dreamed possible. I believe this is the one that
gave rise to the Challenger installation. Challenger The headquarters
is the headquarters of Bouygues Constructions, one
of the world leaders in public works. A gigantic building
where 3,200 people work. At that time,
the company completely renovated its headquarters to make it energy-positive.
It was another stroke of luck at the start, you know. Where in fact, the site manager,
whose name is Marc, called the office one afternoon, one midday at the office, do
you remember? It was lucky we were there,
because usually it’s lunchtime. He immediately told me about his project,
saying: Look, I’m responsible for the
Bouygues Constructions headquarters building and I need panels
like yours to heat the water in our company restaurant. All right. So, at first, I said to myself: Well,
well, that makes you curious. But hey, it’s interesting,
it’s still Bouygues Constructions, they’re important players. The young team then goes
to a meeting without really believing it. Then when we arrived at the meeting,
there were, I remember, around fifteen people
from Bouygues waiting for us, really with the aim of
buying the product. 200 panels sold in one go,
after only a few months on the market. That’s the photo up there,
you can see 200 panels. These are
dual sun panels that are installed. 200 panels was a
lot for you, right? Yeah, it’s a really big project. Of the 1,000 panels sold last year
, that’s already 20 percent of the figure. But this big boost is not
enough to keep his company running. Because I won’t necessarily
be the one best placed to answer you. Listen, we’ll do it for you right away. In photovoltaics,
competition is tough. So, to sell
a lot of panels very quickly, they would need an army of salespeople. Hello Damien, welcome. I warned you, it’s… Are you okay?
It’s good and you ? Yeah, very good. So, Jérôme Moutarde found a way
to get sellers at a lower cost. These men are not employees,
they are independent installers of photovoltaic panels. Jerome brought them together to try
to convince them to sell these panels to their customers. So I am Jérôme Moutert. I am one of the co-founders
of the company Dual Sun. So here you are in our offices.
It’s been four years. And its best argument
is that these panels are much more cost-effective than the conventional panels
found on the market. Overall,
I think we really have a super-efficient solution
that produces double the energy, electricity and hot water,
twice as much energy as a conventional photovoltaic panel.
I was able to say it. And Jerome often adds an
additional argument that seems like nothing, but which often hits the mark. So, we have a panel that is truly 100
percent French, and with this innovation we manage
to maintain local production, and that’s something that
is actually quite dear to us. This is super important. People ask a lot of questions
today about a lot of products, especially when you have photovoltaic systems,
where there are all the Chinese products. There is a kind of fantasy
surrounding Chinese products. There, the fact that he told us just
now, I’m sure that these are arguments, they perhaps don’t dare to
say it, but that they will use right away.
It’s safe. You’re going to use it.
Sure, yes. For made in France, that’s for sure. Made in France, you’re going to explain
that it’s made in Rouen. We didn’t know that before. And word of mouth is
working more and more. During our filming,
these two installers even spontaneously came to knock
on Dual Sun’s door. We would like to present it
at an exhibition we will be participating in in June. They traveled many miles
to come to Marseille to meet the team, because they are already
won over by the product. Are you convinced, in fact? Oh well, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Did you travel far
to get here? Me, yes, because the
company’s headquarters are in Brittany. A golden opportunity that
the team will not let pass. So it’s more for
customer meetings, because people like it… She gives them a sample with
which these installers will go out to win new customers. That works. From this, you can explain to
a client without any problem. You can even whistle into it.
Well, yeah. Well yeah, because people
blow on it. Thanks for stopping by.
I hope it will be useful for… Thank you for your welcome. Yeah, we’d find out very soon. So here are two new installers
who will promote his invention. For Jérôme, this is a guarantee
of increasing his turnover. We are gaining momentum. This is felt by several indicators. There, we see, the activity is
starting to be provided. I could hear the phone
ringing quite a bit. I pay close attention to this kind
of thing and we can feel that it is starting. Okay, so how do you want to hold it? This is how a small group of
creative thirty-somethings is conquering the photovoltaic market. A market that was thought to be lost and which is
now finding a new lease of life. Last year, the number of
solar panels installed worldwide increased by 28 percent.
E of 28%.