Association NegaWatt Power, Is a French advocacy group. It was founded in 2001 to promote the NegaWatt concept and its application to French society. The association seeks to reduce the use and consumption of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Its approach is based on energy conservation, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies. It published a scenario that details a path to phasing out these energy sources.
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The association unites energy specialists in France, relying mostly on volunteer engineers. Other specialists include volunteer sociologists, economists and urban planners, who work together to create energy transition scenarios and to suggest the corresponding political steps that would need to be taken.
Association NégaWatt inspired local initiatives in transition towns called "Virage-Energie," meaning "energy bend."
NégaWatt scenario
The NégaWatt scenario spans from 2012 to 2050. The scenario starts by assessing energy needs in terms of heat, mobility and specific electricity, and suggests a transition path. It then couples the NégaWatt and the After res 2050 scenarios. The After res association targets agriculture energy use and can evaluate biomass production, providing the NégaWatt scenario with realistic biomass figures.
An English version of the scenario is available.
The scenario employs the power to gas process to compensate for the intermittent nature of most renewable energies. A computer simulation concluded that the problem of electric grid equilibrium could be addressed with a time step of no more than one hour. The scenario concluded that already-proven technologies are available to effect the transition.
Other countries
A Swiss NégaWatt organization was founded in 2014, on the basis of the French one.