His luggage on his back, his notes in hand, Mike Berners-Lee has just arrived from London by train.
In the café where we are meeting, he gazes into ours with his perpetually astonished blue eyes and, with his air of a “so British” university professor, engages in conversation about his new book, “Can we still eat bananas ?
», to be published this Thursday March 14 in France by L'arbre Qui Marche.
The pioneer of carbon counting translates almost everything into CO2 equivalent, a unit that measures our impact on the climate.
From hand dryers in toilets (“peanuts”, as the English say), to wars (3.3 billion tonnes if we take reconstruction into account).
An indicator “far from perfect”, recognizes the specialist, but the fact remains that to act you need the right orders of magnitude.
“However, few people have a good carbon instinct,” he points out.
We also took some good news from his new book.
Send an email
Spam stopped by the filter: 0.02 g of C02;
an e-mail that took ten minutes to write, sent to 100 people, including one who read it: 24 g of CO2.
We often discuss the importance of deleting our emails.
“It’s actually very anecdotal.
Magicians are familiar with this technique of diverting attention by getting the audience to focus on an unimportant detail, while the real thing is happening elsewhere.
Companies and sometimes states do the same by highlighting their carbon footprint,” describes Mike Berners-Lee.
For our emails: with or without attachment, the difference is minimal.
The average message, ten seconds of writing, five seconds of reading, so the total footprint is 3 kg per person per year.
And spam?
“Even though they represent more than half of the messages, they only represent 2% of the total footprint,” explains Mike Berners-Lee.
Because we don't spend much time there.
With good antispam, you don't even read them.
»
“Similarly, don’t panic, on streaming!
promises the English specialist.
Unless you are using a very large screen.
» A solution to this cheerful carbon meter: get together in front of the giant TV in large numbers “and it's still more fun to watch France crush England in rugby together.
»
Eat bananas
A banana: 110 g of CO2;
one kilo: 670 g.
It's true, bananas are produced thousands of kilometers from where they are consumed.
“But it grows in the sun and therefore without a greenhouse, it is transported by boat (100 times less carbon-intensive than by plane).
And its skin exempts it from packaging,” defends Mike Berners-Lee, who points out that he only talks about climate footprint.
In any case, the bunches of these yellow fruits are much more sober than a punnet of strawberries imported from South Africa, which arrive here, or even the same strawberries grown in France but out of season and therefore under greenhouse.
In both cases, 3.65 kg of CO2 per tray!
Seven times more than the tasty garriguettes that emerge from the ground in spring.
“And if you really want to eat them in January, no problem, but frozen, the impact of the electricity in the freezer is tiny,” advises the Englishman.
For all fruits, the worst are still those which end up in the trash like 18% of French people's food.
Wash your dishes in the machine
A machine with eco program 50°C: 220 g of CO2;
the same dishes by hand: 3 kg of CO2.
In France, there is no doubt, the dishwasher takes precedence over washing dishes by hand.
“Not to mention that it washes much, much better,” recalls Mike Berners-Lee.
Of course, in the carbon count, the depreciation of the device must be taken into account.
But if you keep it for around twelve years, it only weighs 100g per wash.
“The worst option is to run your dirty pots and cutlery under hot water.
Obviously, we then combine the emissions from both.
" Oops.
For a low-carbon house, the researcher insists, the most important thing is to make it last: keep chairs even if they are mismatched;
turning to second hand, “things have a soul and are more interesting, overconsumption does not make you happy”, he pleads.
The electric bike
1 km at 20 km/h (100% motor), without stopping or climbing: 0.6 g of CO2.
Electric bikes have made “big progress since their debut in the 2000s,” insists Mike Berners-Lee, who insists that their consumption is now lower than that of a classic bike.
Really ?
“Yes, if we take into account our own energy sources and therefore the calories we burn while cycling.
» Of course, you have to add the motor and the battery but “they count for very little per kilometer, especially since electric bikes cover more kilometers throughout their life than a conventional bicycle,” explains the professor.
“And it’s better for your health, not to mention that it’s often much nicer!”
» describes the convert who pedals daily.
Also read: Baguette, wine and TGV… what carbon footprint for the French exception?
Likewise, he insists: “We eat too much meat and dairy products, consuming less lowers our carbon footprint, at the same time as it allows us to live longer,” argues the supporter of low-carbon living.