d’Escrivan

Eléonore

Valenciennes, France

OVH

2 rue Kellermann - 59100 Roubaix - France

In 2050, France has anticipated the end of petrochemical abundance instead of enduring it. Energy is produced at home, objects can be taken apart and repaired, and plastic is recycled or replaced by biomaterials. All of this happened in stages announced years in advance, without disruption. But not everyone climbed the stages at the same time.

In 2028, global oil demand peaks. Contrary to what the most alarmist scenarios predicted, nothing collapses: production levels off on a plateau that will last for decades. Oil does not become scarce, it becomes precious. The oil that goes into fuel for planes and cargo ships cannot go into plastics, and everyone understands that choices will have to be made. The State, backed by Europe, takes the lead rather than waiting for constraint: from those years on, it supports recycling and bio-based materials supply chains, without dramatising any urgency, in the name of industrial sovereignty. In 2031, a plan of regulatory stages is announced, spanning nearly twenty years. Every household will have to produce at least 65% of its own energy, first in new builds, then, from 2038, in major renovations, with targeted aid for low-income households and co-owned buildings. Installers and manufacturers have two decades to build up their skills and bring their prices down. No one is caught off guard, and that is probably why no one remembers a date when things tipped. In 2034, a technical condition presented as an administrative detail changes the face of everyday objects: to receive aid for recycling and biomaterials, manufacturers must deliver objects that can be taken apart without special tools, with a repair manual. In 2041, neighbourhood workshops and manufacturers sign a shared charter: repairing it yourself with the manual or entrusting the object to an approved professional are held to be equal, and the warranty no longer lapses when you open things up. Repairing stops being a risk or a rare skill.

In middle schools, every technology class now follows a repair cycle, with a parts database open to everyone. In neighbourhoods, workshops run on the model of community grocery stores: members join by giving two hours a week, at the front desk, supporting another member or sorting parts. In return, they get access to the workbench and the tools, to a repairer on site if they would rather hand the object over, and to advice: no one faces a broken object alone. In 2046, a coordinated workforce retraining programme is launched with the area's manufacturers, presented as a continuation of an industrial tradition rather than as catching up. The area draws an economic and symbolic advantage from the transition, instead of suffering its effects. In 2050, on a Saturday at nine o'clock, the neighbourhood workshop smells of coffee and hot solder. Inès, 13, sets on the workbench the kettle for her technology class repair cycle. Her father, Karim, follows the manual: everything comes apart without special tools, as planned. On the tablet, the parts database gives the gasket reference in three clicks. Next to them, Daniel, one of the workshop's founders, watches. “With the manual, anyone can manage.”