The lighting of public buildings has stopped in the Northern French city of Lille in a bid to reduce energy consumption, as winter approaches and prices soar.
Buildings such as the city’s fine arts museum and city hall were usually lit up with bright colours underlining their architecture, until the current was switched off on this past Monday.
“We wished to quickly announce energy sobriety measures, and among the easiest to put in place was (to stop) lighting public buildings, because it was painless for Lille residents. The fact that we have reduced lighting allows us to save 170,000 kilowatt hours, or around 30,000 euros.” deputy to the Lille mayor in charge of ecological transition Audrey Linkenheld said.
Other measures announced in a news conference by city officials on Thursday (September 8) also include lowering temperatures in most public buildings and pools, closing the city’s tropical garden and closing two fountains.
The whole package represents a 7% cut in the city’s energy use and allows it to reduce energy spending by one million euros.
The French city of Nantes has taken similar measures and reduced heating in public buildings. Others, such as Paris, Strasbourg or Reims are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.
