The anti-waste campaigners spread out across the pitch-black streets of Paris well after midnight, shinnying up walls and drain pipes and groping for switches to turn off the lights.
Click three times.
The outside lights that the shops had left on are turned off one by one. In an effort to quickly wean itself off Russian natural gas and oil so that companies won’t have to shut down and homes can keep heated and powered, Europe is taking this little but meaningful move.
Long before Russia began slashing energy supplies to Europe in a struggle of wills over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, engineer Kevin Ha and his similarly nimble pals were taking action against wasteful firms in Paris. As a result, the activists were forerunners of the energy economy movement that later became popular in France, Germany, and other countries. Nearly word for word, public authorities from cabinet ministers to mayors are now reiterating their message that everyone can participate.
Ha, 30, said on a recent night of light-extinguishing on the Champs-Élysées Boulevard, “Everyone can have a positive impact at their own level, by adopting good practices, by doing the right things to lower their overall energy footprint.”
The odds are against us. Authorities are concerned that if Russia cuts off the gas supplies it has already substantially decreased, this winter will be colder, darker, and less productive in Europe. Gas must be used sparingly now so that it may be saved and burned in houses, factories, and power plants later, according to regulators.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, stated that “Europe needs to be prepared.” “We need to save gas to fill our gas storage tanks more quickly if we want to make it through the winter, assuming that there is a complete disruption of Russian gas. And in order to do that, we need to use less gas. I am aware that asking the entire European Union to do this is a lot, but it is important to safeguard us.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France’s energy minister said that even though Europe is scrambling to find alternative sources of energy, any problems this winter could be a sign of worse things to come if Russian gas supplies are entirely cut off and remain so through 2023.
“The following winter could be even difficult if the gas supply is reduced before the end of the year; it would mean we’ll go a whole year without Russian gas,” Pannier-Runacher warned French senators.
Therefore, there are increasing calls for Europeans to take shorter showers, turn off electrical outlets, and take other possible measures. These calls are already familiar to frustrated parents of wasteful teens everywhere.
The largest economic and most populous country in the EU, Germany, has been receiving approximately a third of its gas from Russia, leaving it noticeably susceptible. Lights are being turned off, public pools are getting colder, and thermostats are being changed as energy conservation efforts get underway.
After it closes to visitors at midnight, the glass dome of the Reichstag, Berlin’s legislative building, will go dark, and neither will two of its facades. This winter, the temperature in lawmakers’ offices will drop by 2 degrees to 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit). About 200 locations in the German city will no longer have nighttime lighting, including Berlin City Hall, the Jewish Museum, two opera theaters, and the iconic Victory Column with panoramic views.
The public swimming pools in Munich are closing their saunas, and the water is now even colder. Public pools in Hannover will only have cold showers as part of a goal to reduce energy use by 15%.
Robert Habeck, Germany’s deputy chancellor and minister of economy, said, “The aggregate of all the contributions will help us get through this winter and be ready for the next one.” He said that he has reduced the amount of time he spends in the shower to the news magazine Der Spiegel.
The path will be difficult and stony, but we can handle it, he replied.
The Dutch government is promoting “Flip the Switch,” a program that encourages taking short, five-minute showers, switching to fans and sun blinds from air conditioning, and air-drying laundry.
Legislation passed on Monday in frequently-sweltering Spain prohibits establishments including workplaces, shops, and hotels from lowering their thermostats in the summer to below 27 degrees Celsius or raising those over 19 degrees Celsius in the winter.
The office staff was urged to forgo neckties by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, apparently to reduce the temptation to turn on the air conditioning. He set the bar high by attending a news conference while wearing an open-neck shirt.
The Italian government also suggests setting restrictions on the amount of heating and cooling in public structures.
By 2024, the French government wants to reduce energy consumption by 10% through a campaign called “energy sobriety.” Mayors are also fighting their own battle against waste, introducing fines for air-conditioned or heated establishments that leave their front doors open, while others try to lessen the suffering caused by skyrocketing energy costs.
Since July 11, the 8,000 inhabitants of Aureilhan, which is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southwest France, have become accustomed to nights without street lights. Mayor Yannick Boubée would rather use the money saved by putting out all 1,770 of them between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on roads and other repairs. Otherwise, he claimed, the town’s 84,000 euro ($86,000) annual lighting expense would almost triple.
When it comes down to it, he remarked over the phone, “There’s no reason to leave the lights on at night.” It is causing a mental paradigm shift.
The next step is to persuade the locals to accept less-heated classrooms when the schools reopen.
All of these actions are free, so we’re going to ask parents to give their kids pullovers, he said. We are powerless, regrettably.
