Eiffel Tower lights to turn off earlier from September 23 to reduce power use

Paris: The lights of Eiffel tower will be switch off an hour early from September 23. The step would mean a 4% reduction in its power consumption. Following of President Emmanuel Macron's goal that industry, households, and municipal authorities should reduce their energy consumption by 10% in response to Russia's cut to gas supplies and spiralling energy prices.

After this, the Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that all municipal establishments will turn off lighting at 10 pm from September 23 in order to save energy. The Mayor called on the state to "do the same thing" for national monuments, and the owners of private monuments to take steps "to move in the same direction". France, like many other European countries, is facing an energy crisis ahead of the winter season.

In a recent development to it, Paris will switch off the Eiffel Tower's lights an hour earlier than normal time. The Eiffel Tower is currently illuminated until 1 am by a lighting system that lends it a golden glow. It takes around 20,000 flashing bulbs at the top of each hour while lit. After the announcement, the monument's lights will shut down at 11:45 pm that would mean a 4% reduction in its power consumption.

The mayor further said that all buildings owned by the City of Paris will dial heating down from 19 degrees Celsius to 18 degrees Celsius during the day and 12 degrees Celsius for nights and weekends. Nursing homes and kindergartens will be excepted. Water temperature in the city's 40 swimming pools will also be reduced by one degree Celsius. lower the water temperature in municipal pools and delay heating public buildings to save energy this winter, the city's mayor said on Tuesday. This measure will be applied to all public buildings, including municipal museums, the town halls of each Parisian arrondissement and tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower, reports Xinhua news agency.

Hidalgo said that from September 23 lighting in Paris' public buildings would be switched off at 10 pm while the water temperature in pools would be reduced to 25 Celsius from 26 Celsius. The heating in public buildings will be dialled down to 18 Celsius.

The objective of this "energy sobriety plan" is to "further reduce" the city's consumption by 10 per cent, the equivalent of the "energy consumption of 226 schools", she explained.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne have already announced that rolling blackouts are "possible" this winter for companies. In early September, Minister for Energy Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher said that the country's strategic gas reserves would be 100 per cent filled by November 1.

Meanwhile, French multinational electric utility company EDF has committed to restarting all of the country's 32 nuclear reactors currently under maintenance for this winter. (with Agency inputs)