City of lights out: Paris energy-saving measures come into effect

The first energy-saving measures for Paris' monuments and cultural establishments, as outlined by Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo on September 13th, came into effect on Friday. Here's the full list of what's changed.

Published: 24 September 2022 12:20 CEST

A picture taken at night on April 26, 2022 shows a view of the illuminated Eiffel Tower. The lights on the monument will now go off at 11.45pm. Photo: AFP

Lights will be turned off earlier

All external ornamental facades and municipal monuments managed by the city will now go dark at 10pm.

The buildings affected are:

L’Hôtel de Ville
The 17 district mairies
QJ (the former mairie of the 1st arrondissement)
L’Académie du Climat (former mairie of the 4th arrondissement)
La Fabrique de la Solidarité (former mairie of the 2nd arrondissement)
La Caserne Napoléon (4th arrondissement)
La Tour Saint-Jacques (4th arrondissement)

Lights will be switched off at cultural establishments at 10pm or as soon as performances finish. This affects:

Le théâtre du Châtelet
La Gaité Lyrique
Le théâtre de la Ville
Le Musée d’Art Moderne
Le Petit Palais
Le Palais Galliera
Le Musée Carnavalet
Le Musée de la Vie romantique

And the Eiffel Tower, which is usually bathed in a warm glow until 1am, will now be turned off at 11.45pm.

However, as previously announced at the press conference on September 13th, for safety reasons, public lighting in the streets of Paris will remain on.

Swimming pool temperatures will be slightly cooler

This measure also came into effect this weekend.

Water temperatures have been reduced to 26C from 27C and air temperatures to 25C from 26C in the capital’s 31 pools that are managed by the city.

Other previously announced energy-saving measures related to the heating of city buildings and included turning on the heating 30 minutes later in the morning and, for administrative buildings, pushing the start of the winter heating season back by one month to All Saints’ Day holidays (November 1st).

And, depending on the quality of the construction, temperatures will be gradually scaled back by 1C to be set at 18C during the day and 12C at night and when buildings are unoccupied.

The heating measures will be implemented in consultation with the users of the buildings. But buildings that house vulnerable people, such as care homes and nurseries, are exempt from these measures.

The measures form part of the city’s energy-saving plans agreed to protect residents from long-term price hikes and to help combat global warming.

They came as energy prices surged to record levels at the end of August – they reached €1,000/MWh, 12 times higher than the price seen in the same period a year earlier.

These new measures will save around 60GWh of energy in the coming weeks, i.e. more than 80 percent of the city’s 10 percent energy-saving target for this winter.

Further energy-saving measures are set to be announced soon, the Mayor’s office said in a press release on Friday.

READ MORE:

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.