ENERGY: Streetlights will be switched off this winter, but not Christmas lights

The Central Government plans to introduce more energy saving measures that further reduce electricity and gas consumption in Spain, in the first half of September. This was announced by the director general of the IDAE (Institute for Diversification and Saving of Energy), Joan Groizard, yesterday, who said that the Government are considering switching off lighting that is expendable, with the exception of festive Christmas lighting.

"The objective of the new Royal Decree that is being prepared for September is a broader contingency and energy saving plan with simple and easy measures which reinforce the existing ones."

The Government calculates that Spain can only save half of the commitment assumed with the EU with the measures already in force meaning that more needs to be done.

"Some measures will be mandatory and others voluntary, but in any case, they will not require large investments or large changes, which is something happening in other countries around us."

Among them, the Government suggests "to turn off any lighting that is expendable at certain times, as perhaps it is not necessary to have all the lights on, all night and everywhere".

However, he stated that the Government is not considering applying general cuts to public street lighting, because it is crucial for citizen security, but will do when Christmas lights are installed so that they can use those instead.

This type of lighting is becoming more efficient and its reduction would probably not imply great savings. “It is not a question that in order to save 0.001% of consumption, Christmas lights aren’t used”, he pointed out.

However, this next stage of measures is expected to include the switching off of the lighting of some monuments or illuminated advertising signs.

Groizard also explained that Spain is in a good position when it comes to energy saving, as they aim to meet the objective agreed with the European Commission, "While the rest of the countries have to reduce their energy consumption by 15%, we only need to reduce it by 7%", he recalled.