After the Eiffel Tower, it is the Louvre and Versailles which will bring forward the extinction of their lighting, a “symbolic” measure to raise awareness of the energy crisis, said Saturday the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak.
“As of this (Saturday) evening”, the Louvre Pyramid will be extinguished at 11:00 p.m. instead of 1:00 a.m., the minister said on France 2, in the wake of similar measures taken by the city of Paris which decided this week to dive into the black the Eiffel Tower and the Hôtel de Ville.
“We are also going to turn off the facade of the Palace of Versailles at 10:00 p.m. instead of 11:00 p.m. next week”she added.
“Symbols are important to raise awareness”she said, adding that “these symbolic measures” were not enough.
She called for more concrete measures for the ecological transition in museums, cinemas, theaters and “all the cultural places of France”.
The Musée d’Orsay for example “reduced its energy consumption by a third just by changing the light bulbs and switching to LEDs. We are trying to do this in all the museums. Changing the boilers, replacing them with heat pumps etc… “argued the Minister.
With movie theatres, “we are discussing the replacement of their projectors”.
“If they switch to laser projectors, they can cut their energy consumption by seven”underlined Ms. Abdul Malak.
The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo announced this week measures such as the reduction of ornamental lighting or the temperatures of buildings and swimming pools which should make it possible to reduce energy consumption in the capital by 10%, i.e. “the objective requested at the national level”.