Go twice as fast as the government, without shutting down public services. This is the stated objective of the energy sobriety plan of the city of Lyon, presented on Tuesday 11 October. The environmentalist majority of the capital of Gaul wants to achieve a 10% reduction in its energy consumption in one year, and not by 2024 as recommended by the government on October 6, when presenting its plan of sobriety. “We are going further than what the government has set. Our choice is to aim for the greatest possible efficiency in sobriety. But we are not closing our public services, unlike others”underlines Grégory Doucet (Europe Ecology-The Greens), the mayor of Lyon.
“We are facing an unprecedented financial shock. The European crisis forces us to invent new measures. Beyond sobriety, we must question our uses”, says Sylvain Godinot, deputy in charge of ecological transition. The increase in the price of heating and electricity amounts to 25 million euros in the next municipal budget, an increase of 50%.
The Lyon municipality has decided on a series of eighteen measures to reduce bills. Heating accounts for two-thirds of the city’s energy cost. From 1is November, the temperature of municipal buildings will be limited to 18°C, except for nurseries, schools and libraries, where the thermometer can climb up to 19°C. The temperature will be limited to 25°C in the swimming pools, to 14°C in the gymnasiums.
New exercise
Concerning electricity savings, the heritage lighting of 370 buildings and monuments, particularly neat in Lyon, will be activated on Saturdays only, until 11 p.m. The Christmas lights will end at 11 p.m., rather than midnight, and will stop on January 8, a week before the usual date. Another strong measure: the interruption of public lighting at night, between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., from Sunday to Wednesday. The municipality ensures that several experiments of this type have been conclusive in Lorient (Morbihan), Francheville (Rhône), or in Deux-Sèvres. “There is no increase in insecurity in these municipalities which practice these restrictions”says Sylvain Godinot, in response to the concerns of some elected officials.
The municipality has decided to save the Festival of Lights, scheduled for December 8 to 11. The famous event does not consume excessive electricity, contrary to what its large number of shows designed on sets of lights might suggest. Its electricity bill was limited to 3,500 euros in 2019, due to the obligation to use low-consumption LED lamps. “The Festival of Lights is a heritage to which we hold dear. The chosen sobriety is not synonymous with austerity. Sobriety is a trajectory that we have already given ourselves”insists Grégory Doucet, in reference to the program of 162 million euros of works, undertaken by the environmentalist majority, to renovate, save and decarbonize municipal infrastructures.
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