France's famed Louvre and Versailles museums will turn off their lights earlier as a symbolic measure to remind the public of the energy crisis sparked by the Ukraine war, the culture minister said on Saturday.

The city of Paris announced earlier this week it would start switching off the ornamental lights that grace city monuments it manages hours earlier than usual, plunging the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks into darkness to cope with surging electricity costs.

French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said on Saturday, the Louvre Pyramid would follow suit, going dark at 11:00 pm instead of 1:00 am.

The facade at the Chateau de Versailles, southwest of Paris will switch off its lights an hour earlier, at 10:00 pm.

"Symbols are very important to raise public awareness," she said, adding that symbolic measures alone will not be enough to bring down electricity usage.

She urged French cultural institutions to take energy saving methods like those taken by the Orsay Museum in Paris, which "reduced its energy consumption by a third just by changing bulbs and switching to LED", she said.

She also said there were discussions ongoing with movie theatres to replace their projectors. "If they switch to laser projectors, they could divide their energy consumption by seven."

Energy prices across Europe have skyrocketed in recent months, in part because of the turbulence in energy markets caused by Russia's war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions slapped on Russia, a top energy producer.

Related Links

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Health groups call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty
Paris (AFP) Sept 14, 2022
Around 200 health organisations and more than 1,400 health professionals on Wednesday called for governments to establish a binding international treaty on phasing out fossil fuels, which they said pose "a grave and escalating threat to human health". A letter proposing the "fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty" said it could work similarly to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - except this time the harmful controlled substances would be coal, oil and gas. ... read more