The question arises as to how appropriate this is in view of the extremely high energy prices.
Two years ago, the government called for people to save electricity given the war in Ukraine and the subsequent high energy costs. The war is still raging, but there is no longer much talk about saving energy.
No fewer than 1.3 million lights are switched on during this year’s Winterlights. Does this mean that the City of Luxembourg sees no reason to save electricity? Mayor Lydie Polier sees things differently:
“On the contrary, we use LED lights, which consume very little. And we’ve also been limiting the times when the lights are on, from 4 pm to 11 pm or 11.30 pm.”
She also stresses the importance of creating a cosy atmosphere in the dark season so people are incentivised to come together, and lights play an important role in that. Nonetheless, she wants to ensure that the absolute minimum of energy is consumed.
On Friday, the City of Luxembourg was unable to estimate how much electricity the lights will consume this year. This is partly because the lighting times depend on the brightness and partly because there will be significantly more lights in use this year than last year.
