Cold showers and no light: Europe saves due to lack of Russian gas

After midnight, anti-waste activists scatter like urban guerrillas through the dark streets of Paris, climbing walls and pipes to reach switches and turn off lights.

Click. Click. Click.

One by one, the exterior lights that the shops have left on are turned off. It’s a small but symbolic gesture in Europe’s massive energy-saving effort to cut its dependence on Russian oil and natural gas so that factories aren’t forced to close and homes stay warm and lit.

Engineer Kevin Ha and his equally nimble friends were cracking down on wasteful business in Paris long before Russia began cutting energy supplies to Europe, in a clash of wills surrounding Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The activists were precursors to an energy-saving trend that is gaining steam in France, Germany and elsewhere. His message, that everyone can help, is almost word for word what is now being said by public officials, from mayors to ministers.

“Anyone can have a positive impact at their level by adopting good practices, doing the right thing to reduce their total energy consumption”said Ha, 30, on a recent night turning out lights on the Champs-Élysées boulevard.

The stakes are high. If Russia cuts off gas supplies that it has already drastically reduced, officials fear Europe could be a colder, darker and more unproductive place next winter. It is imperative to save gas now so that it can be reserved for later use in homes, factories and power plants, according to the authorities.

“Europe must be ready”said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “To get through the winter, assuming there is a total Russian gas cut-off, we have to save gas to fill our gas stores faster. And to do that, we have to reduce our gas consumption. I know that it is a lot to ask for the entire European Union (EU), but it is necessary to protect us”.

And while Europe tries to get power elsewhere, any difficulties this winter could be a harbinger of worse in the future if Russian gas supplies are completely cut off and remain without flow through 2023, according to the French minister responsible for energy, Agnes Pannier-Runacher.

“If Russian gas deliveries are cut off by the end of the year, that will mean we will have a whole year without Russian gas, so next winter could be even worse.”Pannier-Runacher told French senators.

Hence the growing calls – now familiar to exasperated parents of spendthrift teenagers everywhere – for Europeans to take shorter showers, pull the plugs and generally do what they can.

Germany received around a third of its gas from Russia, leaving the EU’s largest economy and most populous country in a vulnerable position. The energy-saving campaign has turned off lights, cooled public pools and adjusted thermostats.

The glass dome of the Reichstag, the parliament building in Berlin, turns off after closing access to visitors at midnight, and two of the facades are no longer illuminated. The temperature in lawmakers’ offices will drop two degrees to 68 Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) this winter. The Berlin City Hall, the Jewish Museum, two opera houses and the emblematic Victory Column, with its panoramic view, will be some of the 200 places in the German capital that will no longer be illuminated at night.

Munich’s municipal swimming pools have closed their saunas and now have the coldest water. In those of Hannover there will only be cold showers, within a plan of the northern city to cut its energy by 15%.

“The sum of all contributions will help us overcome this winter and be prepared for the next one”said Robert Habeck, German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister. He also told the weekly Der Spiegel that he has reduced the time it takes to shower. “It will be a demanding and hard path, but we can do it”, said.

With a campaign titled “Turn off the switch”the Dutch government urges limiting showers to five minutes, using awnings and fans instead of air conditioning, and air-drying laundry.

Under a law passed Monday in often-hot Spain, offices, shops and hospitality venues will no longer be able to set thermostats below 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) in summer, or above 19 degrees Celsius in winter.

The president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, asked office workers to ditch the ties, in theory to reduce the temptation to use the air conditioning. He set an example by offering a press conference with his shirt open.

The Italian government has also recommended limits on the heating and cooling of public buildings.

In France, the government aims to reduce energy consumption by 10% by 2024, with a campaign of “energetic sobriety”. Mayors are waging their own battle against waste, passing fines for air-conditioned or heated businesses that leave their doors open, while others try to limit the blow of rising energy prices.

The 8,000 residents of Aureilhan, at the foot of the Pyrenees in southwestern France, have been getting used to nights without streetlights since July 11. Turning off all 1,770 power poles from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. will save money that Mayor Yannick Boubée would rather spend on roads and other maintenance. Otherwise, he said, the 84,000-euro (US$86,000) electricity bill paid by the town in 2021 was on track to nearly triple next year.

“In the end, there is no reason to keep the lights on at night. It is to change our way of thinking”he stated.

The next thing will be to convince the neighbors to accept less heating in the rooms when the schools reopen.

“We are going to ask parents to put a sweater on their children, all measures that cost nothing. Unfortunately, we have no choice.”he admitted.