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Hostage to Russian gas, Berlin makes “blackout” in public monuments

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Berlin Cathedral with low lighting
Berlin Cathedral already dimmed on July 27, 2022.| Photo: EFE / EPA / CLEMENS BILAN

The capital of Germany is darker at night. It turned off the lights of sights such as the State Opera, Charlottenburg Palace, the statue of Frederick II on horseback and Berlin Cathedral. The blackout affects 200 locations and about 1400 projectors and floodlights. In an energy crisis since it closed nuclear reactors due to environmentalism, the country is hostage to Putin and his control over the natural gas that helps the country when energy from wind and solar sources, very unstable, does not do the trick. Gazprom, the Russian giant that supplies the gas, will halve the supply, justifying itself with problems in turbines.

Hanover, further north, started a program to save energy consumption last Wednesday (27). There is no longer hot water in public buildings and sports courts, heating in schools will be more closely regulated and public fountains have been turned off. Mayor Belit Onay says he is “trying to prepare as best he can” for the possibility of a greater shortage by prioritizing nursing homes and clinics. “The situation is unpredictable, as the last few days have shown. Every kilowatt-hour saved protects our gas supply,” he said at a press conference. Hanover was the first major German city to launch such a plan.

Announcing the blackout, Bettina Jarasch, environmental senator in Berlin, said that “in the face of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s energy threats, it is vital that we use our energy as carefully as possible.” Turning off public lamps will take weeks, by their number. Jarasch explained that initially there will be no resource savings because of the cost of labor, but later she estimates savings of $40,000 a year — if the measure will last that long.

The European Union asked its 27 member states last week to save on their natural gas consumption, preferably by cutting it by up to 15% in the coming months. France, which is bailing out Germany and the rest of continental Europe for failing to embark on anti-nuclear measures from environmentalism, may also begin to fail in that bailout. As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, Paris is increasingly worried. The state-owned Electricité de France S/A has 57 reactors, but can only keep 26 of them on after the discovery of cracks in the pipes of more than half of them.

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