Planet Earth 2007: Paris Makes Progress

April 19, 2007 — -- Paris, the City of Lights, launched a vast energy-saving operation in 2003 by replacing standard incandescent light bulbs with metal iodide light bulbs on 125 of its monuments.

The metal iodide lights bulbs have five times more energy efficiency than the regular incandescent light bulbs. The advantages of these light bulbs is that they provide excellent light, have exceptional long bulb life and have low cost per lumen of light output.

Four years later, the $2.33 million operation is about to be completed. And the results are spectacular.

The number of floodlights on each monument has been divided by 1.8. At the end of 2006, 1,169 iodide light bulbs had replaced 2,087 incandescent light bulbs.

Today, just 218 kilowatts are necessary to power up the floodlights on the 280 Paris monuments, down 927 kilowatts from what was needed before 2003. The operating cost for an iodide light bulb is 50 percent less expensive than for a standard light bulb, and the power bill is four times lower than it was previously.

But Paris has been going even further in its energy-saving policy. While many other big cities around the world keep the lights on their famous landmarks at night, Paris is turning the lights off on most of its monuments.

This is nothing new to Parisians. It started in the 1950s, way before fighting climate change became one of our top priorities.

Every night, at midnight or 1 a.m., depending on the monument and the season, the lights on monuments are automatically turned off for cost-saving purposes.

Long known for its traffic jams and its pollution, the city is also attempting to address these problems. Since being elected in 2001, socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has successfully reduced traffic volume by 10 percent by multiplying bus lanes, cutting parking spaces, widening pavements and by promoting public transportation.