Berlin is set to organize its annual Festival of Lights despite growing worries about the soaring energy emergency in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, when winter comes,
The festival, which is a private event organized independently of the city, will go ahead as planned in October in a scaled-down version, according to Berlin's Senate, arguing that the Festival of Lights is an event relevant to tourism that contributes to the city's appeal in the colder months.
However, the Senate said it was still encouraging companies to implement energy-saving measures and welcomes efforts by the tourism industry to organize events in a more energy-efficient way.
During the Festival of Lights, large-scale colorful images are projected onto monuments, landmarks, buildings and squares in the German capital's center. This year's event is scheduled for Oct. 7-16.
Berlin recently started to turn the lights off at central tourist attractions amid fears that power shortages are about to become the order of the day due to a potential cut-off of Russian gas. The measure affects some 150 of the capital's main landmarks, including the Victory Column, the main cathedral and the Berlin State Opera.
According to the Senate, lighting the 150 buildings consumes some 150,000 to 200,000 kilowatt hours annually. At current prices, this amounts to a cost of 40,000 euros ($40,150) per year. In comparison, Berlin's total electricity consumption is 14 terawatt hours, or 1 billion kilowatt hours, meaning the lighting accounts for about 0.001% of total annual consumption.
