Eiffel Tower Lighting Time Reduced for Electricity Savings

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo will present a "energy sobriety" plan for the capital on Tuesday morning, in the context of the energy crisis, purchasing power, and extreme climate situations. The mayor will also propose to turn off the lights of the Eiffel Tower earlier, as reported by Le Journal De Dimanche.

"It is a symbolic decision on a planetary level. The turning off of the 336 floodlights that give a golden shine to the most famous and most visited monument in the world will take place tonight at 1 a.m. The symbol of Paris and France will plunge into darkness at 11:45 p.m. when the last visitor leaves the tower," Hidalgo stated.

"Contrary to popular belief, 4% of the tower's annual energy consumption is spent on nighttime lighting," said the operating company of the Eiffel Tower, SETE. "The 20,000 twinkling lights – LED bulbs that blink for 5 minutes every hour – are energy-efficient since they consume about 8,800 watts/hour annually, which is equivalent to the yearly energy consumption of a 30 square meter one-room apartment with two residents."

In addition to lighting, other energy savings have also been implemented. Four floodlights, each with a power of 2,000 watts that illuminate the antenna, were replaced in 2019 with LED lights that use 10 times less electricity. Regarding the twinkling, reducing the duration from 10 to 5 minutes has allowed for significant consumption reduction and extended the device's service life by several years. Thus, the energy efficiency of the Eiffel Tower has "consistently decreased by an average of 9% per year since 2016," according to data from the state-owned company.

The Eiffel Tower, built 133 years ago, has always been illuminated. Its designer, Gustave Eiffel, lit about 10,000 gas lamps at its opening in 1889, as well as two floodlights on its top – the brightest in the world, flaunting blue-white-red colors. In 1900, gas was replaced by electricity. In 1958, the structure was illuminated from the outside by 1,290 floodlights. And in 1985, engineer Pierre Bideau installed 336 floodlights inside the tower. In 2004, these were replaced with projectors with a power of 600 watts instead of 1 kilowatt, resulting in a 40% savings. The lighting turns on automatically at dusk.