Why the city is finally giving up on turning off its streets at night

The experiment which lasted three months will end on Monday. If the city of Lyon had decided to turn off public lighting four evenings a week – from Sunday to Wednesday – between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. in order to save money, it finally gave up on continuing this project.

If the municipality considers this test “satisfactory” and welcomes the “encouraging feedback in terms of energy savings” – ie 130,000 kWh saved since October – the experience has not been conclusive.

“Too complex”

The new system only affected 17% of the city’s light points. And above all, it turned out to be far too “complex to perfect” over time. “The experiment revealed the complexity of the Lyon electricity network which does not allow, in the short term, an extension of the geographical perimeter, resulting in a lack of clarity for the population”, explains the city, indicating that the “risk of load shedding on electrical networks is now ruled out”.

The experiment had been strongly criticized by the opposition, which feared an increase in insecurity, even though it had signed and approved the energy sobriety plan presented by the majority. And in which was this proposal.

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