Almost 5 years ago Paris launched a new energy saving plan to
replace the lights that make the city glow.  The plan included
replacing the standard incandescent light bulbs with metal iodide light
bulbs on 125 of Paris' 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.

Now,
five years later, the $2.33 million dollar project is finally
completed. To begin the project, the total number of flood lights per
monument was divided by 1.8 which resulted in 1,169 iodide light bulbs
had replaced 2,087 incandescent light bulbs.

Now, just 218
kilowatts are necessary to power up the floodlights on the 280
Paris monuments, down 927 kilowatts from what was needed before to make
the city glow. 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.

Another way Paris is saving energy (and money) is by turning off the
flood lights that illuminate the monuments. This action of turning off
the lights started in the 1950s, way before fighting climate change
became one of society's top concerns. 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.

Paris is the leader is turning off their landmarks lights but
hopefully the many other big cities around the world who keep the
lights on their famous landmarks at night will become followers of
Paris. They can also follow the lead and start switching their standard
light bulbs to metal iodide light bulbs.

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