The City of Geneva is taking measures to address the energy shortage risks

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Fully aware of the efforts that everyone has been asked to make, the Executive Council has decided to take a series of measures in line with the cantonal recommendations.

The aim of these measures is to help reduce the risk of an energy shortage which, if it were to arise, would trigger a quota system at federal level. This in turn would, in all probability, seriously affect the municipal services. The City intends to save a little more energy today in order to maintain our social and economic activities while also reducing energy costs.

Public and government buildings as well as apartments under municipal property management

•    The heating will be turned on a little later, on 15 October, except in the event of exceptional weather conditions;
•    Public and government buildings as well as rental properties will be optimised, with the heating set to a maximum of 20°C;
•    Government work places will be optimised in order to avoid heating unoccupied rooms and premises;
•    Individual electric radiators will be prohibited;
•    The provision of hot water will be limited in workplaces and public areas (sinks), except for specific needs;
•    Tests of heating optimisation measures with dynamic regulation systems are currently being carried out in 27 residential buildings. If the results are conclusive and display energy savings, these systems will be deployed in all buildings and apartment blocks (approx. 800).

Sports facilities

•    The water temperature of indoors swimming pools will be 26°C, a reduction of 1°C compared to the usual heating conditions for facilities within the City of Geneva;
•    The heating will be set to 17°C in sports halls;
•    The seasonal ice rink which was to be installed in the Jardin Anglais (formerly in Parc des Bastions) will not be organised this year. Nevertheless, public sessions will be organised at les Vernets ice rink every day, including at the weekend.

Lighting at night

The City is accelerating the implementation of the Lighting Plan measures in the City of Geneva, advocating more energy savings.

•    Lighting of public buildings (cultural buildings, commercial and sporting facilities) which are closed in the evening will be switched off as early as possible at night, and no later than, except where it is required for security reasons;
•    Monuments and fountains will not be lit up from the beginning of winter;
•    A working group will be created involving the City, the neighbouring municipalities, the Canton and the SIG to defined and implement a strategy for switching off public lighting with a view to assessing the possibilities of reducing energy consumption which are compatible with security considerations, in particular with regard to pedestrian crossings;
•    Parties concerned will be encouraged to switch off the lighting of non-residential buildings, signs and shop windows in line with the “Switch off during the night” best practices, guide, with lighting to be switched off no later than 11 p.m. and, for establishments open after 11 p.m., no later than one hour after closing time.

Festivals and events

In order to offer the public entertainment in the city centre during the winter and support local trade, the Christmas illuminations and the Geneva Lux Festival will be maintained, in light of their very low energy consumption, albeit with a reduced scope and time frame.

•    Most of the Christmas illuminations are scheduled to be switched off no later than 10.30 p.m. (instead of midnight in 2021);
•    The issue of energy-saving will be at the very heart of the concept of the Geneva Lux Festival. A relevant educational communication campaign will be introduced, highlighting its low impact by comparing it to the energy consumption of everyday objects.

Operations designed for tenants and SMEs

The City of Geneva will accelerate its “New lights” operation organised in partnership with SIG éco21 with regard to its rental properties in order to ensure its tenants benefit from expert personalised advice concerning the action to take to reduce their energy consumption, their electricity bills and their waste production.

All these measures will be accompanied by communication actions, coordinated with the cantonal and federal recommendations, in order to publicise the operation as a whole and to show how each and every individual can take action. A web page, geneve.ch/energie2022-23 has already been created. It provides a number of recommendations to be implemented both at work and at home.