The French capital's top landmark first donned its "diamond dress" of flash bulbs to mark the new millennium, but they were kept on due to popular demand. Since January 1, 2000, every hour after dusk, the 20,000 bulbs twinkle brilliantly for ten minutes in what has become a tourist hit.
However, starting next month, Sete, the company subcontracted by Paris to run the tower, has decided to halve the time the bulbs are on, cutting illumination from 400 to 200 hours per year.
"It's above all a symbolic decision, as the cost savings are not enormous", said the tourism deputy of Paris, mayor Bertrand Delanoë. "But in terms of image, it shows that we are putting sustainable development into practice", Jean-Bertrand Bros told the Journal du Dimanche.
The decision is part of a plan to make the Eiffel tower and other monuments more environmentally friendly. Tickets and documents in the tower are made of recycled paper and management claims that all the electricity used comes from renewable sources. It is currently studying a plan to put solar panels on the roof of its restaurants.
This latest green initiative comes just after the "City of Light" completed a massive five-year energy saving plan to replace the standard incandescent light bulbs with metal iodide light bulbs on 125 of its monuments. The new bulbs have five times more energy efficiency and last much longer. Now, just 218 kilowatts are necessary to power the floodlights on the 280 Paris monuments, down 927 kilowatts from what was needed before to make the city glow.
The city's the power bill has been divided by four as a result. Mr Delanoë, who was re-elected this year for a second term, has put the environment at the heart of his policy-making, introducing a popular low-cost bike rental scheme and reducing traffic volume by 10 percent by multiplying bus lanes, cutting parking spaces, widening pavements and by promoting public transport.
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This article was first published in the Telegraph.co.uk and written by Henry Samuel in Paris.
