Sweden’s churches close, saunas are turned off to save energy
LONDON
Sweden is closing churches and turning off saunas in many of its cities in an effort to lower its energy consumption and cut costs this winter.
Andreas Mansson, an engineer who oversees the energy needs of churches in the Lund diocese, said 150 out of 540 churches in the diocese will be closed in whole or in part this winter as part of national efforts to reduce energy consumption.
– There is no doubt that heating is the biggest cost, many of the buildings have rather poor insulation, he tells Dagens Nyheter.
Lund has invested “a lot to make the buildings more efficient,” he said, “but we’re still talking about big, high-volume buildings that swallow heating.”
The churches that manage to stay open will lower the heat to 11 or 18 degrees Fahrenheit to reduce the high energy costs so they can function all season, P4 Radio Halland reported.
– It’s about keeping our budget in balance and of course also about showing solidarity with the rest of society, says vicar Joachim Franzen in western Halland county to the radio station.
In addition, saunas and heated swimming pools will either be closed or operate at a reduced temperature.
In Malmö, for example, the municipal council plans to close facilities completely or lower the temperature in swimming pools.
In an interview with SR, Malmö’s mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh said: “We have very energy-demanding leisure parks with saunas, with heated swimming pools for example, that’s the kind of thing we look at to see if we need to close temporarily or shut down.”
State authorities in 200 Swedish municipalities were also asked by the government to reduce their energy consumption ahead of the winter months.
Earlier this month, Energy Minister Khashayar Farmanbar said that authorities and the public sector “can and should lead the way in this” and that it is important “that the whole of society contributes to reducing energy use.”
European countries are taking various measures to limit energy use in the wake of rising electricity and natural gas prices.
The rise in prices has been caused in part by Russia’s threat to completely cut off gas supplies to Europe in retaliation for sanctions by Western nations against Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
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