LONDON
Sweden is finalizing churches and turning off saunas in several of its locations to be able to take energy and prices this winter.
Andreas Mansson, an engineer who oversees the energy desires of churches in the Lund diocese, said 150 of the diocese’s 540 churches will be fully or partially closed this winter as part of national energy consumption efforts.
“There is no doubt that heating is the biggest expense, many buildings are poorly insulated,” he told local newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Lund has “invested a lot in making buildings more efficient,” he said, “but we’re still talking about buildings with a volume that gobbles up heating. “
Churches that manage to stay open will reduce heating to 11 or 18 degrees Fahrenheit to lower peak energy prices so they can operate during the season, P4 Radio Halland reported.
“It’s about keeping our budget in balance and also showing solidarity with the rest of society,” vicar Joachim Franzen in West Halland County told the radio station.
In addition, saunas and heated pools will be closed or operating at reduced temperatures.
In M almö, for example, the municipality plans to close the facilities or lower the temperature of the swimming pools.
In an interview with public broadcaster SR, Malmö Mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh said: “We have energy-intensive recreation centres with saunas, with heated swimming pools, for example, that’s the kind of thing we’re looking for to see if we close temporarily. “or refuse. “
It has also been suggested to the government of two hundred Swedish municipalities through the government to reduce their energy consumption before the winter months.
Earlier this month, Energy Minister Khashayar Farmanbar said the government and the public sector “can and are leading the way in this” and that it is vital “that the whole of society contributes to reducing energy consumption. “
European countries are taking steps to restrict energy consumption in the wake of skyrocketing prices for electricity and herbal fuels.
The rising costs were partly due to Russia’s risk of absolutely cutting off Europe’s fuel source in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.