クリスマスツリーも節電 独首相府

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツの首都ベルリンの首相府前に設置されたクリスマスツリーのライトアップ時間が、節電のため短縮される。政府報道官が２４日、明らかにした。（写真は首相府前のクリスマスツリー）
　昨年は一日中つけられていたが、今年は午後４時から同８時までの４時間に制限されるという。ツリーには４９２０個のＬＥＤライトが飾り付けられており、１時間当たりの消費電力は２８７ワットに上る。
　首相府から数百メートル離れたブランデンブルク門前に設置されたクリスマスツリーの点灯時間も、例年の２４時間から６時間に短縮される。ベルリンでは７月以降、約２００の記念碑や建物のライトアップが深夜には消灯されている。
　ロシアによるウクライナ侵攻の影響でエネルギー価格が高騰し、欧州では今冬、エネルギー不足が懸念されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/11/25-17:17）

The Christmas tree outside Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office in Berlin will not be lit as long this year, a government spokesman said Thursday, as Germany seeks to save energy through the winter.
The lights on the tree will only shine for four hours each evening from four o'clock to eight, instead of burning constantly as they did last year, the spokesman told AFP.
The fir, plucked from the forests of nearby Brandenburg, is decorated with 4,920 low-energy LED lights, which will consume 287 watt-hours.
A children's choir on Thursday sang the classic carol O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree) at the foot of the tree in Scholz's presence.
Last year, the tree was put up while conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel was still in office.
The erstwhile German leader stepped down on December 8 to make way for Social Democrat Scholz, and his coalition partners, the Greens and the liberal FDP.
A few hundred metres from the chancellery, the Christmas tree in front of the Brandenburg Gate will also only be lit for six hours a day instead, as opposed to 24.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 upturned global energy markets, sending prices soaring and confronting Europe with the possibility of shortages over the winter.
To avoid acute problems around the turn of the year Germany has set about tapping new sources of natural gas and encouraging energy saving measures.
Floodlights that illuminate some 200 public monuments and buildings in Berlin -- including its red-brick city hall, State Opera House and Charlottenburg Palace -- have also been turned off overnight since July.