Let’s face it: we Americans aren’t always the smartest consumers. And I’m not talking about buying things. I’m talking about energy and resources. Although, when it comes to buying things, I’m not always the smartest consumer… judging by the 20-odd appliances I’ve purchased over the years that are still in their boxes in my kitchen cabinets, or the 200 different hair gels, face creams and nail products cluttering up the space below my bathroom sink. But I digress…
In Paris, the only time my water heater kicks in is when I need hot water. I just turn on the hot water and—click—the gas turns on and heats the water on the spot. When I go into the hallway of my building at night, I have to touch the switch to get the hall lights to come on. By the time I get to the bottom of the stairs, they flick off again.
The hotel I used to stay at in the 7th (the Hôtel Valadon) relies on motion sensors to activate lights in the halls and main areas and, like most European (and Caribbean) hotels, requires that you place a key card in a slot inside your room before the lights will turn on.
I love this about Paris. I love that they don’t take their resources for granted. I love that even their toilets dole out just the right amount of water for any given situation (half flush or full flush). Parisians know that energy conservation is about using what you need only when you need it, not about the kind of light bulb you put in your light fixtures.
Claudia Strasser of The Paris Apartment (who I just interviewed for Parisien Salon) is practically obsessed with CFLs—those squiggly compact fluorescent light bulbs that were touted as the great savior of the American power grid. The message that Claudia is trying to get out is that CFLs are far too dangerous to be a viable solution—and I agree. After all, they’re filled with mercury. You can’t just throw these bulbs into the garbage; you have to take them to a specially appointed hazardous waste dump. If they break in your home, you’re instructed to open windows and evacuate all people and pets for at least 15 minutes.
I can’t imagine these bulbs ever making their way into Parisian homes—and not just because they cast a horrid greenish glow that makes most people look like death warmed over. It’s because Parisians know that longer-lasting light bulbs isn’t enough to make a difference. Turning off unused lights is. They also know better than to bring something so toxic that it requires specialized disposal into their homes.
It’s easy to recycle in Paris, and to feel like I’m conserving enough energy to make a difference. And that’s just one of the many, many things I love about Paris.
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Great post, thank you so much for getting this information out there.
Shutting off lights is such a novel idea
Just to clarify: Each bulb has one pin head of Mercury which is why some people think it’s not a problem; that it’s not so much.
The trouble is it increases the need for Mercury production exponentially, meaning more mining, byproduct and runoff into oceans via factories and landfills. And that’s where water gets contaminated and will affect us all irreversibly.
If that’s not enough, the disposal of them must be treated as ‘Hazardous Waste’ and that alone is just NOT green!
Oh great. I’ve prided myself on buying the new bulbs. I do appreciate the info though. Yes, the French have recycling down to an art form. At our apt. there were separate bins for glass and ones for plastic etc. It was a bit disconcerting when we had to go dispose of the numerous wine bottles and had to drop them one at a time through the top. I’m sure the whole neighborhood was counting them as they dropped!
V
Growing up in France, I was made aware of a cost energy from the youngest age. It is an on battle to train my kids, husband, employees to turn off a light when you leave a round, to close a door when the AC or the heat is on. I feel it is more a state of mind where energy has always been an expensive commodity in France: water,gas,electricity etc… and never taken for granted. we are finding out the hard way in the State that energy does not come at a small price but people take a long time to break their habits. Please GM and Ford, work on your cars…..