Finns are encouraged to reduce their energy consumption. To do this, they are invited to abandon, in part, one of their emblematic activities. A national campaign to save energy calls on citizens to reduce the time they spend in the sauna.
Called “one degree less,” the initiative will be launched on October 10, said Kati Laakso, a spokeswoman for Moriva, the state agency for the promotion of sustainable energy. Finns will be encouraged not only to space out their sauna sessions, but also to take fewer showers and turn down the heating by one degree next winter. They will also be asked not to heat their garages and use their connected objects as little as possible.
Steam baths are a true institution in Finland, where there are some three million saunas for 5.5 million inhabitants. The Finns are used to taking these baths naked and together at a temperature of about 85 degrees Celsius.
Gas supply interrupted by Gazprom
“These are just possibilities. We hope that people will understand that we have a difficult winter ahead of us and willingly follow this advice,” Kati Laakso stressed. “People probably don’t need to go to the sauna every day, maybe once a week is enough,” she said.
It is the first time a national campaign to save energy has been launched in Finland since the oil crisis of the 1970s. It comes as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a major supplier of gas in Europe, caused a major crisis. energetic.
Russian energy giant Gazprom halted gas deliveries to Finland in May after the Finnish government refused to pay in rubles as Russia demanded. In 2021, Gazprom supplied two-thirds of Finland’s gas consumption, but only 8% of its total energy consumption. Gasum, the Finnish state-owned company, is now trying to diversify its supply, in particular by getting more supplies from Estonia.
Other European countries are taking similar steps. Germany enacted a series of energy-saving measures on Wednesday, limiting temperatures in administrations, stopping hot water in public buildings and calling on individuals and businesses to follow suit.
Source: BFM TV
