According to the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (Instituto para la Diversificación y el Ahorro Energético), this year, Spain's town halls will spend 30 million kWh in Christmas lights, which will cause the emission of more than 10 million kg of CO2 (carbon dioxide) which is the main cause of climate change. Ecologistas en Acción considers absolutely contradictory the fact that while “green aesthetic” operations are started, a clearly unsustainable culture of waste keeps being adopted in practice.

One month to go before Christmas and the streets of the cities are already decorated with the traditional Christmas lights. Beyond what those lights may spend, Ecologistas en Acción wants to attract the attention on the energy waste and the environmental impact that this type of ornamentation cause.

We find different situations in the two biggest cities. While in Madrid two million kWh will be consumed and 670,000 kg of CO2 will be emitted to the atmosphere, in Barcelona, 280,000 kWh will be consumed and 94,000 kg of CO2 will be emitted to the atmosphere. By comparing those wastes with the average houses consume, we find scandalous figures: Madrid's Christmas lights consumption is equivalent to what 6,700 houses spend in one month; and Barcelona's Christmas lights consumption is equivalent to what 940 families spend in one month.

For Ecologistas en Acción, it is overwhelming to think about the amount of energy that may be unnecessarily consumed all over the world during those days. And, although electricity bills are paid by each town hall (at the end each citizen), the environmental bill in the shape of climate change, acid rain, nuclear waste or pollution is paid by the planet as a whole.

Around 50% of the electricity consumption of Christmas lights is covered by thermal power plants which generate and emit tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. It is a Christmas gift to the greenhouse effect that causes climate change. Likewise, around 20% will be generated by nuclear power plants, with the consequent risk of accident and the production of radioactive wastes which will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.

Furthermore, we must not forget that one of the main reasons for turning on the lights is to promote the consumption during Christmas. This consumption is framed within a model in which there are an excessive exploitation of resources and an unsustainable generation of waste.

If we are continuously asked to consume in our houses just the light we need, why not do the same in our cities?