The Spanish Government has approved a first set of energy saving and efficiency measures that are now in place and must be obeyed across the country. You may have heard rumours such as "Spain bans air conditioning" which isn't entirely true: the new rules include the obligation to limit the use of air conditioning to 27 degrees in summer and heating to 19 degrees in winter in public buildings, commercial spaces and department stores, as well as in transport infrastructures (airports, train and bus stations), cultural spaces and hotels. On top of this, lights and shop windows in public buildings and shops that are not in use after 10pm will have to be switched off. These measures will be in force until November 2023 and do not apply to private homes. We have all the details of the new energy saving measures in Spain.
At a press conference, one of Spain's Vice-Presidents and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, indicated that this package of measures will be applied from the first week after its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and will be in force until 1st November 2023.
The MP also specified that decorative lighting on public building façades in Spain will be switched off after 10pm, while the regulation regarding outdoor lighting will only affect buildings for public use, not "ornamental" lights, such as Christmas lights, for example.
With regard to the penalties that could be imposed in the event of non-compliance with these regulations, Ribera indicated that "there is a system of penalties that would be applied", but that monitoring corresponds to each of Spain's autonomous communities.
Likewise, before 30th September, both buildings and premises will be obliged to have automatic closures on access doors to prevent them from being left open permanently, with the consequent waste of energy lost to the outside world.
Signs should also be put up to explain these energy saving measures in establishments, as well as to provide information on temperatures and humidity levels. "We want to invite signage, information boards and thermometers showing the temperature to check that these provisions are being complied with," he said.
The government encourages working from home in Spain
Ribera also encouraged other public administrations and even companies to incorporate "more measures" such as promoting working from home, which would allow "concentrating timetables, saving on travel and on the thermal consumption of buildings". "We were able to do this during the pandemic and we have learned a lot," she added.
Ribera stressed that this first set of measures is a first "important and powerful" package that will be completed with the contingency plan to be presented in September, which will allow "100% compliance in order to guarantee solidarity with Europe". "We all understand that this is an extraordinary situation and it is a reasonable agreement that we must comply with out of solidarity with the rest of Europe", she reiterated.
Ribera estimated that one degree less would save 7% of energy consumption, which would save companies more than one million euros in a year.