Will decorative lighting disappear from Budapest?!

In order to reduce the “energy demand of Budapest”, the mayor might introduce a drastic new change in the Hungarian capital. Accordingly, the decorative lighting in Budapest might be shortened during the night. As a result, the Hungarian capital will turn dark at 10 or 11 pm from this summer. Is this measure really worth it in financial terms? Besides, what kind of impression it will give to tourists visiting Budapest?

According to Mayor Gergely Karácsony, “green and sustainability investments” in Hungary have lagged behind in the past decade, making the climate crisis even harder to deal with. In his post, he pointed out that Budapest had seen the second-largest increase in average temperatures among European cities in the past 50 years. The average temperature in Budapest is now 4 degrees higher than it was half a century ago. At the Budapest Energy Summit, four proposals were made, one of which was the shortening of decorative lightning in Budapest. According to the announcement, this measure „can bring substantial savings to the capital – the equivalent of four days’ worth of street lighting” – reported by Telex. As a result, the Hungarian capital will turn dark at 11 pm in the summer, and at 10 pm in the winter period.

We could spare the costs of four days’ worth of street lighting, or in other words 1% of the annual street lighting, by making Budapest look like a dark, dreary city. But is it really worth it?! As the Hungarian news portal Turizmus.com reports, we should also consider the fact that, apart from its usefulness, the decorative lighting is part of the capital’s image; so to speak, it is one of its attractions. The older generations might remember those dark days when this feature was not yet part of the Budapest skyline. Although the city’s administration could have covered the costs, they wanted to set an example of energy saving for the citizens.