Energy savings Penalties for breaching energy restrictions will range between 60,000 and 600,000 euros
When night falls,
Kevin Ha and his friends jump, climb and swing through the facades of the most central stores
in Paris not only for fun.
The main goal of these 'parkour' practitioners is to turn off the lights in the shop windows to
avoid wasting energy
.
As a kind of 'spidermans',
agile, flexible and determined
, Kevin and his group belong to the 'Lights off' collective, an
environmental movement with a large presence in France
that mixes the extreme sport of 'parkour' with actions to fight against change climate.
"I am from a generation in which
we are used to seeing the lights always on
, but I think it is an
aberration
," says the 30-year-old, accompanied by four other friends, all in
their twenties
.
The members of the collective have summoned a handful of journalists after midnight
in front of the local Lego games,
located in the Les Halles shopping center and a few meters from the Parisian City Hall.
They introduce themselves and quickly get to work.
A first store of a
famous shoe brand
is your goal.
Impossible.
The switch attached to the facade (a mandatory device in all establishments in case of fire)
is not connected to the shop window lights
.
An infraction.
"As is leaving the lights on past midnight," Kevin continues.
His group
of him has been approached on several occasions by the police
, who are alarmed to see some kids climbing the facades.
"When we explain to them that the only thing we do is
lower the switch so that the law is complied with
, they leave us alone," he says.
In fact, the
French government
has just announced a plan to strengthen the
fight against energy waste
in a context of price tension due to the
war in Ukraine.
The Executive has requested an effort both from the private sector -which will be
fined for leaving the lights on in the middle of the night
or for wasting air conditioning-, as well as from households.
"The people who see us in the videos or who find
us praise
us because they tell us that if it weren't us there would be no one to do it," he boasts.
INSPIRATION IN VIDEO GAMES
Umud Christophe Tekinalp
, 20, has just climbed - without the help of equipment as 'parkour' dictates - a facade of the
central avenue
of Réaumur-Sébastopol to turn off, touching the switch with his left foot, the lights of the
shop window of a supermarket
.
"He has climbed about four meters", congratulates the rest of the group.
Where does that amazing agility come from?
"When I was younger, a teenager, I
played video games a lot
, and as time went by, I realized that everything I saw in them,
the climbing without equipment
, was possible in reality."
Skateboard in hand
, cap backwards, Christophe maintains an enviable physical shape, like the rest of his colleagues.
"We do at least
an hour of physical work a day
(sit-ups, push-ups) and we are careful about what we eat, opting for protein and fiber products."
The
young Parisian
, who is also a professional 'parkour' monitor, is very clear about why during the last year he has
toured the energy-wasting Parisian stores at night
.
"Because, in quotes, I hate people who don't respect ecology."
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Paris
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