Energy sobriety: cinemas want to quickly reduce their electricity consumption

The National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF) unveiled this Thursday measures, not quantified and not mandatory, to try to quickly reduce the energy consumption of cinemas, without deciding the burning issue of a possible reduction in the number of daily projections in the face of the crisis.

“Cinema is an art of light, and therefore a great consumer of electricity. The energy to run a theater far exceeds 3% of billing, and 10% in older cinemas, ”said the president of the federation Richard Patry, during his annual congress in Deauville.

“The rooms must contribute to the national effort of ecological sobriety, it is a citizen and it is also an economic obligation in the face of rising energy prices. After 300 days of closure due to Covid, we cannot risk experiencing power outages this winter,” he added.

“Should we continue to open our theaters for two people?”

In practice, the 6,193 French cinemas are invited in a letter to turn off their signs outside opening hours, lower the heating in accordance with the government target of 19° indoors, reduce air conditioning, turn off projectors outside projections or even adapt the aperture. hours “according to the flow of public”… But will cinemas have to come to reduce the number of projections, in particular the less frequented ones, to save money? The issue divides the profession.

“The energy problem is absolutely important, everything we do to get the public back is of no interest if we have to pay monumental bills,” said Sophie Dulac, operator of several Parisian cinemas. “Do we have to keep opening our theaters for one or two people? As much as I love being alone in a theater, financially it’s a disaster,” she wondered.

Towards new less energy-intensive technologies?

“If we enter a circle in which we only make projections where we earn money, we will continue to reduce the number of projections”, at the risk of harming “the most fragile” auteur cinema, warned Richard Patry, describing the subject as “very” delicate. .

In the longer term, cinemas pin their hopes on new projectors with laser lamps that consume about four times less energy. A massive investment for which the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, promised to help “build a replacement plan”, without advancing an amount or a specific schedule.