Festive spirit wins over Germany's high energy costs
STORY: Soaring energy costs can't deter this Christmas enthusiast
Location: Olching, Germany
A German homeowner spent a month turning his house into a festive spectacle
20,000 lights
[Manfred Piringer, Homeowner]
“The electricity bill is obviously an issue. I recently had a look at it and the costs had risen drastically, but we switched to LED lights a while ago. We also try not to turn on the lights if it rains. We only turn them on when people show up and that’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If we see that no one is here we turn them off.”
[Maria Pollhammer, Visitor]
“I think it’s great because after all, it costs quite something. I also decorated my house a little and in my neighborhood, I‘m the only one to go wild with my decorations, but not as crazy as this. But people like it and I myself notice people passing and they are saying, 'how beautiful.' It’s something for the soul.”
Munich’s Environment Institute estimates that 19.5 billion lights will be turned on
in German households this Christmas
