Lisbon, usually a city with lots of holiday lights, chose to save energy this year by limiting the hours of the main public displays and using low-energy-consumption LED lights—but it didn't count on the lights refusing to start the show.
Sunday evening, city officials gathered in the Praca do Comercio near the Lisbon waterfront to light the Christmas tree. Speeches were made, pictures were taken, the crowd chanted a countdown to the big moment, the big button was pushed and, aside from a big "oooh!" which quickly died out, nothing happened.
A few minutes later, after some background checking, the whole procedure was repeated and the lights came on. The "Ooooh!" was repeated with a bit more oomph.
The reduced lighting hours, running from 6 pm to 11 pm, and with weekend extensions to midnight, as well as the LED bulbs, are expected to give a 50% saving in energy used.
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