Colombia. The Christmas Lighting is a symbol of Medellín. It is a generator of employment, not only for the mothers head of the family who manufacture it in an artisanal way, but also for the thousands of people who work in associated activities. Every December, the Christmas Lighting makes Medellín one of the favorite tourist destinations for Colombians and foreigners.
With this, it is an important dynamizer of the economy of the region, with benefits for the city and its inhabitants, and a promoter of family values, because it invites you to visit it together and share it with loved ones.
Since 1992, when energy rationing was introduced in the country, EPM has developed and perfected a Christmas Lighting that optimizes the consumption of electrical energy. The use of monumental figures woven with metal mesh, its LED lights and solar panel lights guarantee that its consumption during the 45 days it remains on is only 0.99 GW-h, which is equivalent to one hour of Medellín's annual consumption.
However, to further reduce its consumption this year, the ignition will be cut by one hour a day, which will go from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 at night, between November 28 and January 11, 2016. With this, the consumption of lighting during the same time will decrease to 0.8 GW-h, which corresponds to 50 minutes of the annual consumption of the city.
After assessing all the circumstances, EPM made the decision to continue with the Christmas Lighting of Medellín and the 14 winning municipalities of the contest "Let's ignite joy": Arboletes, Caracolí, Cañasgordas, Copacabana, Entrerríos, Dabeiba, Frontino, Guadalupe, Granada, Guatapé, Peque, Salgar, Santo Domingo and San Pedro de los Milagros, because it is convinced of its responsibility to the millions of people who live in the territories in which it has a presence, within its higher purpose of contributing to the construction of sustainable and competitive territories.
At the moment, the assembly is at 70% and the social and economic losses for all regions would be greater, at a time when many families derive their livelihood from the direct and indirect activities associated with the construction, assembly and development of collateral economic, social and cultural activities.
This explanation of EPM on Christmas lighting is due to the situation that Colombia is experiencing with the climatic phenomenon known as el Niño, with which rains are scarce in much of the country, which is why they began to ask for the suspension of Christmas lighting in Medellín and other municipalities of Antioquia.
