(L-R) Laurent Deville, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Coque; Georges Engel, Minister of Sports; Claude Turmes, Minister of Energy; Christian Jung, Director of the Coque; Credit: d'Coque

On Thursday 6 October 2022, Luxembourg's Minister of Sports, Georges Engel, and the Minister of Energy, Claude Turmes, in collaboration with the heads of the National Sports and Cultural Centre (Centre national sportif et culturel - d'Coque), presented the energy saving measures in order to reduce energy consumption in the infrastructures of the Coque Sports Centre.

The measures were adopted by the Board of Directors of the Coque Sports Centre at its meeting of 5 October 2022.

Thus, Coque Sports Centre joins the efforts of the State, municipalities, citizens and businesses aimed at reducing the demand for natural gas by 15% over the reference period from 1 August 2022 to 31 March 2023 in order to increase the safety of energy supply.

In addition to the system put in place for some time, various measures to further reduce energy consumption have been identified and have already been put in place or be put in place from 15 October 2022, in compliance with the principles of public health, safety and preservation of the quality of services:

Measures with immediate effect

In order to reduce its energy consumption and the resulting costs, the Coque Sports Centre had already taken a series of measures. In particular, switching off the facade and decorative lighting as well as that of the hot air curtains in the entrances, replacing the existing lights with LEDs, adapting the ventilation and lighting settings, upgrading installation of a new adjustment system for the swimming pool pumps or the adaptation of the adjustment of the air conditioning system at the "High Performance Training and Recovery Centre".

In addition, the Board of Directors has taken several additional measures to optimise energy savings while continuing to provide a high performance environment for users of the various infrastructures.

Small changes that make a big difference

Among the measures, decided by the Board of Directors of the Coque Sports Centre, are an adaptation of opening hours, a drop in the temperature of the pools, an adaptation of the ambient temperature, a later commissioning of part of the saunas according to attendance as well as an adaptation of the lighting intensity outside the building as well as inside the Aquatic Centre. On the other hand, the snow cabin at the Relaxation Centre will be closed until further notice.

The water temperature in the pools at the Aquatic Centre and at the Relaxation Centre will be lowered as follows:

Aquatic Centre:

  • Olympic pool (50m): 27°C to 26°C
  • Initiation pool (25m): 28°C to 27°C
  • Training pool (50m): 26.5°C to 26°C
  • Diving pool: 26°C to 25°C
  • Sport and health pool: 32°C to 30°C
  • Paddling pool: 32°C to 30°C

Relaxation centre:

  • Indoor hot pool: 36°C to 33°C
  • Outdoor hot pool: 35°C to 12°C

From 15 October 2022, new hours will be put in place at the Relaxation Centre:

  • Monday to Friday: 12:00 - 21:00
  • Saturday: 12:00 - 19:00
  • Sunday: 12:00 - 18:00

Minister Engel hailed the efforts of Coque Sports Centre officials to save energy in a spirit of solidarity from everyone, as recommended by the national energy demand reduction campaign “zesumme spueren – ZESUMMENHALEN”.

“The measures taken by the d’Coque can serve as a guide for municipalities, municipal unions or other establishments managing sports infrastructures in which the potential for energy saving is very great. I appeal to the sports movement as a whole to participate actively and in solidarity with collective efforts to save energy", said Minister Engel.

Apart from recommendations for swimming pools, Minister Turmes took the opportunity to announce recommendations for municipalities regarding public lighting.

1st inventory of efforts to reduce natural gas consumption in Luxembourg

Minister Turmes also presented an inventory of efforts to reduce natural gas consumption in Luxembourg. Currently, Luxembourg is achieving its target of reducing consumption by 15%. In August the reduction was around 37% and in September the reduction was around 26% compared to the reference years.

Minister Turmes concluded: “Current figures show that in Luxembourg, all players – the State, municipalities, companies and citizens – have answered the call and are making efforts to save gas. I thank them for their contribution to these first results. However, caution is still required: if the winter promises to be very cold, gas consumption for heating could still increase considerably. I therefore always strongly call for energy saving efforts!”