Shorter showers and less time in the sauna as Europeans cut back on energy use

Europe's urgent push to reduce energy consumption is prompting changes to daily lifeas nations look for ways to get by with less heat and less electricity use.

Energy prices on the continent have soared this yearamid tensions with Russia and its curtailing of natural gas shipments. Nations have been scrambling to cope with the economic fallout ever since.

And while European Union and governmentalleaders have sought to find a collective approach to the problems on the energy front, nations are already pushing ahead with efforts to trimenergy use within their jurisdictions.

That includes turning down thermostats in a variety of buildings the European Parliament included.

Reuters reportsthe parliament will halt the heating and coolingof its facilities between Thursday evening and Monday morning. Previously, heating has been turned down, but not off, on weekends.

Buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg will also be heated to no more than 19 C and cooled to no less than 25 C, and external illuminations will be limited, according to an emailfromthe parliament's environmental management service that Reuters cited in its reporting.

In France, swimming pools are being heated less than usual or not at all.

That reality has prompted one open-air pool in suburban Paris torequire swimmerswear wetsuitsin order to prevent medical emergencies for those unaccustomed to the colder temperatures.

But the heat at the Nogent Nautique pool has been turned off since mid-May forfinancial reasons.

LifeguardGuy Dalpayrat said the goal isto keep the pool open as long as possible, probablyuntil the temperature drops below 15 C.

The French government this week announced plans to cut energy consumption by 10 per cent over the next two years, compared to 2019 levels. It's encouraging people to take shorter showers and for rooms not to be heated above 19 C.

Finland's government is similarly urging its people to cut back on their energy use, with Agence-France Presse having reported that extends to time spent in home saunas.

Energycosts are a problem for businesses, too and in some cases, cutting back on energy use won't be much help in keeping them afloat.

A 90-year-old bakery in Cologne, Germany, is set to wind down its operations this month, with owner Engelbert Schlechtrimenpointing to rising energy costs as thereason for the pending closure.

He toldThe Associated Press he'd tried to cut back on energy use, but that only went so far.

Germany has said it will spend up to 200 billion euros (roughly $270 billion Cdn) to help people and businesses deal with high energy prices.

But there are concerns the country has still not been able to reduce its energy consumption enough.

Across the North Sea, Britain is facing "significant risk" of gas shortages this winter and a possible emergency, itsenergyregulator, Ofgem, warned this week.

Although Russia only meets about 4 per centof Britain's gas needs, a disruption in supply to Europe has contributed to driving up British prices and makes it harder for Britain to secure gas from others.

In the event of gas supply issues the regulator and Britain's National Grid could be forced to curb supply of gas to power stations to make sure enough supply remains available to households.

The BBC reports that, despite these challenges,the British government won't be askingBritons to cut back on their energy use.