Everyone I talk to seems to know that we should not use incandescent bulbs. Rather, we should use CFL bulbs that save money and help in energy conservation. Yet we have not been able to either ban or phase out incandescent bulbs. Forget rural areas, you will be appalled at the bulb and electricity statistics in the Capital city, New Delhi.
As per statistics, the peak energy demand of Delhi is 3600 mega watt but its supply is falling short by 750MW. This leads to long lasting power cuts. In the 2007 budget, the state government decided to hike its power budget almost five fold to Rs 1285 crores to fight the energy crisis to invest in building of thermal power plants. Thermal power plants will only increase Delhi’s CO2 emissions fostering climate change, resulting in even hotter summers in the capital.
An estimated 12.5 crores of ordinary light bulbs are still wasting electricity in the state! Surya, Philips and Bajaj, the three largest bulb manufacturers in India are still churning out those criminal bulbs. Changing these 12.5 crore light bulbs to efficient fluorescent lamps could reduce energy consumption by roughly 450 MW, reducing the present power shortage by 60%. Message is clear, some of us know it yet do not fail to use those “zero power” night bulbs and more.
Sign this ban the bulb petition here. I just did. Can you believe it in a country where we have Internet reach of 99 million, not even one million have signed for the campaign?
Here is another creative video from my favorite Common Craft on why you should use CFLs.
Why not use CFL bulb??
Source:
Greenpeace launches a signature drive against the inefficient bulbs in India
Also read:
We Need to Explore Renewable Energy Options: Interview (Do you agree?)
Get Ban the bulb posters from Greenpeace
Visceral Observations 
One simple reason = Cost.
Even though cheap in the long run [and lower costs nowadays], most people prefer traditional bulbs because of their cost. Why cost? Although it may not be a problem in the cities, rural areas have regular cases of thieving as these bulbs generally found outside the homes. Replacing CFL’s everytime is a pain. Oh and half the country doesn’t even have ELECTRICITY to operate bulbs at times. lol. [in fact over here by the time April hits we have 7-8 hours of load-shedding whereas the neighbouring rural areas have over 14-15 hours.]
Signing petitions and stopping supply of products is not the solution, you need to MAKE better products with competing prices that replace them and only then will it work. Ignorance and the attitude of let them do it, why should I? in India is the major beef. “If you can’t get the sheep to walk, set the dog on them!” 🙂
Oh and change the Theme. This theme is ugly when it comes to formatting, we used to use this one for anti-socials…
Poonam: I agree cost is the problem. The video I included demonstrates this fact that though cfl’s are costly to buy, they are cheaper in the long run. Sad part is that there is no government policy on the issue. Countries like Venezuela and Cuba have banned it. Western countries have also phased these out, not here.
Traditional bulbs waste 90% of energy as heat which is a waste. More energy we waste, more load shedding, then you burn more coal in thermal power plant to get electricity..vicious circle.
The petition is part of greenpeace activism to get the government make a policy. High time our legislatures and politicians wake up to that. Signing a petition is not a solution yet it is first action to show your solidarity to the cause.
And you are right “let them do, why should I” attitude is worse part in this country. People do not wake up till any calamity hits them directly. No one thinks it could happen to them. 😦
Will keep this theme for some time, I need change. Not many themes around that I have not used. 😦
dont you think its a good idea to give tax cuts at least for CFLs and make it little more less costly ? CFLs are somewhat like luxury for most of the people out there.
CFLs are not marketed in the way it should be ( most of the times.. but there are exceptions )
Poonam: Actually crux of the matter is that, unlike other countries, our government has no policy on this issue. Incandescent bulbs have not been phased out, if only those companies started making CFLs instead…If thought was given to this, I am sure marketing and some sort of tax sop to manufacturer can be worked out.
Thanks for visiting my blog action day post…
Have enjoyed your own reflections immensely as well.
Kind regards!
Julian
http://www.ijulian.blogspot.com
Poonam: Hey Julian, Thanks for dropping by. 🙂 Your blog gave me useful information about “green” movie 11th hour. Keep on reading, there is more to follow on environment here.
Poonam: Actually crux of the matter is that, unlike other countries, our government has no policy on this issue.
I agree with that … 100% 🙂
I signed the petition and it felt very good, you know. Now I need to remove all those incandescent bulbs from me house and replace them.
Poonam: Yes, though signing a petition is not a solution, it feels good signing it. It is the first step to make your voice counted. Did ya sign the virtual march against global warming, it was in my Go Green post. And yeah, remove all those incandescent bulbs..not to mention those zero watt bulbs (in case they are there) 😛
I disagree with government telling me what to buy and what not to buy. I do not like the idea of using a “toxic mercury” filled product in my home, especially with children around. We are a free country and I ought to have a say on which light bulbs I want to use. It seems that environmentalists are more concerned with the environment rather than the safety of people. What about the whole issue of drilling in USA for our own fuel? Where’s the “desperato” in that? We have it all backwards. I’m against this bill passed by congress. Before they passed this, they should have provided us with a safe, inexpensive subsitute for the light bulbs we currently use.
Michelle, Thanks for expressing your candid views!
I agree these bulbs are expensive. But I have never known them to be unsafe. Could you please elaborate what you mean y “toxic mercury” and unsafe? This seems to be something that I do not know about. 😦
Btw, Happy New Year!
“Toxic Mercury” refers to the fact that CFL’s contain mercury, hence at the end of it’s working life, it has to be disposed properly as otherwise the environment can get polluted/contanimated with Mercury. The argument for CFL here is that coal powered plants themselves emit some mercury, hence lesser mercury will be emitted as CFLs use lesser energy.
So it’s not only neccessary to replace all the existing bulbs, it’s equally important to know how to dispose them a few years later.
oh ok, thanks Rahul for explaining that to me. I had forgotten about that old comment. Yes, correct disposal is the need of the times. Unfortunately, this is another thing about which India still has to wake up. There are all kinds of waste electronic and toxic wastes increasing every year.