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NGO for ban on incandescent bulbs

Special Correspondent

To combat climate change and energy crisis in the country

NEW DELHI: Greenpeace, a non-governmental organisation, has called for a ban on the use of the incandescent light bulb to combat climate change and the energy crisis in the country. It wants these "inefficient" bulbs to be phased out from India by 2010.

Launching a campaign here on Monday, the NGO said it would also impress upon the Government the need for a national legislation to phase out yellow bulbs and promote the use of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).

"Changing a bulb is a small step for each of us, but if all of us decided to do so together, we can reduce India's carbon dioxide emissions and contribution to climate change by 4 per cent which is as much as the entire carbon dioxide emission of a country like Denmark," K. Srinivas of Greenpeace told reporters. By mitigating its energy crisis through energy efficiency measures, the Government can take the lead to combat climate change, instead of adding to global warming by building more coal power plants, he added.

Reduction in the prices and several regional attempts to promote CFLs have increased the production of CFLs from 6.4 million in 2000-2001 to 44 million in 2005-2006. However, during the same time, the production of incandescent light bulbs has increased from 638 million to 757 million, adding to wastage of energy in India, Mr. Srinivas said.

To be able to phase out conventional light bulbs by 2010, supportive measures need to be put in place by 2008.

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