Ban The Bulb : Campaign Archive

Labels: Ban The Bulb, campaign archive

Greenpeace India set up a Ban The Bulb petition

Dear Minister,

You're aware that climate change is the biggest environmental threat India is facing.

Burning coal to generate electricity is leading to increase in global temperatures, changing monsoon patterns, faster melting of Himalayan glaciers and rising sea levels. India will be one of the worst affected countries. Large parts of India's coastal cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai will be submerged, while agriculture and fisheries production will decrease, and vector-borne diseases such as dengue will become commonplace.

We only have a few more years before climate change reaches the point of no return. Every day, India uses 18,000 MW of electricity for lighting; most of it is wasted by the use of inefficient ordinary light bulbs. To reduce CO2 emissions, India must become more energy efficient.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps use only 20% of the energy used by an ordinary light bulb. By replacing all ordinary light bulbs with CFLs, we can reduce India's CO2 emissions by 55 million tonnes.

You have the power and responsibility to bring about this change by announcing a total ban on incandescent light bulbs by 2010, and to make CFLs more readily accessible to the common man.

As a supporter of Greenpeace’s campaign, I urge you to do the right thing not just for my generation, but for future ones as well.

Labels: Greenpeace, India, petition

US senators propose a light bulb ban

South Carolina is attempting to follow the lead of Australia and the European Union by enforcing the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Three senators proposed legislation that would ban the selling of traditional incandescent light bulbs after 2017, the Tribune Regional News reported.

State Sens. John Drummond, Phil Leventis and Vincent Sheheen would ban the bulbs in an attempt to reduce electricity usage and carbon dioxide emissions, though the measure is causing debate.

"I don't think the government has any business telling us what kind of light bulb to use," said state Rep. Phillip Lowe.

There's another bill on the table that caused a little less opposition. It would require people to replace their burnt-out incandescent bulbs with CFLs as they need new bulbs.

Other U.S. states are also considering similar legislation. In New Jersey, there's a bill to replace all the bulbs in government buildings, and similar proposals have been introduced in California, Connecticut, North Carolina and Rhode Island.

CFLs cost a little more but last longer and are more efficient. But issues of disposal have yet to be worked out. The CFLs have traces of mercury in them.

Labels: EU-wide incandecent light bulb ban, US senators, USA

Lester Brown's new Plan B 2.0 book backs bulb ban

"Switching light bulbs is an easy way of realizing large, immediate gains in energy efficiency. A study for the U.S. government calculated that the gasoline equivalent of the energy saved over the lifetime of one 24-watt compact fluorescent bulb is sufficient to drive a Prius from New York to San Francisco."

Labels: Lester Brown, Plan B 2.0

Villagers replace all of their incandescents with CFLs

A remote moorland village in Staffordshire has become the first community in the UK to replace all its incandescent light bulbs with new energy efficient ones.

Residents of the 30 houses in Ilam, in the Peak District, decided to make the switch in the hope of reducing the village's carbon emissions by around four tonnes a year.

The move came about after a group of bell ringers raised the idea of reinstating an old water turbine as a green source of energy for the village. A local environmental charity, the Marches Energy Agency, suggested taking a broader approach.

Robin Tidman, from the agency, said: "Through experience we have successfully developed our own approach to creating low-carbon communities and so we can help villages like Ilam play their part in tackling climate change.

"We started by working out the carbon footprint - how much energy was being used in Ilam - to check on how much energy was being wasted. The banishment of incandescent bulbs years ahead of the recently announced European Union target is a fantastic achievement for Ilam."

The Government plans to phase out old-fashioned light bulbs in favour of new energy-saving versions by 2011. Funding for the 600 new energy efficient light bulbs was provided by Staffordshire County Council along with the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and the Peak District National Park.

Labels: Ilam, staffordshire, village