WANT to save the planet? Buy yourself an energy-efficient 鈥渃ompact fluorescent lamp鈥� next time a conventional bulb pops. That鈥檚 one of the key messages in last week鈥檚 report on the state of the world from the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute.
Vital Signs highlights positive and negative developments affecting the world鈥檚 fate. It rates the soaring uptake of the lamps as one of the most heartening trends, but wants to see many more sold.
Each lamp lasts 10 times as long as a conventional light bulb, consumes a quarter of the energy and generates 90 per cent less heat. 鈥淭hey work the same way as a regular tubular fluorescent light, but are miniaturised,鈥� says Worldwatch president Chris Flavin. Rather than heating a filament, the lamps charge gas, so they waste little energy as heat.
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The report says that between 1988 and 2001, sales of the lamps increased 13-fold. The 1.8 billion lamps lighting up the world consume 27,000 megawatts of electrical power, a fraction of the 109,000 megawatts it would take to light the same number of conventional bulbs. The electricity saved is equivalent to the output of 40 medium-sized power plants. The 316 million lamps in North America alone will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.8 million tonnes per year.
Uptake has been strongest in mainland Europe and China, which manufactures 80 per cent of the lamps. They鈥檙e also increasingly popular in developing countries, says Flavin.
He鈥檇 like to see Americans buy more though, but thinks they鈥檙e put off by the price. 鈥淭hey just look at the up-front cost. But they鈥檙e effectively buying 10 conventional bulbs at once.鈥� Energy utilities could do more to promote the lamps, so he suggests that rewarding companies for conserving electricity as well as selling it might provide the necessary incentive.