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Uniting to conserve

Uniting to conserve The Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply Company (BSES) has worked out an agreement with a consortium of lamp manufacturers and a leasing company, to lease out highly energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) to consumers. This novel venture of replacing conventional incandescent bulbs with the costly CFLs is being financed by the Industrial Development Bank of India.

BSES will hand over the CFLs to consumers in Bombay's suburban households and debit the lease charges to their monthly electricity bills. The savings in domestic lighting bills is expected to offset the lease charges. A 9-watt CFL can be fitted to a normal bulb holder. The lamp, though 10 times as costly as a 60 watt bulb, is equally bright and lasts 8 times longer.

Says H S Mamak, president of the Indian Society of Lighting Engineers, "The industry is making a beginning by replacing 2 lakh ordinary lamps with energy efficient ones at a total cost of Rs 4 crore." Lamp manufacturers are exploring the possibilities of extending the scheme to other regions. "Replacing 45 crore bulbs with more efficient lamps could save as much as 11,000 mw of power in India," says Mamak.

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