Showing posts with label camden friends of the earth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camden friends of the earth. Show all posts

Friday, February 23, 2007

Ban the Bulb

This week Australia has announced its intention to phase out incandescent bulbs. Why has a country that won't sign up to the Kyoto protocol beaten the UK to this simple step?

- this will help Oz reduce its annual carbon dioxide emissions by 800,000 tonnes by 2012
- the same move in the UK could reduce our annual emissions by 2-3 million tonnes
- that's equivalent to 6 months worth of emissions from the Didcot power station
- Lighting consumes about a fifth of the world's electricity production
- Fluorescent bulbs are typically five times more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs

At an individual level, Dr Matt Prescott (founder of the Ban the Bulb campaign) has said, "Lighting accounts for about 15% of the average home's electricity bill. Each fluorescent bulb saves you about £9 a year, or up to £150 over its lifetime. If they stuck £150 in cash on the packet of a £5 fluorescent bulb then there would be hardly any quibbles from consumers."

If the UK can be persuaded to change all its televisions to a digital service, surely it can cope with this money (and carbon) saving option?

Petition the government here