Cancun, 1 December 2010
- Indonesia could save $1 billion a year
and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by
eight million tonnes of CO2 annually - the
equivalent of taking two million cars off
the road a year - by switching to energy-saving
bulbs .
South Africa might save
US$280 million a year and remove emissions
equal to 625,000 cars annually by following
a similar path, say findings released, Wednesday,
at the climate convention meeting by the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Mexico would save US$900
million, reducing 5 million tonnes of CO2
emissions a year in a soon to be announced
plan to replace incandescent lamps in the
country. With the electricity saved from
this small shift, 3 coal power plants would
become unnecessary.
It is expected that
Brazil will save US$2 billion a year and
4 million tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent
emissions from 1 million cars - when legislation
in the country is finalized, by mid 2012.
For the Ukraine, an
economy in transition, the cost savings
could be US$210 million per annum with greenhouse
gas reductions of 2 million tonnes of CO2
a year - equal to taking half a million
cars off the road annually.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"In reality, the actual economic benefits
could be even higher. A switch to efficient
lighting in Indonesia, for example, would
avoid the need to build 3.5 coal-fired power
stations costing US$2.5 billion and similar
findings come from other country assessments".
"Such calculations
do not include the wider environmental,
health and 'Green Economy' benefits to communities
and countries of switching away from, for
example, fuels such as kerosene and reducing
emissions from sources such as fossil-fueled
power stations - an estimated 1.8 million
deaths a year are linked with in-door and
800,000 with out-door air pollution: more
efficient lighting has a role to play here
too".
"For the past two
decades, the GEF has championed market efforts
to expand efficient lighting to developing
countries throughout the world," said
Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of the
Global Environment Facility. "En.lighten
is the latest initiative funded by the GEF
in partnership with UNEP and leading global
lighting manufacturers to accelerate market
transformation of efficient lighting technologies
on a global scale. Through this initiative,
we hope to build a strong partnership with
the private sector to encourage innovation
and to help those who need our help the
most build brighter futures today and for
the next generation."
The 100 Country Lighting
Assessment findings have come from the 'en.lighten
initiative'- a partnership led by UNEP involving
companies Osram and Philips.
The initiative, which
today launched detailed market assessments
of the environmental and economic potential
of a switch to efficient lighting in 100
countries, is supported by the Global Environment
Facility under its Earth Fund. The assessments
analyze the benefits of shifting the obsolete
incandescent lamp technology to compact
fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Larger savings
are expected to be achieved if other inefficient
lighting technologies are also substituted,
such as inefficient tube lights or inefficient
halogens.
The assessments show
that in Africa, a country such as Nigeria
could cut its electricity consumption by
over 15 per cent in a switch to energy efficient
lighting while reducing CO2 emissions from
fuel combustion by close to five per cent.
In Asia, a country like
Cambodia could save over 30 per cent of
its electricity consumption while reducing
CO2 emissions by more than 13 per cent.
In Uzbekistan, electricity
consumption saving could be over 20 per
cent; in Croatia, nearly 10 per cent ; in
Guatemala also close to 10 per cent and
in Yemen just over 10 per cent.
"We believe that
the en.lighten initiative is an excellent
example of a new category of public/private
partnerships that will help accelerate sustainable
growth in emerging and developing countries,"
says Harry Verhaar, Sr. Director Energy
& Climate Change, Philips Lighting.
"The switch to energy efficient lighting
solutions represents a triple win for these
countries and in addition this sectoral
lighting approach is also a bottom-up initiative
that compliments the top-down UNFCCC process,"
he says.
According to Wolfgang
Gregor, Sr. Vice-President, Sustainability
for OSRAM GmbH, "We are not only responsible
for what we are doing, but also for what
we are not doing. Multinational lighting
companies can no longer neglect the populations
in developing and emerging markets. That
is why OSRAM has given its firm commitment
to the en.lighten initiative, as well as
to combating the use of kerosene as a part
of our off grid lighting project."
A principle and readily
available technology is the compact fluorescent
light bulb (CFL). Unlike old incandescent
light bulbs which produce 95 per cent heat
and just five per cent light, CFLs produce
an equivalent amount of light using 75 per
cent less energy. They also last up to ten
times longer than incandescent bulbs.
But some critics have
pointed to the health hazardous mercury,
used in CFLs, as an issue that raises a
question mark over the technology's environmental
credentials.
Take-back schemes and
the safe disposal of CFLs is clearly a key
issue which 'en.lighten' is also addressing
- this is a central challenge, especially
in developing countries.
Meanwhile, other mercury-free
technologies are also being promoted including
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
Nevertheless given that
the main source of new mercury emissions
world-wide is from the burning of coal,
estimates indicate that overall it is far
more environmentally-friendly to switch
from old bulbs to new ones.
One recent study by
Yale University estimated that if the United
States switched to CFLs, the energy savings
at power stations would lead to cuts in
mercury emissions of 25,000 tonnes a year.
The 100 country assessments
come in the wake of a UNEP study, conducted
in collaboration with researchers from 25
leading climate modeling centres world-wide.
This showed that if
all countries met in full their pledges
linked with last year's Copenhagen Accord,
emissions by 2020 could fall to 49 Gigatonnes
(billion).
It could leave a gap
of 5Gt between this current ambition and
where scientists say emissions need to be
in 2020 to stand a reasonable chance of
keeping a global temperature rise to less
than 2 degree C by 2050.
The world needs quick
wins to show that climate change can be
controlled. A global transition to efficient
lighting is perhaps the easiest method.
If achieved swiftly, this victory would
generate the momentum needed to achieve
greater CO2 reductions in other sectors
and assist towards stabilizing the climate
below 2 degrees.
In parallel to the assessment
work, en.lighten is convening experts from
over 30 developing and developed countries
and various sectors, including; governments,
civil society and private sector, to develop
a draft road-map for the global phase-out
of inefficient lighting.. The road map will
include policy, technical and financial
recommendations to support this transition.
UNEP expects the draft road map to be tabled
for global consultation in the second half
of 2011.
Mr. Steiner added: "Among
the low hanging fruit in the climate change
challenge, a switch to far more efficient
lighting must rank as among the lowest.
There are multiple cost effective opportunities
for rapidly bridging the near term 'Gigatone
gaps' from sharp increases in renewable
energy to cuts in non-C02 pollutants such
as methane and black carbon-readily available,
efficient lighting systems is one path that
is literally available at the flip of a
policy switch".
Key Lighting Facts
Globally, 50 to 70 per
cent of total lighting market sales are
still of inefficient incandescent lamps.
A market shift, from incandescent lamps
to energy-efficient alternatives, would
cut the world's electricity demand for lighting
by over 2 per cent.
A report by US Global
Industry Analysts Inc indicates that by
2010, the industrial, commercial, residential
and public lighting market will exceed US
US$94 billion with a great deal of the growth
in developing economies.
Using current economic
and energy-efficiency trends, it is projected
that global demand for artificial light
will be 80 per cent higher by 2030 if no
switch occurs with a great deal of that
linked to the construction and operation
of new buildings in developing economies
including China.
The International Energy
Agency (IEA) estimated in 2007, the total
electricity consumption due to lighting
at 2650 TWh. This represents almost 19 per
cent of global electricity use (15-17 per
cent greater than nuclear or hydro power).
The total global GHG
emissions accrued to lighting electricity
consumption was estimated in 2005 by the
IEA at 1,889 MtCO2 of which grid based lighting
systems contribute to 1,528 MtCO2. This
is equivalent to approximately 8 per cent
of world emissions or 70 per cent of the
world passenger vehicle emissions
If lighting technologies
and efficiencies do not improve, global
lighting electricity demand will reach almost
twice the output of all modern nuclear power
plants amounting to 4250 TWh, (TerraWatt
Hours).
Up to 95 per cent of
the energy emitted by incandescent lamps
is heat, and their efficiency is inherently
low. Comparing the two types of lighting,
incandescent bulbs last around 1,000 hours
which is significantly shorter than energy
saving lamps, with life spans of 6,000 to
12,000 hours.
Some 40 countries are
currently involved in transforming their
lighting markets including phase-downs and
phase-outs of old bulbs including Cuba,
Australia and the 27 member states of the
European Union the United States, Canada
and the Philippines.
Several other developing
countries are already involved in efforts
to promote the adoption of CFLs and to phase-out
incandescent lamps - some with GEF support
and the involvement of the UN Development
Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
These include China,
Russia, Viet-Nam, Morocco and Cote d'Ivoire
Historically, the main
barrier hampering the deployment of energy-efficient
lighting products was their high initial
cost.
When first launched
in the early 1980s, CFLs were 20 to 30 times
more expensive to produce than their incandescent
equivalents. However, CFL costs have steadily
declined through use and increased competition.
They now retail for about four times the
price of an incandescent lamp.
Consumers have traditionally
been slow to come on board and according
to some reports, were initially unimpressed
by early models, disliking the look and
functionality of early models.
Manufacturers say consumers
need to understand how using energy saving
bulbs will allow for long term cost savings,
as well as be assured of the quality and
reliability of new models.
Like all fluorescent
lamps, CFLs contain mercury, which complicates
their disposal. Mercury is a hazardous substance
in fluorescent lamps.
The average mercury
content in a CFL bulb is about 3 milligrams
- roughly the amount it would take to cover
the tip of a ball-point pen. By comparison,
older thermometers contain 500 milligrams
of mercury - the equivalent of more than
100 CFLs
Experts emphasize that
mercury is also emitted from coal-fired
power stations. Studies indicate that the
level of emissions from power stations linked
with lighting the world's old bulbs are
far higher than those linked with the disposal
of energy efficient bulbs.
Some manufacturers have
voluntarily reduced the mercury content
in CFLs by about 80 per cent in the past
decade, to as little as 2 mg per bulb.
Research is ongoing
to achieve further mercury reductions.
One promising innovation
in non-domestic lighting is the development
of solid state lighting (SSL).
This technology is expected
to achieve efficiencies at least ten times
higher than incandescent lamps and up to
twice as high as fluorescent lamps.
Light Emitting Diode
(LED) lamps, aside from not containing mercury
have other advantages such as long life,
warm light colour similar to incandescent
lamps, low heat generation and the ability
to work with dimming switches in certain
lamps.
The en.lighten initiative
- Efficient Lighting for Developing and
Emerging Countries - including the 100 Country
Lighting Assessment is available at:
www.enlighten-initiative.org