﻿ Campaigners urge public to replace old light bulbs - Taipei Times
Sun, Jun 03, 2007 - Page 4　News List

Campaigners urge public to replace old light bulbs

By Shelly Shan  /  STAFF REPORTER

On the eve of World Environment Day, environmental campaigners yesterday highlighted the importance of replacing incandescent light bulbs with ones that consume less energy.

"Light bulbs that use tungsten filaments use a lot more electricity and generate a lot more heat," said Liou Ming-long (劉銘龍), chairman of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation. "As a result, more electricity is then used to help cool down the indoor temperature."

The foundation has calculated that 2.9 billion kilowatt-hours could be saved each year if each household in Taiwan replaced just five of their 60W incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving ones.

This would help the nation save NT$7.4 billion (US$224 million) in electricity charges each year.

It would also help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.95 million tonnes per year.

Liou said other measures were necessary in the battle to help conserve electricity.

Rather than using T9 (40W) fluorescent tubes, each household should switch to using T5 light tubes (28W).

He said compared to T9s, T5 tubes are thinner and have higher efficiency in terms of lighting and electricity consumption. Though T5s cost slightly more than T9s, the former last twice as long.

The foundation also suggested some creative methods to encourage the replacement of lighting.

For example, the government should make the cost of purchasing energy-saving lighting equipment tax deductible. It suggested the deduction threshold be set at NT$20,000.

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