Greenpeace launches signature drive against inefficient lighting

Mumbai, Apr 18 (UNI) Greenpeace International, a global watchdog fighting climate change and the prevailing energy crisis in the country, today flagged off a signature drive to petition the Union Government for a ban on the use of inefficient lightbulbs in the country by 2010.

The drive, which kickstarted from the Gateway of India here, simultaneously saw seven other cities -- Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore -- joining the campaign aimed at collecting one million signatures supporting the ''Ban the Bulbs'' petition.

At the Gateway of India, noted activist and documentary film maker Anand Patwardhan and adman Prahlad Kakkar were among the first Mumbaikars to join the drive in support of phasing out inefficient lighting and foster cheap access to efficient alternatives like Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL).

''Our talks with some of the Central ministers were quite favorable and our initiative to ban the bulb got wide support, but still we can't see any action being taken,'' said Greenpeace spokesperson Brikesh Singh.

''We need a strong call from the public to push the government to take the required steps to fight power crisis and climate changes. With this petition we want to empower people to call on their government to implement common sense,'' added Mr Singh.

The state of Maharashtra has the highest electricity demand among all states with a peak demand of 14,753 MW. The state has also seen major shortages, with the current peak shortage being as much as 3000 MW.

The easiest, most cost effective and environmental friendly way of resolving this crisis is to reduce energy consumption, by getting rid of inefficient lighting, particularly in the cities of Mumbai and Pune, said Mr Singh.

A report commissioned by Greenpeace estimates that the total savings of electricity by shifting from incandescent to CFLs could be around 2,300 MW. Considering that the current deficit is as high as 5,000 MW, 46 per cent of the scarcity can be met through a ban on the light bulb.

Greenpeace also states that the only way to achieve fast phase-out of inefficient lighting is to ban it and this ban should be implemented by 2010.

UNI