The Hindu : National : U.S. firm’s offer to West Bengal to replace incandescent bulbs

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Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007
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U.S. firm’s offer to West Bengal to replace incandescent bulbs

Indrani Dutta

To acquire carbon credits through the programme
Replacement bulbs will be sourced from Indian firms

KOLKATA: A U.S. company has submitted to the West Bengal government a proposal to change all incandescent bulbs being used in the State to environment-friendly compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). It has submitted a presentation to the State government.

It has been estimated that the one-crore electricity consumers in the State use an average of three bulbs (mostly in the household sector, but also in the industrial and the service sector). This would mean replacing over three crore bulbs across the State. The cost of the project was conservatively estimated at about Rs. 350 crore. Efforts were on to include streetlights where incandescent bulbs are being used, especially in the municipalities outside the city limits.

The gain for the U.S. company will be the carbon credits that it would reap through the certified emission registration. It will get by marking each of the incandescent bulb that it replaces Rs. 11 for validation. Each 11 Watt CFL bulb, costing about Rs. 100, will be fitted at the existing points where a 60 Watt incandescent bulb, costing about Rs. 10 each, now burns.

This will lead to energy conservation and lesser emission of carbon-dioxide, a green house gas. This will bring carbon credits to the company, which might either trade them or encash them. The company already has a presence in the Indian power sector.

Nominal price

The replacement bulbs, which will be sourced from Indian companies, will come either free or at a very nominal cost.

The gains to be made by the State include reduction in load as an 11 Watt CFL lamp emits the same amount of light as a 60 Watt incandescent lamp but consumes lesser energy.

It has been estimated that in the peak evening hours, there will be a saving of at least 200 MW. For West Bengal, which depends mostly on thermal power plants, this initiative will lead to substantial reduction in greenhouse emission.

Enquiries showed that although such a project has been implemented on a smaller scale in other parts of the world, this will be the first of its kind across an entire State.

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