An environmental organisation has launched a campaign calling for a legislation to ban the yellow incandescent bulb. According to them, the bulbs are a waste of energy spending about 95 per cent of the energy in heating. They accuse energy-inefficient bulbs for adding to the global warming and greenhouse gas emission. They want the old bulbs to be replaced with fluorescent lamps.

Let us consider the use of incandescent bulbs and CFLs for lighting in the power scenario of India. India has a total installed power generation capacity of 128,432 MW. Total energy demand during April 2006-January 2007 was 572,812 million unit (MU) of which 519,656 MU could be supplied. The deficit of 9.3 per cent increased to 13.9 per cent during peak hours during the same period.

Studies point that a GDP growth of 8 per cent annually will require the power supply to grow at 12 per cent annually. But the present growth in power is only 3.7 per cent. Eleventh national power survey estimates that India would require a total installed capacity of 212000 MW by 2012 to meet the demand. There is a need to create additional capacity of 100,000MW which seems unachievable with low capacity of increasing power generation capacity.

A 100-Watt incandescent bulb used for lighting 3 hours a day will consume 109.5 units of electricity (3 hr ‘ 365 days ‘ 100 Watt). National annual per capita electricity consumption is 606 units while the electricity consumption for Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is about 96, 141 and 176 units per person per year. This means electricity available to a person living in Assam is not sufficient for lighting a 100-W bulb for 3 hours a day. The electricity available to a person in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh wont power two 100-W bulbs for the same period.

A 20-W fluorescent lamp will require about 22 units of electricity–one-fifth of the power requirement of a 100-W bulb. A person switching over from a 100-W bulb to a 20-W fluorescent lamp–CFLs or tube lights–will have his electricity bill deflated by 88 units. If the electricity is priced at Rs2.50 per unit, the annual electricity bill will go down by Rs220. The savings in power exceeds the cost incurred in CFLs. Even if the CFL costs Rs150, the consumer saves Rs 50 in a year.

Lighting accounts for around 15 per cent of the peak hour power demand. Most of lighting is done by inefficient incandescent bulbs. Assuming that all lighting was done by 100-W bulbs, a complete switch to 20-W CFLs would have saved 62,359 MU of power (80 per cent of 15 per cent of the 519,656 MU power supplied during April 2006-January 2007. This saving would have eliminated the demand and supply deficit for the period.
Power generation requires huge investment–Rs 5 crore for every MW of electricity. If we assume that 15 per cent of the 100,000 MW of the estimated increase in power demand would be for lighting, CFLs would decrease the demand of this portion by 80 per cent. This would decrease the demand of power by 12,000 MW freeing Rs 60,000 crore required for increasing the power generation capacity.
The 3,000 MW of the increased power demand used for lighting would power 150 million 20-W fluorescent lamps, enough for lighting needs of the entire population of India at that time. The Rs 2250 crore required for 150 million CFLs at Rs 150 per lamp is a very small share of the Rs 60,000 crore investment required in case only 100-W lamps were used.

CFLs are not completely eco-friendly. They contain harmful mercury vapours sealed in the tube. If discarded indiscriminately, they may cause serious damage to the environment. But this damage can be substantially reduced by recycling.
In a power starved country, every unit of electricity saved comes to the rescue. The power saved will not only help to electrify about 60 per cent rural households so far deprieved from lights of power but also decrease the demand-supply gap and would help meet demands in future. Given the substantial cut in electricity consumption and power bills, do we still need to debate the switch from Edison’s bulbs to fluorescent bulbs?

If you wish, you may sign the petition for banning the bulb at GreenPeace website. (www.greenpeace.org/india)