Tokyo Steps up Campaign to Eliminate Incandescent Lights

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) announced on September 21, 2007, that it will work with local retailers such as convenience stores, supermarkets and appliance stores to promote fluorescent light bulbs by making sure they are always displayed in order to familiarize consumers with these products. The effort is part of TMG's efforts to step up its campaign to eliminate incandescent light bulbs under its Climate Change Strategy, which calls on citizens to switch from incandescent to energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs in order to save more energy in home lighting, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of household electricity use.

Some local retailers plan to participate in the fluorescent bulb promotion initiative: For example, convenience chains will start carrying fluorescent bulbs and encourage their outlets to sell the products, while supermarkets plan to actively stimulate sales by having more displays and discount sales, and appliance stores will be offering consumers information on energy efficiency and other benefits of fluorescent lights.

TMG officials estimate that, although a 12-watt fluorescent light bulb (about 1,000 yen or U.S.$8.60) costs more than an equivalent 54-watt incandescent bulb (about 100 yen or 90 US cents), using the former instead of the latter for an average of 5.5 hours per day can reduce annual household electricity costs by 1,850 yen (about U.S.$16) while cutting CO2 emissions by 78 percent. Also, fluorescent light bulbs last an average of 6,000 hours, 6 times longer than incandescents.

Tokyo also plans to replace about 29,000 incandescent light bulbs currently used in city-owned buildings with fluorescents by the end of fiscal 2008. TMG expects that that this will conserve 536,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy, and cut 207 tons-CO2 emissions annually, based on using the lights 2 hours a day for 220 days a year.

http://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.jp/kouhou/english/index.html
- National Campaign Aims to Reduce Individual CO2 Emissions by 1 kg per Day (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1880-e

Posted: 2008/01/19 12:28:59 PM
Japanese version