Press release - March 7, 2007
BANGALORE, India — Responding to yesterday's statement by the Karnataka Chief Minister and Power Minister asking for 20 Million Units of additional power a day from the central grid, at a cost upto Rs. 5/- per unit in order to meet the electricity scarcity in the state, Greenpeace demanded that the Government consider implementing simple and immediate solutions at less than half the cost by replacing 45 million incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lamps in the state. This step would address the ongoing electricity scarcity and go a long way in reducing carbon emissions in the state. *
The population of Karnataka is roughly 55.86 Million with about
9 million households. If all households in the state were to
replace just 5 incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent lamps,
approximately 12150000 or 12 million units of electricity would be
saved per day. This would reduce the power shortage by 60%. This
would also take care of peak load shortage, which is what the state
is currently facing.
Srinivas Krishnaswamy, Greenpeace Campaigner said "This is only
the tip of the proverbial ice berg. A whole host of energy
efficiency and renewable energy solutions are available which can
make Karnataka self sufficient in its electricity requirements and
less dependent on the central grid, while reducing greenhouse gas
emissions". He further added, "The calculation of reducing
electricity by 12 million units by replacing 45 million
incandescent bulbs with CFLs is only for the house hold sector and
if we considered the commercial and industrial segments, the saving
would be much more substantial. For the environment, a total
reduction of 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per day would go a long
way in reducing global warming".
While the additional power requirement would require Karnataka
to spend an estimated Rs. 250 crores per month, the one time total
cost of replacing 45 million Incandescent bulbs with CFLs for the
government would be approximately Rs. 405 crores. This investment
would be recovered in less than two months.
Hence, Greenepeace demands that the Government of Karnataka:
a) Immediately distributes 45 million CFLs in the household
sector to replace incandescent bulbs
b) Completely phase out the incandescent bulb during the course
of this year
For further information, contact
K Srinivas, Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India +91-9845112130 
Ruchira Talukdar – Greenpeace India Communications +91-9900264127 
Notes to Editor
* As 66 percent of electricity in India is generated from Coal fired power plants, every watt of generated electricity will produce a certain amount of Carbon Emissions.
* An incandescent loses 90% of the energy that goes to into it as heat.
* A CFL bulb uses around 20% of the electricity to produce the same amount of light.