Press release - April 10, 2009
DELHI, India — Today, Greenpeace activists and celebrities celebrated the announcement of the Bachat Lamp Yojana(1) in the 8 cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune, by setting up a stall at various public spaces to distribute Compact Florescent Lamps (CFLs) at Rs.15/- to show what the scheme would mean when it came into operation.
Lucknow: The Bachat Lamp Yojna is here! Greenpeace activists celebrate the launch of the Yojna at the Fun Republic Mall, Lucknow.
"The Government's announcement wasn't per chance. Greenpeace
launched the Ban the Bulb campaign in 2006, calling for a phase out
of inefficient light bulbs by 2012. Over 250,000 people signed the
Ban the Bulb petition demanding ordinary incandescent bulbs be
replaced with efficient ways of lighting. Many joined us in human
formations to take the message across, while others helped
Greenpeace 'raid' homes, shops, hotels to change bulbs," said
Anirban Chakrabarty, Greenpeace activist.
"I am happy to celebrate this success with Greenpeace. This
scheme will save energy, money and the planet from climate change."
said Rabbi Shergil, who engaged people at the stall "We got the
scheme, now we need to let the local governments know that we want
the scheme implemented without any delay," he added.
Usha Uthup spoke about the importance of replacing
energy-hogging incandescent bulbs with CFLs to people in Kolkata.
Prahlad Kakkar and Mini Mathur spoke of the relevance of Bachat
Lamp Yojna in Mumbai, while Anand Patwardhan expressed his joy and
shared concerns on the Scheme in Pune. Director Vasanth, and
Dhritiman Chatterjee joined us in Chennai, Vasundhara Das and
Master Kishen in Bangalore, and Chandana joined Greenpeace
activists to celebrate the launch in Hyderabad.
In India, lighting comprises 20% of all residential electricity
consumption, 90% of this is wasted by incandescent bulbs in heating
rather than lighting up. This is criminal, especially when we are
facing peak power shortage. Undoubtedly, energy efficiency is the
smartest way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and bring
down carbon emissions.
Greenpeace acknowledged that the "Bachat Lamp Yojana"[1]
programme to replace 400 million incandescent bulbs with CFLs by
2012 is a good first step. If implemented correctly, the programme
would save 10,000 MW of electricity and about 55 million tonnes of
CO2 each year. This would have an effect equivalent to closing down
four dirty coal-fired power stations. "If the whole world followed
India's lead and eliminate wasted electricity from lighting, the
cumulative effect would be equivalent to shutting down around 220
coal-fired power plants,"concluded Vinuta Gopal, Campaigner for
Climate and Energy.
Contact information
Preetham , Greenpeace Hyderabad Office; Phone: 09963139702
Syed Mehaboob, Greenpeace Communications; Phone: 09731301983, 
Notes to Editor
[1] The Bachat Lamp Yojana uses the Clean Development Mechanism to bring down the price of CFLs (from Rs 80- 100) to Rs 15, the price of an incandescent bulb. Under the scheme, 60 and 100 Watt incandescent lamps will be replaced with 11-15 and 20-25 Watt CFLs respectively.