Save Energy, Electricity…Save Money!

No doubt that CFL bulbs will save you money on your electricity bills in the long run, but they cost 10 times more than a regular bulb. The government should promote CFL’s by giving a heavy subsidy on it and thus make it cheaper to buy for the common man. Ad’s like the below will only go to some extent but unless the product itself is not made available to everyone at affordable prices it will not have a mass affect. The energy problem of Delhi can be solved if every household starts using CFL’s.

Bereau of Energy Efficiency - Promotes CFL's

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Electricity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Save Energy, Electricity…Save Money!”

  1. And where will the money to pay for subsidies come from? Taxes, I presume.

    I have a better suggestion. Impose a Pollution Tax on the incandescent lamps making them more expensive to buy. Consumers will be forced to buy more efficient lamps (CFL, LED or other efficient technology) but won’t complain because in the long run, they will end up saving money! And instead of forcing the honest taxpayers for the inefficient lamps, it will cost the polluters.

  2. Ambuj, what will the poor people do? They will then have to pay more for no matter what they buy and the additional tax collected will most probably be down away in a scam. Instead of pushing up the prices, they should be brought down. If people start buying CFL and LED bulbs in masses, the production cost will also come down and will benefit us all.

  3. The poor people will buy CFLs, of course.

    Suppose a poor man used to spend Rs. 100 on incandescent light bulb and Rs. 500 on the electricity bill over the course of next 5 years. The bulb goes out, he replaces it and same cycle for another 5 years. Total cost for 10 years is Rs. 1200. Instead, if he is forced to buy CFL, he pays Rs. 250 upfront and Rs. 600 over the course of next 10 years when the bulb runs out. Total cost for 10 years in this case is Rs. 850. (Data is made up, but you get the point)

    It is quite clear to me that buying incandescent lamps make them poor and CFLs make them richer even when there are no taxes or subsidies. They buy the ‘normal’ lamps now because they don’t see 10 years into the future (lack of education). Both subsidising CFLs and taxing incandescent will increase sales for CFLs, bringing down prices. I don’t foresee any substantial increase in tax collected as people will move to CFLs rather than pay the insane tax.

  4. As soon as our kitchen and dining room lights went busted, we went ahead and bought a Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb to replace them. CFL costs more but is more energy efficient and lasts longer than the ordinary incandescent light bulb.

  5. good idea well done