World uses 18000 Terra watt hours of electricity in a year. Developing countries are consuming more and more electricity at an increasing rate of 6-7% a year. Only small portion of this energy is renewable. Most of the energy is produced from coal, oil, gas and nuclear sources.
According to 2005 data, 19% of all world electricity is used in Lighting. It is possible to reduce this consumption to 65% with various efficient products & awareness. This saving is equal to closing 700 coal plants which produce huge amount of carbon dioxide.
Electricity consumption in various sectors.
- Residential – 31%
- Industrial- 18%
- Commercial – 43%
- Outdoor – 8%
These numbers indicate that your shop or showroom is using more electricity in lighting than home. Display and showroom uses large amount of halogen lamps and CFL bulbs to illuminate. These all lights can be replaced by energy efficient LED lights.
Average efficiency of worldwide light sources is just 21.5 lumens per watt, While LED light generally has 60-150 lumens per watt efficiency.
Another way to reduce consumption is using dimming and sensor based switching. It can save 50% of electricity in commercial area.
Now consider India only, which is fifth largest electricity producer in the world. India’s per capital power consumption is about 570 units a year which is far from 4400 units a year of European countries. Still 300 millions of Indian people don’t have electricity access.
Energy requirements are increasing every year at 7-10%. If India wants to provide reliable electricity to all the people, we need to generate more than double of the current capacity.
LED is not only about illumination, but It has also changed the world of display. It uses 80% less power compared to CRT display.
More and more countries are implying ban on incandescent bulbs to promote efficient light source. Australia, Argentina, UK and Philippines implied ban from 2010, Canada from 2012 and EU from 2015.
All together Efficient appliances, renewable energy and awareness can protect our earth from global warming.
Hazardous Chemicals
Fluorescent light is very common and cheaper to use. But it is full of mercury and toxic gas inside. It is necessary to dispose it with special treatment. None of the developing countries ever tried to dispose it scientifically. Most of the people dispose them in their own environment.
Every CFL bulb contains 5mg mercury, which is enough to pollute 150,000 liters of water. There are more than 2 billions of CFL bulbs used every year only in USA. Incandescent bulb doesn’t contain mercury but it consumes big power.
While LED light doesn’t contain mercury as well as other heavy metals. It also saves lots of power and green house gases.
