ESB Customer Supply takes the lead in new EU CFL bulb promotion plan

An eu-wide campaign by the electricity industry to promote the use of more efficient domestic lighting has been agreed in Brussels. The European Commission-backed Agreement on the Promotion of Efficient Lighting was signed in the presence of the EU Energy Commissioner, Aindris Piepalgs at the end of January.

Under the deal ESB Customer Supply, as members of Eurelectric, will further encourage domestic customers to change to CFL bulbs for their home lighting. Lighting manufacturers and electric retailers are co-signatories of the agreement through the EuroCommerce and European Lamp Companies Federation.

The treaty commits the federation members to encourage and promote the use of CFL bulbs in homes and business through marketing initiatives in the various member states. One of the key deliverables of the agreement is a quantitive analysis over the next year of the results of the promotion of energy efficient lighting, leading to a change in customer lighting.

ESB Customer Supply has been to the forefront of promoting energy efficiency in Ireland for many years, and has specifically supported the use of CFL lightbulbs for more than a decade. Brendan Tonge represented ESB Customer Supply at the Brussels launch.

The agreement allows participants to publicly support the European Commissions initiatives on climate change. If the agreement is successful it is envisaged that other forms of energy efficient lighting will be included in the scheme further supporting national and international climate change policies.

ESB Customer Supply is administering a new EU-wide energy-saving initiative on behalf of ESB group to promote greater use of CFL light bulbs following the signing of an agreement by European power generators, light bulb manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.

Ensuring that ESB domestic and business customers are switching to using compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs has the potential to reduce both fossil fuels consumption and carbon gas emissions.

The presence of the EU Energy Commissioner Aindris Piepalgs and other high ranking commission members and MEPs at the signing of the agreement in Brussels underlined the importance of the initiative organised by EURLECTRIC which represents the European electricity industry and includes ESB in its membership; the European Lamp Companies Federation (ELC), whose members include General Electric, Phillips, Osram and Sylvania and EuroCommerce, which represents the retail, wholesale and international trade sectors and which has IBEC's Retail Ireland organisation as a member.

Notably, before the signing took place, the EU officials and the commissioner also attended the launch of a report on Electricity Company Actions on End-Use Efficiency, written by a EURLECTRIC task force that included Brendan Tonge of ESB Customer Supply.

It was Brendan who signed the new European agreement on behalf of the ESB Group but he points out that ESB Customer Supply have been promoting CFL bulbs in Ireland for more than a decade. "ESB Group were the first in Ireland to actively promote CFL bulbs," he says.

Under the terms agreed, the three EU associations will encourage their members to promote and support the distribution and penetration of energy-efficient lamps in households and offices and the deal also underlines the importance of quality standards that will ensure that quality standards are maintained to guarantee that CFL bulbs are durable, safe and provide good lighting quality.

Energy efficient lighting and CFL bulbs in particular, are seen as having a major role to play in the reduction in Europe's use of fossil fuels and its production of greenhouse gases – lighting accounts for about 14% of electricity consumption in the EU, equivalent to the combined power produced by all gas-fired generators in the union's 27 member states.

Furthermore, switching to energy efficient lighting is the third least costly way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, after improving building insulation in first place and improving fuel efficiency in commercial vehicles in second.

EURLECTRIC and ESB Customer Supply strongly believe that consumers need to be aware that CFLs consume up to five times less energy and can last up to 15 times longer than conventional lamps.

EURLECTRIC's president Rafael Miranda believes the voluntary agreement has 'the potential to drive massive energy savings and CO2 emission reductions'. Notably, as part of the deal, the ELC has committed bulb manufacturers to phase out 85% of the EU's incandescent bulb market by 2015. Currently, that market comprises some 2.1 billion incandescent light bulbs.