10 Million Points of Light

Starting in April, the China Lighting Conversion program plans to distribute 10 million compact fluorescent lightbulbs in China. Most Chinese people cannot afford the energy-efficient bulbs, but the Clinton Global Initiative's Joint U.S.-China Cooperation on Clean Energy is raising funds for the project. Partners already include China's Ministry of Construction, Tsinghua University and the media company Bertelsmann.

Replacing 10 million conventional lamps with compact fluorescent lamps will prevent the release of about 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over four years and eliminate the need for ten 50-megawatt coal-fired power plants. Put another way, an investment of $20 million is expected to eliminate the need for a $500 million investment in new power plants.—Dawn Stover

Image: PiccoloNamek

Comments

[Paul, USA]

and who will clean up the toxic contents when many of these bulbs break? It has happened here, and specially suited workers had to be called in to clean up afterwards.

[Robert]

You're right Paul, this is a horrible idea. You've been listening to too much conservative talk radio methinks...

[Eric H]

I'd say ~5mg of Hg is pretty small. Until recently I had a relative who went through about 1 mercury battery a week in her hearing aid, at about 1g Hg per. That's 10,000 lamps worth of the stuff a year into the trash. I'm sure there's far worse pollution than that in China...

[Bryan]

I'm not sure exactly, but I am quite certain that ten 50-megawatt plants will release more Mercury and heavy metals in a year than all those bulbs combined. Besides, with an effort of this scale, the chinese people are bound to be more informed about disposal than we ever were when we started using them.

Talking about Mercury in CFLs is like trying to knock hybrid and electric cars on battery disposal, without recognizing that you dont have to change oil (polutant that needs special handling) every 3000 miles OR no copious amounts of vapors and MTBE from gas stations and gas tanks OR no need to trucks and trains burning more oil just to get the damned gas to your neighborhood. AND the list goes on.

It's a step in the right direction. And it makes much more sense financially too.

[Tyler]

It's a great start to reduce CO2! Now to just get others to ride electric bicycles in US cities like the Chinese do in theirs.

[coldpudding]

the real problem is that you can't just replace the tubes and keep the rest, think of all of the parts you'd save.

[Eric H]

So, is the rest of the world buying (or subsidizing) CFL bulbs made in Chinese factories to give to the Chinese people? I think with a 1 trillion budget surplus, China's gov't can buy their own bulbs! That's the way I read it.

If so, this is a lot like the billions in carbon credit money that flows to China to fix freon emissions from factories there. Except the cost of the carbon credits that others are buying are fixed so that they pay far more than needed to actually fix the problem.