HK$100 coupon to buy green light bulbs
Anyone planning to replace their incandescent light bulbs at home would be wise to wait a few months. A non-refundable, HK$100 cash coupon for buying energy-saving light bulbs will be available under a plan announced by the chief executive.
The coupons will be mailed with electricity bills to two million households in December.
They will be exchangeable for compact fluorescent bulbs valued at up to HK$100 at registered retailers from February 1 until the end of 2011. The shops taking part in the scheme will be announced later.
The offer is not designed as a free lunch for all. First, the costs of the scheme, estimated at HK$100 million, will be financed by all power users, not power producers CLP Power or Hong Kong Electric or the government. And all power consumers - including commercial and industrial ones that will not benefit from the scheme - will have to pay an additional 50 or 60 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity consumed in 2010.
A senior environment official said fluorescent light bulbs were 80 per cent more energy-efficient than incandescent ones and had an average life span of 8,000 hours.
If every home used two to four fluorescent bulbs, the 100 million kWh of power saved a year would mean a 67,000 tonne cut in annual carbon dioxide emissions. And because they last longer, each household would save HK$860 a year.
