Sri Lankan government is going to ban the import and manufacturing of incandescent bulbs in July and promote the use of energy saving Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs. This has been done to reduce the country’s power consumption under the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA). Sri Lankan cabinet has already passed a new law for the promotion and use of CFL bulbs. Under this new law, bulbs will have to be marked with an energy rating after issued by SEA and tested by SLS. Till now, the rating process remained voluntary. After the law is passed, it will become mandatory and violators will be black listed and prevented from importing. This is good news for the Sri Lankans but industry officials are saying that replacing the century old incandescent bulb will be a tough job. More over, government should consider the disposal of CFL bulb as they have mercury contents.
Cabinet approval for this has already been obtained and the regulations will be gazetted within this month, Chairman of the Authority Ananda Gunasekera said. He could not give a specific date when the ban will be enforced but said it would effective when the gazette regulation, published under the Sustainable Energy Authority Act no 35 of 2007, comes out. A complete ban of the incandescent variety of bulbs will come into effect in 2010.
Ananda Gunasekera said that the introduction of CFL bulbs will help reduce the demand of electricity during the peak time between 6p.m. to 9.30 p.m. Currently, nearly half of the Sri Lankan population are using CFL bulbs in city areas and 30% in rural areas. Sri Lanka has a power expenditure of Rs. 83 billion per year. Each year, the country produces 9814 GWh of power from all sources. With the use of CFL Rs. 12 billion can be saved, which is equivalent to 14.5% of the country’s total power bill. However, there are two obstacles- the initial high price and disposal. Sri Lankan government has requested the importers to provide CFL bulbs to the customers at a reasonable price. The government is also planning to waive VAT and duty.
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