by Shane Henson — August 22, 2011—Facilities managers working in buildings across Latin America and the Caribbean may soon see a substantial reduction in the amount of energy used to light their facilities if federal initiatives or legislation follow their government officials’ desire to use energy-efficient light bulbs instead of the incandescent ones that are currently widely used.
Government representatives from 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have voiced their support for the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs. Participants at a regional meeting in Santo Domingo of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-backed en.lighten initiative signed the “Santo Domingo Declaration,” which states that the phase out of incandescent lamps is one of the easiest ways to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve significant energy and financial savings.
en.lighten is an initiative funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), in partnership with UNEP and leading global lighting manufacturers such as Philips and OSRAM, to accelerate market transformation of efficient lighting technologies on a global scale.
Examples of expected energy savings and costs:
- The Dominican Republic could save $109 million per year and the equivalent emissions of 100,000 cars if incandescent lamps were phased out. Many of the country’s supply problems and regular “black outs” could be avoided.
- It is expected that Brazil will save $2 billion a year and 4 million metric tons of CO2—the equivalent emissions from 1 million cars—when legislation in the country is finalized by mid-2012.
- Ecuador should save $46 million USD per year and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 300,000 metric tons of CO2 annually—the equivalent of taking 75,000 cars off the road a year—by switching to energy-saving bulbs.
- It is expected that Brazil will save $2 billion a year and 4 million metric tons of CO2—the equivalent emissions from 1 million cars—when legislation in the country is finalized by mid-2012.
