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Energy-saving bulbs on sale

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-08 07:28

The government should offer more subsidies for the promotion of energy-saving products like the one-yuan light bulb promoted in recent days, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

On June 18, Beijing launched the sale of low-price energy-saving lights to residents: one OSRAM energy-saving light bulb was sold only at a price ranging from 0.7 to 1 yuan and one household can buy at most five. When residents in my neighborhood heard of this news, it soon became a popular topic. Many joined the rush for buying energy-saving lights.

Energy-saving lights can save 80 percent of power than traditional lights, have a fivefold life expectancy of the traditional ones, and have a lighting effect 3.5 times of the traditional ones. As the energy-saving lights have been promoted for many years, the masses all know the benefits of using these lights. But only 20 percent of Chinese households are using energy-saving lights, much lower than the average international rate. Why cannot energy-saving lights attract more households? As many surveys indicate, high price is the key reason preventing households from using them.

A common light bulb costs only 2 yuan, but a common energy-saving light at least costs 10 yuan. Big foreign brands like OSRAM and Phillips are more expensive, usually 20 yuan per piece. Compared with future power fees saved from using these lights, the money paid for buying these lights is immediate. In fact, many other resources-saving products such as refrigerators and toilets face the same plight, leaving consumers with the impression of "saving energies without saving money".

This year's promotion of energy-saving lights broke the price barriers, thanks to the subsidizes by the government. The government bought energy-saving lights from producers at 10 yuan per piece and then the central government subsidized 50 percent and the Beijing municipal government subsidized 40 percent, allowing the households to buy a light bulb with 90 percent discounts. This move taken by the government guaranteed the subsidies can be used in both encouraging producers to manufacture more energy-saving lights, and attracting more households to save energy.

Due to the large investment in research and development of energy-saving products and the high costs of raw materials and processes, it is natural for these lights to be expensive at the market. If we hope these enterprises to tap the market only by themselves, they would face failures in their start-up phase. The government should make more efforts to promote energy-saving. Subsidies are in fact one form of support from the government.

According to reports, in many advanced countries, the governments all adopt subsidies to encourage households to use energy-saving products. These measures boost the research and development of energy-saving products and the growth of new energies. More importantly, they help consumers develop the energy-saving awareness.

Our government is scheduled to subsidize 150 million highly efficient energy-saving light bulbs in China during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) period, raising the rate of use of energy-saving lights to 50 percent.

(China Daily 07/08/2008 page8)