New hope for old light source

There is new hope that million of poor Indians can gain access to an energy efficient light source powered by the sun, throw away billions of polluting kerosene lanterns -and earn the nation money while doing so. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jun 5, 2010, 24:49:59 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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There is new hope that million of poor Indians can gain access to an energy efficient light source powered by the sun, throw away billions of polluting kerosene lanterns -and earn the nation money while doing so.

This week, the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - aimed at slowing the warming of the planet - notified governments and companies on how to calculate carbon-emission saved by installing solar-powered Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) instead of ubiquitous, ancient lanterns.

This could give India an incentive to replace the lamps that are used in 30 per cent of households, meaning a saving of 50 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

A tonne of emission saved fetches up to US $420 (Rs 19,000) in the international carbon market.

"The new methodology will help in registration with UN for carbon trading," the CDM executive board said on its website.

A poor Indian household could save up to Rs 1,000 per annum on kerosene costs, half the cost of a solar-powered LED lighting system. Once charged, LED bulb works for up to 42 hours compared with eight to 10 conventional solar lanterns do.

"It is a welcome step," said Surabh Kumar, secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, working on a CDM project to use LEDs in street lighting.

LED lamps are about 90 per cent more energy efficient than traditional incandescent lamps and about 20 per cent more than Compact Fluorescent Lamps.

"If the government comes up with a national scheme such as the Bachat Bachao Yojana to replace traditional bulbs with CFLs, LED can become as popular in India," said a domestic LED manufacturer, who declined to be named.

Kumar, whose organisation implements the programme to replace traditional lighting with CFLs, however, felt that a similar scheme would not work for LEDs unless prices fell dramatically.

The average retail price of an LED bulb is around Rs 1,000.

"Carbon credits would reduce the cost by just 50-60 rupees. If the prices of LED come down to Rs 200 to Rs 300 per bulb the CDM scheme would become attractive," he said.

An official with the Association of Solar Lighting Systems expects LED prices to halve in a couple of years as consumption increases.

The UN estimates its new initiative can change the lives of a quarter of humanity, which still gets light by directly burning fuels, emitting nearly 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of 60 million cars.

"Off-grid electric LED lighting systems have emerged as promising alternatives, offering the potential for garnering significant greenhouse-gas savings, while improving the quality of life for users," the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said.

The CDM expects to seek the registration of LED projects to replace kerosene lamps by the end of this year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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