Tuesday, September 30, 2014: Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is planning to launch an LED scheme in the state of Kerala and they are discussing the project with Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). The LED scheme is modelled on the CFL campaign which has been quite successful.
While talking to The New Indian Express, EESL MD Saurabh Kumar said, several models have been considered for the scheme, but the main focus has always been on cheap LEDs, available for the public. Kumar added that they have already distributed 0.65 million LEDs across Pondicherry and a similar scheme is getting started in Andhra Pradesh too on 2 October. If launched in Kerala, the scheme will target two separate requirements, one is household lighting and another is streetlights.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s Bachat Lamp Yojana (BLY) scheme has been successfully implemented as it replaced bulbs with CFLs. But in the modern lighting industry, LEDs are dominating over CFLs as they are more energy efficient and have a longer life too. The only drawback of LEDs is they are bit too costly. LEDs are nothing new to Kerala as they are already available inside households and on streets. But for the price factor, incandescent bulbs can still be spotted in homes.
Two months ago, EESL conducted a survey in eight northern districts of Kerala which disclosed the fact that there are still 0.4 million bulbs in use, though a lot of awareness has been generated about their high energy consumption. As per Kumar, the ratio is like two bulbs for three CFLs. So EESL has reached the conclusion that high price has been playing the culprit, despite awareness about energy efficiency and power conservation. Hence, a subsidised LED scheme, is required the most at this point of time.
