An act as simple as replacing a light bulb could lead to billions of dollars in electricity savings, a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme shows.

It studied the advantage of switching from obsolete incandescent lamp technology to compact fluorescent lamps or C.F.L.’s.

Incandescent light bulbs generate 95 percent heat and a mere five percent light. By contrast, C.F.L.’s provide the same amount of light by using 75 percent less energy. Additionally, these last up to 10 times longer than their older counterparts.

According to the assessment, switching to energy-efficient light bulbs can save Indonesia, for example, $1 billion in electric costs and offset eight million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually – like stopping the operation of two million cars each year.

The organization launched the study with companies Osram G.m.b.H. and Royal Philips Electronics Inc., which looked into the environmental and economic benefits of efficient lighting in 100 countries.

Brazil is found to have even more potential to save, with a reduction of $2 billion from its yearly electric costs. It will also offset 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equal to the emission of 1 million cars.

Electric consumers in Mexico can save $900 million and prevent the release of 5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by replacing incandescent lamps in the country. By doing the same, South Africa can save $280 million and offset emissions equal to 625,000 cars yearly.

Asian countries like Cambodia can save 30 percent of its electric consumption while Nigeria could achieve 15 percent of power reduction.

"Among the low-hanging fruit in the climate change challenge, a switch to far more efficient lighting must rank as among the lowest,” said Achim Steiner, undersecretary general of the United Nations and executive director of UNEP.

But the actual economic benefits could sky even higher, said Mr. Steiner. For example, Indonesia would avoid the need to build three-and-a-half coal-fired power stations by switching to efficient lighting, saving an additional $2.5 billion in build-out costs.

“There are multiple cost effective opportunities for rapidly bridging the near term 'gigatone gaps' from sharp increases in renewable energy to cuts in non-CO2 pollutants such as methane and black carbon readily available,” said Mr. Steiner

“Efficient lighting systems is one path that is literally available at the flip of a policy switch," he said.

 ecoseed.org