Householders and businesses are being encouraged to examine their energy consumption and shift to more efficient bulbs.
This advice came from acting Project Director in the Project Monitoring and Coordination Team, Ministry of Energy and Business, Delano Scantlebury, as he participated in the Smart Energy Podcast Series, Episode Four, with host Tracy Fowler.
The discussion was centred on the Control of Inefficient Lighting Act, and included Chief Technical Officer at the Barbados National Standards Institution, Fabian Scott.
Emphasising the benefits, Scantlebury told his audience: “Energy efficient lighting technologies are among the most viable energy efficiency interventions available, and have the shortest payback periods. They are also relatively low cost, and easy to implement. Modern lighting technology enables the consumption of less energy without compromising brightness or quality.
“Energy efficient lighting could represent about a third of potential savings of electricity and contribute to increasing Barbados’ energy security, as we require less fossil fuels to attain the same level or intensity of lighting. Therefore, we would like to encourage householders and businesses to look at their energy consumption and look at shifting to more efficient bulbs in the future.”
Scantlebury said switching to efficient light bulbs could help individuals save money on their electricity bills. He noted that replacing incandescent bulbs with the more energy efficient LEDs, that give off the same amount of light, could mean savings in terms of consumers’ monthly bill and the cost of the LED bulbs.
The Control of Inefficient Lighting Act was passed in Barbados in July 2021, and provides for the phased elimination of the importation, sale and manufacture of inefficient electrical lamps.
The first of five phases commenced on January 1, 2022, with a prohibition on the import of any electrical lamp, which emits less than 15 lumens per watt. Lumens are a measure of the total light output from a light source, and the higher the lumen rating the “brighter” the lamp will appear.
The second phase was on July 1, 2022. It addressed the prohibition on the manufacture, sale, distribution and retail of any electrical lamp which emits less than 15 lumens per watt, and a ban on the importation of any electrical lamp which emits less than 25 lumens per watt.
The other phases are as follows:
- January 1, 2023 – Prohibition on the manufacture, sale, distribution and retail of any electrical lamp which emits less than 25 lumens per watt, and a ban on the importation of any electrical lamp which emits less than 40 lumens per watt.
- July 1, 2023 – Prohibition on the manufacture, sale, distribution and retail of any electrical lamp which emits less than 40 lumens per watt and a ban on the importation of any electrical lamp which emits less than 55 lumens.
- January 1, 2024 – Prohibition on the manufacture, sale, distribution and retail of any electrical lamp which emits less than 55 lumens per watt.
Scantlebury said importers, manufacturers and distributors/retailers have to comply with the provisions of the Act. “This will translate into a market that will only be supplying efficient electrical lamps, and therefore the consumer will only be able to purchase efficient electrical bulbs,” he explained.
He added that the phase-out process was an integral element of the Barbados National Energy Policy, as the country seeks to be a fossil fuel free and carbon neutral state by 2030. For more information on the Act, the public may go to the Ministry of Energy’s website www.smartenergybarbados.com. (BGIS)
