By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –
WHEN Zesco asked its customers to switch from using incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), few people believed the power utility would make any difference.
Sara Banda was one of the few people that insisted that her house be lit by CFLs or power saving bulbs.
But at more than K11 per lamp, the power savers were almost K9 more expensive than incandescent bulbs.
However, Mrs Banda made the sacrifice and bought a few energy savers.
And when she bought electricity units for her house at the Zesco stand during the Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show, she received six free power savers from Zesco which had by then started distributing the CFLs for free.
Today, Mrs Banda who used to replace bulbs in her house almost every two weeks, has not spent as single Kwacha on a bulb since August.
And the eight power savers she received from Zesco are still unused.
Mrs Banda is not the only one who has saved energy through the judicious use of electricity.
During the commemoration of energy week in Lusaka in July this year, Zesco senior manager for demand-side management Readlay Makaliki announced that the power utility had saved over 85 Megawatts of electricity after it distributed 1.5 million energy saving lamps.
That is equivalent to the additional power Zesco was able to generate at Kafue Gorge Power Station after it uprated power generation units under the power rehabilitation programme (PRP).
The power rehabilitation programme was initiated as a stop-gap measure aimed at stemming a power deficit driven by rising demand for energy.
A paper prepared by Zesco director of transmission Christopher Mubemba entitled ‘Electricity Infrastructure Development for Economic Growth said until recently Zesco’s electricity generating capacity was 1.6GW (Gigawatts), 99 per cent of which is hydroelectricity.
The rest should be generated by diesel driven mini-power plants in areas not connected to the national electricity grid.
Zesco’s net electricity exports (mostly to Namibia, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo) is roughly five per cent of total generation.
Economic growth has led to a depletion of capacity, leaving peak demand for electricity exceeding generation capacity by about 300MW.
This means that demand outstrips available capacity during peak hours, leaving a shortfall of 250MW.
This is why Zesco resorts to electricity rationing or load shading to protect its installations from stress caused by excess demand during peak hours.
As Zesco makes long-term investments in new infrastructure to cope with growing power demand, a combination of sensitisation campaigns and use of energy saving lamps is having a positive impact on
electricity use.
Currently, Zesco is distributing free energy saving lamps to households in Lusaka’s Chalala residential area.
Zesco has been promoting and distributing the energy saving lamps around the country for free.
Customers have been requested to work with the company by exchanging six incandescent bulbs with six energy saving lamps.
Zesco is also sensitising people on the safe handling of energy saving lamps and the benefits they can add to the community through saving money by low electricity cost.
However, some sectors of the society feel Zesco has not done enough to sensitise the community on the real dangers of compact fluorescent lamps.
According to Mast Sanity, concerns have been raised on the safety and health effects of energy saving light bulbs, more specifically the CFLs which is the main type of energy-saving light bulb currently on the market.
Mast Sanity cites studies published by leading news media like the BBC, the Telegraph and the United Kingdom (UK) based Daily Mail that energy saving lamps have three principal health risks associated with them; namely electromagnetic fields, mercury and UV radiation.
As far as electromagnetic radiation is concerned, incandescent lamps emit very little electromagnetic radiation whereas energy saving lights emit radiofrequency radiation in the frequency range of 25 to 100 kilohertz (kHz).
Secondly, energy saving lamps are said to contain mercury, a substance which though to be extremely harmful to humans, animals and the ecosystem in general.
Mecury is said to be especially toxic to the brain, the nervous system, the liver and the kidneys. Fetuses, babies and infants are the most vulnerable, as mercury exposure negatively influences the
development of the brain (eg. lower IQ)and nervous system.
Mercury can also damage the cardiovascular, immune and reproductive systems and possibly lead to tremors, emotional instability, memory loss, insomnia, neuromuscular changes, headaches, cancer and
Alzheimer’s.
Thirdly, the UV-radiation associated with energy saving lamps is said to be harmful to human skin and the eyes.
It can cause skin cancer and damage the eyes by causing cataracts. But Zesco says CFLs are not just a stunt about the company adopting a green technology.
A statement on the company website says energy savers are the energy efficient alternative to conventional incandescent lamps.
They lights consume up to five times less energy and can last up to fifteen times longer than conventional incandescent lamps.
Energy savers are used for both private and professional applications, thereby greatly contributing to energy savings in both residential and industrial areas.
The lights give the same amount of light as standard incandescent bulbs, but use only 20 per cent of the electricity, so that a home can be lit using one fifth of the electricity consumed by incandescent bulbs.
Energy savers have become very efficient in homes as they will not only help save energy, but they will help people save money and protect the environment as well.
By customers using energy saving lamps in homes, it means using less electricity for the same amount of lighting produced by incandescent bulbs.
This means the country can reduce the use of resources such as coal, diesel, depletion of forests from where wood is sourced to make charcoal, and gas to produce energy for lighting and heating, as well as the amount of air pollutants released.
The CFLs are now largely being used in United States, Europe, Asia and most of Africa.
In fact, some countries have actually banned the use of ordinary incandescent bulbs as they have realized the benefits that are obtained from the energy that is saved.
Ordinary bulbs are inefficient as they only use ten per cent of the power for lighting and 90 per cent is wasted as heat.
Besides that, they only last three to five months, while compact fluorescent lamps last between three to five years.
CFLs have been used around the world for over 100 years; and in the SADC region, all countries are using them to mitigate power shortages.
For the period 2009 and 2011, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries managed to save 1500 MW of power just by using CFLs.
In terms of safety, Zesco says CFLs are also very safe to use in homes or workplaces.
The power utility says individuals need not worry over the mercury content of the lamps.
It says on its website that the mercury contained in a CFL (3 milligrammes) is about one quarter the mercury content of the ordinary fluorescent tube (12 milligrams), eight times less than that of the
mercury found in a watch battery (25 milligrams), at least a 33 times less than the mercury present in standard household thermometers (100milligramms) and 160 times less than the mercury in the
silver-colored fillings in teeth (500 milligrams).
‘Manufacturers of the CFLs are furthermore unanimous in their assertion that the lamps in the homes do not pose any risk, even if they break.
The average amount of mercury in a CFL is about the size of a ball point pen and occurs in vapor form in the lamp,’ the statement says.
It quotes energy experts who say lighting makes up approximately per cent of the average household’s electricity account.
And 80 per cent of that can be saved by replacing ordinary incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps.
However, mercury is an essential irreplaceable element in CFLs; it’s what allows the bulb to be such an efficient light source.
Mercury has always been in all fluorescent lamps, high intensity discharge lamps, neon signs, etc.
In fact CFLs have less mercury than ordinary fluorescent lamps. So the perception that CFLs are hazardous to health is not exactly true.
The statement further says CFLs can only pose an environmental hazard if millions are not disposed of properly because that quantity can cause mercury to find its way onto dumps or in landfill sites.
‘That is why for future generations to benefit, it is important for consumers to dispose of used CFLs cautiously, just like other electronic waste such as remote control unit batteries, fluorescent
tubes, and etcetera,’ it says.
It goes on to say despite the small amounts of mercury in CFLs, the lamps have significant environmental benefits because their use reduces the release of greenhouse gases.
And this is because CFLs use less energy than incandescent bulbs, hence less carbon released into the air by diesel and coal-fired power plants.
‘Nothing strange has been brought through the energy savers. They are merely an improvement of the ordinary fluorescent lamps which have been around since 1901. Only that, CFLs have been miniaturised, they save more energy and last longer, meaning, it will take years for a customer in a home to buy another bulb,’ the statement says.
Having seen the benefit of its customers’ goodwill, Zesco is now encouraging its clients to switch off geysers, heaters, kettles, lights in unoccupied rooms and other electrical appliances not in use.
Zesco believes efforts of all stakeholders, no matter how insignificant, are instrumental in stemming electricity load shading as the country works on the long term plan of addressing the power deficit through expansion of the electricity generation capacity.