In step with chief minister Mayawati?s promise, made immediately after coming to power in Uttar Pradesh, the state government on Monday made it mandatory for all government institutes and organisations to use compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and put a complete ban on the purchase of bulbs and incandescent lamps.
By doing so, the government, which already has a power deficit of around 2000 mw and is under immense pressure to meet the power requirements of the state, has taken a step in the direction on saving energy.
?The decision will be applicable to all government or government-aided boards, institutes and organisations. The purchase of bulbs has also been banned in these organisations and it has been directed to replace the existing ones, whenever needed, with CFL,? principal secretary, energy VN Garg said.
He also directed the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation to encourage the public to use CFL, while providing new power connections. Speaking to FE, the principal secretary said that if the entire state takes to CFL, it will save a whopping 10% of its electricity, ?which is our actual deficit,? he said.
Going by the present calculations, if all government buildings in the state start using CFL, around 100 mw of energy would be saved daily, which would translate into Rs 1 crore being saved every day. I f CFLs are made mandatory all over the state, around 800 mw of power will be saved, which would mean that around 20 million mega units of electricity is conserved every month, thereby ensuring a daily saving of Rs 8 crore.
By ensuring the use of CFL bulbs, the state government is not only ensuring conservation of electricity as per the Energy Conservation Act 2001, but also fulfilling the United Nations agenda of bringing down green house gases emissions.
The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation is not only the state power utility but also the state-designated agency to enforce energy conservation among fifteen categories of consumers.