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Free bulbs given to Ethiopians to stop power cuts
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by mudricky | December 23, 2008 at 02:15 pm
194 views | 12 Recommendations | 6 comments
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A power company has come up with an original way to save themselves power, by giving away free lightbulbs.
Most of Ethiopia's electricity comes from hydro-power but due to droughts and less rain this year the dams have not been filling up and lights have been going out due to power cuts.
The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation have four million low-energy light bulbs to give away but only in exchange for old-style incandescent bulbs.
They believe this will help with the demand for power and in turn cut customers bills.
Ethiopians are rushing to get their hands on free energy-saving light bulbs which are being handed out by a utility to stop power cuts.
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt says the light bulb swap was in full swing when she visited the utility's offices in the capital Addis Ababa.
But our correspondent says the snag is that when the new bulbs wear out, customers will find they cost about six times as much as the old ones to replace.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 16:54 on December 23rd, 2008
CFL light bulbs 15W make 75W light, great idea
at 19:06 on December 23rd, 2008
Great post. Very good idea. I think there should be more efforts of this nature.
at 20:52 on December 23rd, 2008
Those bulbs are supposed to be recycled as "hazardous waste". They contain mercury and in my opinion are a huge "greenwashing" marketing lie.
My friend's cat had kidney failure and is ill after she dropped one of those CFL light bulbs and broke it near the cat.
I wouldn't use those bulbs.
Instead, to conserve the same amount of energy, I just don't use the lights as much as I did before.
at 08:04 on December 26th, 2008
all too true. it would only cease to be greenwashing if manufacturers were somehow forced to take responsibility for the full production cycle of their products, from sourcing of raw materials through to recycling of expended materials. similiar applies to fluorescent tubes, and so much more.
at 10:34 on January 5th, 2009
oh,the power failure is highly affecting night students in different universities.so EEPCo should come up with the solution soon
at 22:54 on February 17th, 2009
I feel that it is wrong to push these dangerous bulbs onto such people. Instead, the Ethiopian Power Company should be charging them less money, and protecting them from mercury poisoning. How many of these poor Ethiopians know the health risks that these energy-saving bulbs pose to them?