Sangguniang Kabataan leaders told: Help protect environment

CEBU - Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri urges Sangguniang Kabataan leaders from all over the country to get involved in spearheading activities designed to protect the environment and lead the campaign limiting or banning the use of incandescent bulbs.

Speaking during the opening of the Sangguniang Kabataan National Congress at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City, Zubiri stressed that the campaign needs the support from the youths.

According to him, SK chairmen in every cities and municipalities should pass a resolution in support to his bill proposing the nationwide phase out of incandescent bulbs by 2010. 

The senator said the youths should be involved in finding solutions to the present problems that beset the environment. “Kamong mga kabataan mao’y angayan nga mangulo sa kampanya pagpanalipod sa atong kalikupan,” said Zubiri.

In response, SK chairpersons who attended the forum assured their support to Zubiri’s bill.

SK Federation national president Jane Censorias Cajes said they believe in the senator, adding the youths will be among those who will benefit from the success of the campaign.   In his proposed Senate Bill No. 2065, Zubiri said that the discarding of incandescent would reduce the avoided annual greenhouse gas emissions of about two million tons. This is equivalent to taking 250,000 cars off the road, or planting two million trees a year, he added.

“The total switch to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) would mean that the country can cut its electricity demand by 2,000 megawatts (MW) equivalent to electricity generated by six power plants,” he said. On a voluntary basis, he said greater savings will be realized once government offices, schools, hospitals and other public buildings and infrastructure totally switch to CFLs.

Zubiri explained that whenever government wants the private sector to do something, there is need for a law to compel them and lay the ground work for easier compliance both among consumers and manufacturers of incandescent lamps. With the phase-out, commercial and industrial establishments will bring greater benefits for themselves, the environment and government’s finances with reduced demand for fossil fuels such as imported oil and crude, he added.

Incandescent bulbs are reportedly wasteful because 80 percent of the energy is lost in the form of heat, with only 20 percent electricity used to produce light.

Likewise, experts computed that the electricity needed to power one million incandescent bulbs is equal to the power generated by a 50 megawatt power plant built at the cost of $50 million, Zubiri said.

Exemptions on the phase-out of incandescent bulbs provided for in SB 2065 cover only a few, such as for medical and scientific purposes. 

Of 16.48 million families in the country, the low income classes or around 8.6 million families earning the equivalent of the minimum wage and below would benefit the most since electricity for lighting accounts for 80 percent of their electricity bills, Zubiri said.

With 97 percent electrification, he said over 10.4 million households in urban and rural areas in the country are using electricity for lighting. Regardless of their annual family income, these households would cut 80 percent of their electric bills by approximately four-fifths, or enjoy reduced electricity expenditures by around 64 percent. 

“The savings is the result of advances in technology,” Zubiri said.

He explained that a 15-watt CFL gives the same lumens or has the same lighting capacity as a 60-watt incandescent bulb. “Most important is that a CFL uses 80 percent less electricity used by a 60-watt incandescent light bulb.” — Jose P. Sollano/WAB  (THE FREEMAN)