| Energy Efficient Bulb Rollout to Start End February |
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| Wednesday, 13 February 2008 | |
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Government is set to start distributing energy efficient light bulbs from the end of the month, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told MPs on Wednesday. "The roll out of the candescent fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs will start by the end of February ... the public will be asked to exchange their energy inefficient bulbs for the energy efficient ones," she said in the National Assembly during debate on the state of the nation address. "The broader programme will start in the Gauteng province and then be rolled out to other provinces, to major metros and cities, covering all households and all energy users throughout the country." Poor households would be supplied with free energy efficient bulbs until 2015, and the SA National Defence Force had pledged to assist by escorting the teams replacing the bulbs. Sonjica said one major retailer had already phased out the old incandescent, inefficient light bulbs and she urged other outlets to follow suit. On solar water heating, she said 500 units had been installed in households to date. "The preliminary results indicate that solar water heating systems are energy efficient and excellent at energy saving. "The second phase of this programme will start in the new financial year, with a total of 90,000 solar water heating systems installed in the greater Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in Port Elizabeth. "The Eskom solar water heating programme is currently being implemented and the intention is to roll out about one million units in the next three years, and these units will be subsidised, and the subsidy will be scaled depending on the size of the unit that is being installed." Her department would provide a 20 percent subsidy per household for these units. Sapa |
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