Continuing to sensitize the nation about the energy saving bulbs, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatsego Kedikilwe, last week appealed to Batswana to switch from incandescent bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) in order to reduce their energy bills.
The Minister said this at an event hosted by Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) at SOS Children’s Village in Tlokweng last Saturday, where the BPC replaced all the SOS Village’s incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs.
“If you want something to succeed, teach the children first because they are very good at spreading the word. The other reason why we are here is to show them and teach them about the CFLs and energy saving measures,” he stated.
While still waiting for Mmamabula and Morupule projects to be finished, the Minister said there is indeed a need for behaviour change for Batswana to save electricity.
“For us to reduce our electricity bills, we need to adopt energy saving measures both at our homes and at the workplace. We must start using these energy saving bulbs, and always make sure that our geysers are switched off,” he stated.
According to the Minister, CFLs are more durable and consume much less than the incandescent bulbs. Though they radiate a different light spectrum from that of incandescent lamps, i.e. being brighter than the incandescent bulbs, he explained that they do not emit heat.
The Minister urged Batswana to benchmark with countries like Cuba, which managed to reduce their power use. “The energy saving measures should not only be carried out because of this crisis that we are in today, but should continue even tomorrow when we have Mmamabula and Morupule,” he emphasized. Though Botswana is in this turbulence, the Minister pointed out that there will be a silver lining at the end.
These Compact Fluorescent bulbs have a low power consumption of 2W or 4W. This is less than one third of a normal CFL and less than one tenth of an ordinary light globe. In addition, it has an extreme long life of over 25 000 hours and is almost indestructible, said Solar International Botswana. In the United States, it was discovered that a CFL can save over 30 USD in electricity costs over the lamp’s lifetime compared to an incandescent lamp and save 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases.
The leader of the opposition, Olebile Gaborone, who is also the MP for South East North was present at the occasion. “Power shortage is a very critical issue which has resulted in many organizations losing lots of revenue,” he started.
For Batswana to succeed in energy saving, he said they must work hand in hand with the BCP. To achieve savings that they can really see on their utility bills, he said they need to embark on this program to change as many of their normal bulbs as quickly as possible. He said this is a very critical issue which resulted in many organizations being affected.
“As Batswana, we should have a vision and one mission for us to go forward,” he stated.
Bikie Morebodi, the SOS Village Director, explained that they have been working with BPC for many years and their journey with them has been successful. “From here BCP will do the same with the SOS Village in Francistown and Serowe, and we are unquestionably very happy to be associated with this Corporation,” he said.
