Photo courtesy of BizRate website

The Great British Light Switch was Saturday 19th January 2008. A free twin-pack of energy-saving lights were given by Southern Electric to over two million people in just 24 hours.

These lights (lamps) potentially will save Britons up to GBP20.25million per year on energy bills and cut total CO2 emissions by over 350,000 metric tons. Up to GBP600 million (as of today, USD $1166.8 million) over the bulbs’ lifetime could be saved by changing all the lights in the average home.

“The Great British Light Switch campaign is a moment in time when people can act together and make a real difference to cutting carbon emissions,” commented Nic Frances, CEO, Cool nrg.

“We hope this giveaway encourages as many people as possible to act now and install energy-saving lights; but also to think about next steps they could take to save energy.”

Energy-saving lights use one fifth of the electricity of an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb to produce the same amount of light.

Of the millions of lights in our homes it was estimated that, at the beginning of 2007, only 10 percent of those that could be switched to energy-saving lights have been.

According to the Energy Saving Trust, changing all the lights in people’s homes would cut Britain’s total CO2 emissions by 3.86million metric tons per year and save Britons GBP1.1billion (as of today, USD $2.14 billion) on their energy bills. The electrical saving is equivalent to the output of almost four 700MW power stations.

In Addition, two free energy saving light bulbs were available with every copy of The Sun on Saturday 19th January, while stocks lasted.

About Cool nrg:

Cool nrg’s purpose is to take action on global warming in a way that is swift and immediate. Cool nrg was established to significantly cut worldwide CO2 pollution in the short-term by installing energy-saving light bulbs in 50% of global residential lighting by 2010, resulting in a saving of over 200 Million metric tons CO2 per year.

From their website: “This will do more to change behavior than almost anything else in the UK. It’s not just the savings from the light bulbs but the knock on effect on people’s awareness and behavior, Congratulations!”
Phil Woolas MP
Minister for Climate Change, UK

About Southern Electric:

Southern Electric is part of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), one of the largest energy companies in the UK. SSE supplies more than 8 million customers through its retail brands: Southern Electric, SWALEC, Scottish Hydro Electric and Atlantic. It transmits and distributes electricity to over 3.6 million customers in central southern England and the north of Scotland. SSE is the UK’s largest non-nuclear electricity generator with over 10,000 megawatts of capacity from the most diverse portfolio of power stations. It is also the UK’s leading generator of electricity from renewable resources.

Source: Southern Electric and Scottish Hydro Electric

Webpages and website: http://www.scottish-southern.co.uk/SSEInternet/
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/special_events/green_week/article
701271.ece
http://www.coolnrg.com/