According to the international energy agency, lighting represents 19% of the energy bill, which can be reduce up to 80% by converting from conventional lamps technology into the latest technologies in energy efficiency. About 3/4 of all lighting currently installed in the world is based on older, less energy efficient technology – developed before the 1970’s.

Besides its high power consumption, the older technology generates massive heat- around 80% of energy used by an incandescent lamps goes to generating heat and only 20% to the generation of light. According to analysis done by Philips, 1/3 of the saving in lighting consumption goes into savings in energy used for air-conditioning. As the global community focuses on environmental protection, the Arab World finds itself far behind on many elements of environmental protection and preservation.

According to the UNDP report on environmental sustainability in the Arab World 2002, most Arab League states fall short of the minimum standards of environmental protection policies and programs. The report further elaborates that unless the Arab World takes serious steps towards addressing environmental challenges such as water scarcity, population growth, greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, a serious environmental crisis will follow.

A failure to act is only one consequence; it has also been determined that awareness of environmental issues is lagging in the Arab region. In the last session of the Forum entitled, Voices from Nature: Philips stated that people can take simple steps such as changing a light bulb, to lead a more energy efficient life.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Consumer Electronics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.