It's lights out for major retailer

As anyone who has ever grabbed a light bulb after it has been on for a while can tell you – incandescent light bulbs get hot. Very hot. In fact, the incandescent bulb is an energy guzzler. Just 5% of the electricity it uses goes to light the bulb; the other 95% is used to generate heat.

So, they're very inefficient converters of electrical energy into light.

As part of its drive to help reduce energy needs, and to help protect the environment, Clicks on Tuesday announced their decision to halt the sale of inefficient incandescent light bulbs. In announcing their decision, the chain ceremonially crushed its remaining stock of 56 320 incandescent bulbs.

The National Energy Efficiency Agency (NEEA), distributor Amplux, and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) manufacturer Philips Lighting, were also involved in the retail chain's decision to crush the bulbs, which was carried out safely at a factory and then the remains were properly disposed of.

Clicks is the first retailer to take such an initiative, and in future will stock only the more efficient CFLs.

"In a commitment to the sustainable development of South Africa, the company is encouraging its customers to do the right thing by making environmentally conscious purchase decisions. And essentially, the savings in electricity costs using CFLs could be considered cash back in the customers' pockets," added Clicks merchandise executive Craig Ludwig.

Philips Lighting has also called for joint action between the lighting industry, energy suppliers, and governments to replace the incandescent bulb with energy saving alternatives, and commended the retailer's initiative.

Philips Lighting marketing manager Chris Liebenberg said his company is committed to energy efficiency in southern Africa, and in line with that commitment, is proposing to build a facility, initially to assemble CFLs, but later manufacture them. The new facility is expected to come on line by the middle of next year, and lead to a reduction in the cost of CFLs by about 15%. The company has called for all role players – government, energy suppliers and manufacturers – to join forces in a drive to replace incandescent bulbs with energy-saving alternatives.

According to the International Energy Agency, 19% of the world's electricity is used in lighting, but because 75% of the world's lights are inefficient in converting electrical energy into light, substituting incandescent bulbs with CFLs could see a 40% reduction in energy consumption.

A number of countries are pushing for the elimination of incandescent light sources; Australia, for example, has committed to ban the use of incandescent bulbs by 2012.