Good for the country too
Changing light bulbs means less pressure for costly power stations, more energy for growth and jobs, and reduced CO2.
Make a big difference for NZ
If every household changed just a few of their light bulbs to energy savers – it would make a huge difference for our country.
Reducing the national home lighting bill even by a third – well within reach – would save as much energy as Tauranga and Mt Maunganui use, combined. That’s as much as the Whakamaru Hydro Station generates, or the Tararua Wind Farm.
There’d be less pressure to build the expensive power stations we all end up paying for in our electricity bills. There’d be more energy for growth, less CO2-producing fossil fuel burned to generate electricity, and less mercury in the environment.
Going for 66% savings
Join the rest of New Zealand in reducing the home lighting load by 66% (a feat that's definitely achievable), and together we could save over 1000 GWh (Gigawatt hours) of power annually. That's the equivalent of all the power used by homes in the entire Nelson/Marlborough region every single year.
| Reducing lighting bills by | Would save this much energy | Which is how much these cities use annually | Or the annual output from these power stations |
|
33% Readily achievable |
500 GWh | Tauranga and Mt Maunganui; or Rotorua | Whakamaru Hydro station or the Tararua Wind Farm |
|
45% Conservative figure |
683 GWh | Tauranga, Mt Maunganui and Queenstown combined. Or Rotorua and Masterton combined | Whakamaru and Waipa Hydro stations combined; or the Tararua Wind Farm and Cobb River power station combined |
|
66% Definitely achievable |
1,002 GWh | Hamilton/Cambridge or the Nelson/ Marlborough region | Southdown, Arapuni or Wairakei |
Fewer costly power stations
As we work to meet the energy demands of a growing country, the pressure is on our power supplies. Building new power stations is one solution – but it’s expensive. For example, Project West Wind, Meridian Energy's wind farm constructed west of Wellington, cost over $440 million to complete.
Using electricity more efficiently costs a lot less.
Home lighting has an important strategic role here. That’s because we switch lights on most in the morning and early evenings, when other demands for electricity are already peaking. If we could reduce the lighting load – which we can so easily do – it would do a lot to postpone the need for costly new power projects.
Remember, electricity users are the ones who eventually pay for these projects, through our electricity tariffs
Less CO2-producing fossil fuel burned
A sizeable portion of New Zealand’s electricity – around 20% - still comes from burning fossil fuels like gas, coal or oil that release climate-changing CO2 into the atmosphere.
Reducing the electricity we need to generate for lighting will help reduce these emissions.
Simply replacing one standard incandescent bulb with one equivalent CFL can, over the life of the bulb, keep half a tonne of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Less mercury in the environment
CFLs, one of the most energy efficient bulbs available, do contain a small amount of mercury, which is toxic to human health and the environment.
The amount in an individual bulb isn’t enough to be a hazard to users.
And, in the big picture, switching to energy efficient bulbs will reduce the amount of mercury we’re all exposed to.
That’s because generating electricity using geothermal energy or fossil fuels - both quite important to New Zealand – releases mercury. Energy efficient bulbs reduce energy consumption, which in turn reduces this source of mercury in the environment.
Find out why you should change and how to choose the right light.