CONTRARY to popular opinion, it does not take a lot of money and effort to lead a more environment-friendly lifestyle. Doing so could even cut monthly household expenses.
These are some of the messages that local electrical and lighting brand Akari is preaching among Filipinos, and it says that one of the easiest steps to take toward a “green” way of life is to shift from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps.
“What we want is to educate the Pinoy consumers of the benefits they can get from using energy-saving lamps (ESLs),” Akari chief executive officer Christopher Tiu told the Inquirer on the sidelines of a briefing on alternative energy-efficient lighting solutions.
He said switching to ESLs saves three things at once -- energy, money and the environment.
Tiu quoted an Asian Development Bank report which revealed that CFL use can reduce household lighting costs by as much as 80 percent and the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by two million tons.
The same report, Tiu added, said national electricity demand will fall by 2,000 megawatts, or the equivalent of electricity generated by six power plants, with the simple switch to CFLs.
Tiu said Akari has been actively advancing the use of ESLs in households and various industries—such as malls, condominiums, hotels, subdivisions, warehouses, etc.—for some time now. The company has also been helping the Department of Energy in its Palit-Ilaw Projects, which promote the shift to CFLs.
In the 2008 Philippine Energy Summit earlier this year, President Macapagal-Arroyo announced the country’s plan to phase out incandescent bulbs by January 2010. The preferred substitutes are CFLs that need only 20 to 25 percent of energy to match the light output of incandescent bulbs.
It was in 2002 when Carlson Trading, Akari’s exclusive distributor in the country, first introduced ESLs in the Philippines. At that time, however, the focus was more on high-end users.
This time around, given that the technology on energy-saving lighting alternatives had gotten cheaper, Akari is ready to take its advocacy to the grassroots level.
This is evidenced by the advertisements targeted toward the masses. Months ago, Akari started placing ads in jeeps and buses plying the metro. It has also started conducting seminars in selected schools around the country. Even the packaging of Akari products contains a leaflet printed with energy savings tips, he said.
According to Tiu, the construction boom in the country in recent years had brought with it a “healthy” growth for the lighting industry. Because the lighting bulbs are consumable products, he sees an even brighter future for the lighting industry especially with new products in the offing.
Tiu said that after CFL, the world would be shifting to the use of LED lighting, yet a more environment-friendly alternative that uses less energy than CFLs.
To maximize the benefits of the CFL technology, Akari has applied its energy-saving technique to heavy-duty lighting fixtures as replacement for “wattage-hungry” halogen and metal halide floodlights and high-pressure sodium road lighting.
An ordinary halogen and metal halide floodlight, Tiu said, has a wattage rating that goes from 150 to 250 watts as compared to Akari’s own patent-protected Energy-Saving Lamp that only reads as low as 30 watts.
To further demonstrate the monetary savings from using Akari, Yu said: “If a simple commercial establishment, which uses eight 150 watts halogen floodlights for its perimeter area would use Akari’s Energy-Saving Lamps instead, the switch would amount to P27,648 in annual savings.”
The same setup would also yield reduced green house gas equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions from 1,015 gallons of consumed gasoline, Yu said.
Akari’s extensive roster of heavy-duty performers makes the brand ideal not just in households but also in lighting streets, construction sites, and parking areas, among many others, he said.
Akari products, all imported from China, come in warm white and day light colors.
The company—which also produces doorbells, light switches, flashlights, and batteries—promised to launch more innovative and energy-saving products in the near future. Before the year ends, they are to release a lighting fixture with a built-in motion sensor and camera, best for perimeters that need tight security.
Tiu said that while Akari is not yet the market leader, management was confident that the brand would sell well because of their products’ quality.
“One happy customer will tell 10 people about the product,” he said. “One angry customer, on the other hand, will tell 1,000 people.”
Besides, Akari products are 25 to 30 percent cheaper than their competitors, he said.
At the end of the day, Tiu said they are more concerned with building a niche market—those of people who care for the environment enough to switch to energy-efficient lighting systems.
He said: “I don’t want Akari to be known as the biggest brand. Instead, I want people to remember Akari as the company that took care of the environment by promoting energy-saving to the Filipinos.
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