Greenpeace has urged the Hong Kong government to legislate for a phase-out of incandescent light bulbs as a kick-off to curb global warming.

A survey by Greenpeace shows that 42% of the interviewees continue to use incandescent light bulbs at home, amounting to 4.5 bulbs per household. If all are switched to compact fluorescent light bulbs, 480 thousand tons of CO2 emissions can be reduced each year. This amounts to emissions generated from 1,920 roundtrip flights between Hong Kong and Tokyo, and can save energy costs up to HK$600 million.

Greenpeace commissioned the Public Governance Programme of Lingnan University to conduct a survey in April. 671 citizens aged 18 or above were randomly interviewed.

"There are readily available substitutes of incandescent light bulbs for usual electric lighting", said Frances Yeung, Greenpeace campaigner. "To phase them out is effortless and the government should take this as the first step against global warming without excuse."

Australia and Canada just announced a ban on incandescent light bulbs which will be enforced in a couple of years for the sake of energy saving and reduction of greenhouse gases. California and the European Union are also studying the possibility of introducing similar policies.

Burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal releases carbon dioxide, a global warming-causing gas, into the atmosphere. Incandescent light bulbs are extremely energy inefficient as approximately 95% of the energy each light bulb uses is wasted on heating up and only 5% generates visible light. Moreover, the power consumed by an incandescent light bulb and its CO2 emissions is 5 times more than a fluorescent light bulb.

Greenpeace has been appealing to the SAR Administration for an effective policy to tackle global warming, such as massive development of renewable energy, establishing emission standards for greenhouse gases and regulating power plants on its CO2 emissions. However, the government's indifference has shot up greenhouse gas emission in Hong Kong in 2005 by 10% when comparing to that in 1990.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that extreme weather caused by global warming can lead to billions of people suffering from water shortages, famine, floods and epidemic diseases within the century. The report shows that combating climate change costs only 0.12% of annual global GDP and it may also bring about new economic opportunities.

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