LEDs to replace CFLs, bulbs in govt offices

PMO advises all department to shift to more energy-efficient sources for lighting requirements

The next time you see LED lamps glowing in the corridors and rooms of central government ministries and departments in Lutyens’ Delhi, don’t be surprised.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is learnt to have suggested in a recent communiqué that all government departments and their subordinate offices procure only LED lights and bulbs for lighting, and not CFLs or tube lights.

The rationale: Though costlier, LEDs consume less electricity and can prove more effective in the long run.

The communiqué, sources said, also cited studies showing LEDs were 25 per more efficient than CFLs, 23 per cent more efficient that tube lights and 80 per cent more efficient than incandescent lamps.

“Though the price of LEDs is higher than other light sources, their lifetime cost is much lower,” officials said.

LEDs’ high energy efficiency can be gauged from the fact that a nine-watt LED bulb gives the same amount of light output as a 12-watt CFL or a 60-watt normal bulb, the communiqué is said to have argued.

A few months ago, the government had embarked on a major cleanliness drive at all central government offices and buildings and disposed of tonnes of unused computer peripherals, cupboards and chairs.