Thank you for joining us today as we provide an update on the LED Light Bulb Initiative.
Since the beginning of May, and with the generous assistance and support from local charities and organisations such as Age Concern, the Eliza DoLittle Society, the Family Centre, Meals on Wheels, the Bermuda Housing Corporation and the Transformational Living Centre, over five thousand LEDs have been distributed to those among us who are most vulnerable and in need. We are now in the second phase of this initiative, and ready to open it up to the rest of Bermuda.
Next week, you should be receiving a flyer that looks like this (hold up the flyer) in your mailbox.
This is your ticket to savings and all you need to do is fill it out with your name and address and take it to your nearest post office. If you work in the city, you can come to the Hamilton Post Office to collect your LEDs.
To be clear, the limit is one package (hold up the package) per household. You must have your flyer with you and filled out, to receive your LEDs.
These LEDs are 60-Watt equivalents, so you can use these to replace any fixture that would otherwise use an incandescent light bulb. They are a ‘natural daylight’ colour, which is a good medium colour rendition, so they look as much like what you’re used to as possible.
For those who might think this is a gestural initiative, I would like to assure you that it is not. To quantify those savings, one of these LED bulbs will cost about
$100 at an average all-in rate of forty-two cents per kilowatt-hour to operate before it needs to be replaced, which is after about 25,000 hours of use.
By contrast, incandescent bulbs only have a lifespan of about 1000 hours. Looking at how much an incandescent bulb would cost to operate for the same number of hours, LEDs cost about $530 less to operate- and an incandescent bulb would need replacement many times during that period, given their shorter lifespan.
These figures account for just for one bulb, this initiative will allow households to save, over time, about a thousand dollars for each four-pack of bulbs. It is conservatively projected that this initiative will save a cumulative thirty seven MILLION dollars, total, or more in some cases.
LED’s also save money in less direct ways, for example they give off only a fraction of the waste heat that halogen and incandescent lights emit. As a result, your space is actually cooler than it would be if you used those older, outmoded technologies. If your space is cooler, your air conditioner does not have to work as hard, saving you energy again.
You may be thinking that all of this sounds familiar if so, that is because the Department of Energy promoted a similar initiative in 2018 to mid-2019, in which retailers of LEDs assisted us in distributing twelve thousand, five hundred LED bulbs throughout the community.
We are hoping that this initiative not only puts money back into the pockets of
Bermuda’s residents, but also accomplishes a broader goal of providing inspiration and incentive to residents to explore other energy savings initiatives that are low cost but high reward.
As a country and as a people, each and every one of us should be looking at more ways we can save energy and keep our hard-earned cash on island and circulating in the local economy.
Energy efficiency is not defined by deprivation and abstaining from using electricity, but rather using electricity more wisely and using the available technologies.
In closing remember, saving energy can be as easy as screwing in a light bulb. Please be on the look-out as these flyers are coming to your mailbox soon and they are important. The limit is one per household and you must present your completed flyer to the post office of your choice to receive your free four-pack of energy- saving LED’s.
Thank you.