Lighting Up The Future
Innovative lighting solutions could potentially save up to 40 per cent of energy, sparing some 106 billion euros in energy costs annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 555 million tonnes, and cutting back on 1.5 billion barrels of oil, says Royal Philips Electronics, a Dutch concern that, incidentally, sells them.
“When talking about lighting, a lot of people don’t know this, but 20 per cent of the electricity worldwide is used in lighting,” said Henk de Bruin, a Senior Vice President Philips. Lighting, then, becomes one of the most efficient ways to cut carbon dioxide to the environment, he added.
Already the leading electronics company in Europe, Philips is set to power into the future with its environmentally sustainable innovations and aims to double its investment in the area to one billion euros by 2012.
Curiously, even traditional detractors, NGOs rallying against light pollution around the world, seem to be giving these efforts the thumbs up.
“We support the actions of these eco-friendly companies that are doing their part for the environment,” said Andrej Mohar, from Dark-Sky Slovenia. The group blames unshielded and over-powered lighting for the destruction of natural heritage and biodiversity, as well as the increase of greenhouse gas emissions.
And while Mohar feels that Philips’s lighting installations on display were “still too bright” for his liking, he points out the need for NGOs, governments, and the commercial sectors to come together to work toward more eco-friendly solutions.
Events like the IUCN World Conservation Congress, he says, provides an ideal platform for representatives from the various organisations to exchange their views in an otherwise power-imbalanced relationship where lobbyists are often left in the dark.
Meanwhile, Philips is targeting developing and emerging markets around the world, sectors the company has earmarked as markets for growth. Among its green products for the third world: a dynamo multi-LED torch, powered by kinetic energy; and a solar rechargeable lantern, aimed at brightening the lives of approximately 1.6 million people worldwide without access to electricity and burn up some 77 billion litres of kerosene for lighting each year.
The company has sold more than 5.3 billion euros worth of eco-friendly products last year, and targets a 50 per cent increase in green product sales by 2012.
“We see sustainability as a great business opportunity and a strategic driver in the company,” said de Bruin. “With a heritage in innovation for more than 100 years, it’s in our DNA to continue to invent solutions in new business opportunities.
