Britain switches on to energy saving light bulbs

Britain's biggest retailer has reported record sales of energy saving light bulbs at the start of 2009, as cash-strapped consumers look for new ways to reduce household bills.

In the month of January, Tesco sold 4.5m energy saving bulbs, their biggest ever monthly total and more than double the number they sold in the entire year of 2006.

A single energy saving light bulb can save up to £6 a year in energy costs and changing all the bulbs in the average home can deliver a saving of around £50. The 4.5m bulbs sold in January will save a total of £11m from household energy bills.

Energy saving bulbs also have significant environmental benefits. As part of their commitment to climate change campaign Together, Tesco have been heavily discounting energy saving bulbs since 2007, and January's offers included the opportunity to buy 5 bulbs for only 40p.

The bulbs sold in January alone will help reduce the UK's CO2 emissions by almost 50,000 tonnes a year, the equivalent to taking 20,000 cars off the road.

Stephen Heal, Tesco's Climate Change Director said: "Our customers are realising that switching to more efficient bulbs is a really affordable and effective way of saving money and that, added together, these small actions can make a big difference in the fight against climate change."

Tesco's record sales come despite speculation that the British public might be uneasy about the withdrawal of conventional incandescent bulbs.

January saw the latest stage of a government-led programme which has seen retailers begin to phase out the most inefficient bulbs, starting with 150watt versions last year and, in 2009, 100watt bulbs.

Recently Tesco have added a carbon label to their light bulbs making it easy for customers to see the benefits of switching.

David Hall, Campaign Director of Together, said: "Energy saving light bulbs are good news for cash-strapped consumers and for the planet. It's win win solutions like these that we need to promote if we are going to keep fighting climate change through the credit crunch."

To date, the Together campaign has helped UK consumers save over 900,000 tonnes of CO2 and over £163 million in reduced energy bills via initiatives including the world's first light-bulb amnesty.

For lots of easy ways to fight climate change and save money visit www.together.com.

CFL Calculations

· Saving households the equivalent of £11 million every year Assumes an annual saving of £2.40 per bulb derived from the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) savings and an average electricity price of 13.95p/kWh. The savings assume exchanging a 60W traditional light bulb with an energy saving light bulb of equivalent brightness (15W) and 1,100 hours per year. (Energy Saving Trust)

· Almost 50,000 tonnes of CO2. Assumes an annual saving of 11kg per light bulb derived from the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) savings. The savings assume exchanging a 60W traditional light bulb with an energy saving light bulb of equivalent brightness (15W) and 1,100 hours per year. (Energy Saving Trust)

· 20,000 cars off the road. Assumes the average car on the road emits 2.57 tonnes CO2 per year (Based on Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and Department for Transport data)

Tesco and light bulbs

· Tesco's 5 CFL's for 40p promotion ran in all stores from 12th to 27th January. The promotion was supported by EDF.

· Alongside promotions, Tesco has reduced the price of its Value energy-efficient light bulbs to just 35p. It has also simplified its pricing so that all other stick bulbs are £1 and all spiral bulbs are £2.

· Tesco was named Environmental Retailer of the Year at this year's Retail Industry Awards. In July, it was awarded the Barclays Environmental Leadership Award at the Business in the Community Awards for Excellence 2008.

· Tesco was voted top of the 2008 "Consumers, Brands and Climate Change" survey for the second year running. The research, commissioned by The Climate Group and conducted by Lippincott explores trends in consumer attitudes and buying behaviours to brands on climate change.

About Together

Launched in 2007 by former Prime Minister Tony Blair and endorsed by Gordon Brown 'Together' (www.together.com), the UK's biggest climate campaign, provides practical steps to make it easier and cheaper for people to tackle climate change in their everyday lives. The campaign is delivered by a unique collaboration between business, government and civil society and facilitated by independent NGO The Climate Group. To date, Together has inspired over 30 million individual climate change actions, saving UK consumers 900,000 tonnes of CO2 and over £160m from household bills. Partners include: B&Q, Barclaycard, British Gas, The Church of England, Coca-Cola, Marks & Spencer, More Th>n, MySpace, National Express, The National Trust, O2, Sky, Tesco and WWF.

Source: The Climate Group