The United Arab Emirates (UAE) latest sustainability campaign is offering discounts of up to 25% to selected brand LED bulbs to urge local residents to switch to more energy efficient and environmental friendly lights, reported Gulf News.
The Middle East nation kicked off its latest lighting initiative ‘I LED The Way’ earlier this week, which is aimed to slashing the country’s energy consumption by 2021 on a micro-level, according to founder of the incentive Niall Watson.
The country has partnered with leading lighting companies Philips and Osram to offer local residents a 25% discount on LED lights from selected Dubai retailers from May 22 to June 5, 2016. Each light bulb will cost around AED 25 (US $6.81) and AED 60 each, reducing costs per bulb by about AED 6.25 and AED 15 respectively per bulb.
Selected retailers in Dubai include IKEA, Carrefour, Ace Hardware, Spinneys, Union Co-op, Lulu Hypermarket, and Geant.
According to UAE officials, replacing traditional lights in a medium-sized villa can help residents cut AED 2,315 in their annual bills, and on a nationwide scale help the country save AED 459 million in utility bills.
Up to 57% of UAE’s ecological footprint is from household energy consumption, in which lighting takes up 6%, according to UAE’s Lighting Regulation Report published in December 2014 by the Ecological Footprint Initiative.
Full implementation of the existing regulation could reduce the nation’s carbon emissions by 940,000 tonnes, equivalent to removing 165,000 cars off the road per year, said Ida Tillisch, director-general of the Emirates Wildlife Society-WWF, which supports the initiative.
UAE implemented regulations to phase out the import and sale of inefficient lights as of July 2014.
Tillisch analyzed phase out of incandescent bulbs regulations has banned UAE consumers from purchasing inefficient light bulbs, and would completely phase out incandescent bulbs by 2020.