World Bank Distributes CFL Lightbulbs in Ethiopia 2 September
2010: The World Bank's International Development Association
(IDA) and the Ethiopian Government designed a comprehensive
demand-side programme to relieve pressure from Ethiopia's
electricity supply grid, including the free distribution of five
million compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to consumers in
exchange for their incandescent bulbs. The distribution
coincided with a government-run awareness campaign called “Save
Energy,” which highlighted the benefits of saving energy at home
and work. Within three months of launching the initiative, with
half the bulbs distributed, the Ethiopian Electric Power
Corporation succeeded in reducing peak demand by 80%. Generating
this energy using emergency diesel generators would have cost
the country an estimated US$100 million, while cost of the CFL
distribution amounted to just US$4 million. [World Bank Press
Release]