Two-For-One Offer On Energy Efficient Lightbulbs

Two energy-saving lightbulbs can now be purchased for the price of one, due to a new strategy promoted by the ministry of industry, tourism and commerce to increase energy efficiency in the home.

As of Monday, for a approx 3.99 euros, shoppers can buy two bulbs of between 14 and 15 watts – whereas until now, this would only have been enough to buy one of them. More than 1.2 million of these 2 for 1 packs are being distributed around 12,000 shops throughout Spain and if the promotion is well received by the public, further consignments have been promised.These energy-saving lightbulbs take a few seconds to warm up, but then they are as bright as a conventional lightbulb but will last for much longer – often between six and eight times as long as traditional bulbs.

The Government has also been distributing complementary coupons for energy-saving lightbulbs, and plans to continue in 2010.

So far about seven million of these bulbs have been acquired using such vouchers, equating to a saving of 588 gigawatts (GW) per hour – the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 147,000 homes.

The benefit of this scheme is a saving of 94 million euros and has avoided the emission of nearly a quarter of a million tonnes of CO2 gas into the atmosphere.